JD Vance Hits Back at Jennifer Aniston, Defending ‘Childless Cat Ladies’ Remarks

Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, struck back at the “Friends” actress Jennifer Aniston after she criticized him for his past complaint that the nation was governed by “childless cat ladies,” including Vice President Kamala Harris.

Mr. Vance, appearing on “The Megyn Kelly Show” on SiriusXM on Friday, bristled at the bipartisan backlash to his comments, which were made to Fox News in 2021 but have received fresh attention as he hits the campaign trail as former President Donald J. Trump’s newly minted running mate.

He was responding to an Instagram post on Wednesday by Ms. Aniston that condemned his comments. In the post, which drew widespread attention, the actress, who has been open about her fertility struggles, wrote, “Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day.”

Mr. Vance, whom Mr. Trump selected as his running mate nearly two weeks ago, said that bringing up his daughter was out of bounds.

“Hollywood celebrities say, ‘Oh, well, JD Vance, what if your daughter suffered fertility problems?’” Mr. Vance said. “Well, first of all, that’s disgusting because my daughter is 2 years old. And second of all, if she had fertility problems, as I said in that speech, I would try everything I could to try to help her because I believe families and babies are a good thing.”

Ms. Harris, who is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee after President Biden dropped out of the race six days ago, has a stepson and a stepdaughter.

In a clip from the resurfaced July 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson, who was then a Fox News host, Mr. Vance groused that the country was run by Democrats and corporate oligarchs who were “childless cat ladies who are