Jennifer Aniston has quashed a viral story suggesting she helped a homeless teenage mother.
A picture of the actress with a fan, who is not homeless or in any way related to the story, was shared by an unverified Jennifer Aniston community page with 500,000 likes on Tuesday. The image was shared with a story in quote marks about someone coming to the aid of a teenage runaway with a baby and helping her return back to her parents.
The story stated at the bottom that Aniston was not the person speaking, but it was posted above a picture of her hugging a young woman, leading many to incorrectly believe that these were her quotes.
Fan have been rushing to praise her humanity and kindness, with one writing: “What a wonderful story Jennifer. I've always admired you as an actress but what you did was incredible; so kind and loving and generous.” Another added: “You are a true inspiration Jennifer Aniston, I've always really admired you and the work you've done. But God bless you for your wonderful kindness. We all should try and help others whenever we can.”
The post has been shared almost 70,000 times within 24 hours and a spokesperson for Aniston was forced to clarify that she was not in anyway involved in the story.
“The story on the fan page has nothing to do with Jennifer and we are not at all sure where it came from,” her representative told Just Jared.
The story echoes one recently debunked by Richard Gere, who discovered a post on an unverified Facebook page with over 800,000 likes suggesting he went “undercover” as a homeless man and was so appalled by the lack of empathy he received that he handed out $100 bills to rough sleepers.
The post was shared with an image of the actor in costume during filming for his forthcoming film, Time Out of Mind, in which he plays a homeless man.
Gere addressed the picture in a post on his co-star Jena Malone’s page, writing: “While the story that accompanied the photograph was somewhat fictional (especially the $100 hand-outs), it seemed to have touched something important in people. I'd like to find out what that is and what we can do together to make something good and meaningful happen for our homeless brothers and sisters.”
