Jennifer Aniston Is ‘Happy’ Ex Justin Theroux Is Expecting a Child, But the News Did ‘Sting’

November was a good month for Jennifer Aniston. On the 2nd, she hard-launched her romance with hunky hypnotist Jim Curtis on Instagram, later gushing in Elle magazine that he was “quite extraordinary” and “very special, very normal, and very kind.” The happy duo — first spotted together in July — spent Thanksgiving together, reportedly cooking and playing board games with friends. And on Nov. 29, they were photographed getting brunch at Cafe Cluny in New York City wearing matching jeans and wool coats.

Just when it seemed the twice-divorced star was finally putting her painful past behind her, the 56-year-old faced a heartache from a surprising source: In early December, it was revealed that her ex-husband Justin Theroux, 54, is expecting his first child with his much younger wife, Nicole Brydon Bloom. The 31-year-old debuted her bump at the Dec. 8 premiere of Amazon Prime’s Fallout. It was a blow for the Morning Show star, who has been open in the years following her 2018 divorce from Justin about her longing to have a child, devastating struggles with infertility and final acceptance of childlessness. “It’s common knowledge that Jen really wanted to have a baby with Justin when they first got together,” a source tells Star. “Jen is at peace with the fact she won’t be having kids of her own — but that doesn’t mean this news doesn’t sting.”

Sore Subject

Jen first revealed in 2022 that she had been quietly trying to have children for some time. “It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road,” she told Allure, noting that she tried everything, including “IVF, Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it.” As she got older, though, she explained that she’d come to terms with not being a mom. “I have zero regrets,” she said after her childbearing years were over. “I actually feel a little relief now because there is no more, ‘Can I? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.’ I don’t have to think about that anymore.”

Still, it brings up those old feelings to see Justin with a baby on the way less than a year after he and Nicole tied the knot in Mexico in March. (Star previously reported Jen was annoyed that the Running Point actor decided to marry in Tulum, Mexico, which used to be their special spot.) “Jen thinks it’s unfair that women have this procreation deadline,” says the source, “whereas men can keep trying for babies way into their old age.” In typical Jen fashion, she’s not holding it against Justin, however. The two have remained close since splitting after more than two years of marriage. The source says she even reached out to congratulate him “as soon as she heard the news,” adding, “Jen’s happy Justin has found his special someone and is going to be a dad. She knows how much he wants this.”

Been Here Before

The situation is reminiscent of her experience with her first ex-husband, Brad Pitt, who went on to have six children with Angelina Jolie shortly after he and Jen split in 2005 (the pair divorced in 2019). “It was a huge dagger in the heart for Jen, and this news has triggered a flashback to that traumatic period,” says the source.

At the time, rumors ran rampant claiming Brad had left Jen because she didn’t want kids and had selfishly chosen her career over motherhood. “They didn’t know my story, or what I’d been going through over the past 20 years to try to pursue a family, because I don’t go out there and tell them my medical woes,” Jen said in an October interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “That’s not anybody’s business. But there comes a point when you can’t not hear it — the narrative about how I won’t have a baby, won’t have a family, because I’m selfish, a workaholic. It does affect me — I’m just a human being.”

Second Chance

Though she has no kids of her own, Jen loves playing the doting aunt to her friends’ kids. She’s also encouraging Jim, 50, to reconnect with his estranged teen son, Aidan, with ex-wife Rachel Napolitano. Jim has written that Aidan spends most of his time with his mom and is “pissed” at him, lamenting in The Stimulati Experience, “I wish I had a better relationship with my son.” Says the source, “Jen’s encouraging Jim to keep making an effort. She would love to be a stepmom figure, but she won’t overstep. If it happens, it will be by Jim’s rules.”