Actress Angelina Jolie has reportedly defended her one-time love-rival Jennifer Aniston following an extraordinary attack by a US television host.
Aniston, 41, was slammed as “destructive to society” by the ultra-conservative Fox News host Bill O’Reilly this week, after the actress told reporters women no longer needed a man to start a family.
At the time of her comments, Aniston was promoting her new film The Switch, in which she stars as a 40-year-old single woman who uses artificial insemination to fall pregnant.
“Women are realising it more and more, knowing that they don’t have to settle with a man just to have that child,” Aniston said at the film’s Los Angeles launch.
“Love is love and family is what is around you and who is in your immediate sphere.”
O’Reilly, the host of right-wing television talk show The O’Reilly Factor, lashed out at the comments, accusing Aniston of “glamourising” single parenthood.
“She’s throwing a message to 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds that ‘Hey, you don’t need a guy, you don’t need a dad,’” O’Reilly told viewers.
“That’s destructive to our society. Aniston can have a battery of people to help her but she can’t hire a dad.
“She’s diminishing the role of the dad.”
But Aniston, who famously split from her then-husband Brad Pitt after he found love with co-star Jolie on the set of their 2005 film Mr & Mrs Smith, has reportedly found the support of her ex’s new wife.
A friend of Jolie was quoted defending Aniston and her views on single parents.
Jolie was herself raised in a single-parent household and adopted her first child, Maddox, on her own.
“She agrees with Jennifer that a woman doesn’t need a man to start a family to be a good mother,” the friend reportedly said.
“For Bill to take issue with this statement is him taking issue with every single parent in the world.”
The two women have previously traded blows in the press, with Aniston calling Jolie “uncool” after the Salt star told a magazine she looked forward to going to work on the Mr & Mrs Smith set because she had developed feelings for Pitt.
Aniston hit back at O’Reilly overnight, telling People.com life wasn’t a fairytale for everyone.
“Of course the ideal scenario for parenting is obviously two parents of a mature age. Parenting is one of the hardest jobs on earth,” she was quoted as saying.
“And of course many women dream of finding Prince Charming but for those who’ve not yet found their Bill O’Reilly, I’m just glad science has provided a few other options.”
The Switch opens in the US on August 20.
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