Jennifer Aniston has opened up about her long and emotional journey with infertility, explaining why she chose not to pursue adoption after a 20-year effort to have a biological child. Speaking on the Armchair Expert podcast, the Friends alum said that while she made peace with her situation years ago, she always wanted a child biologically related to her.

“When people say, ‘But you can adopt,’ I don’t want to adopt,” the 56-year-old actress said. “I want my own DNA in a little person. That’s the only way – selfish or not – I’ve wanted it.” She added that reaching the end of her fertility journey through IVF was deeply emotional. “It just wasn’t in the plan, whatever the plan was. There’s a weird moment when doctors say, ‘That’s it,’ and it hits you.”

Aniston reflected on past relationships, admitting that she once imagined having children with her former partners but that the thought “passed within seconds.”