JD Vance implying Kamala Harris is a 'childless' cat lady is hitting a nerve. Just ask Jennifer Aniston and Ella Emhoff.

Women across the U.S. — including conservatives, liberals, celebrities and everyday Americans — are slamming resurfaced comments JD Vance made in 2021 that questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’s political leadership abilities because she did not have biological children.

Harris has two stepchildren, Ella and Cole, the children of second gentleman Doug Emhoff and his ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff.

On Wednesday, actress Jennifer Aniston expressed disbelief that a vice presidential candidate would liken Democrats, Including Harris, to “childless cat ladies.”

Here’s how we got here and why Vance’s comments are striking a nerve with a big part of the electorate.

What JD Vance said in 2021

Vance’s comments stem from a July 2021 Fox News interview when he was running for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat, and have resurfaced this week after Harris announced she was running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"We are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they wanna make the rest of the country miserable too," Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

"It's just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. If we want a healthy ruling class in this country we should invest more, we should vote more, we should support more people who actually have kids, cause those are the people who ultimately have a more direct stake in this country,” Vance said.

Transportation Secretary Buttigieg and his husband Chasten welcomed twins a few weeks after Vance’s interview.

What Jennifer Aniston posted

The Morning Show actress reposted a screenshot of the interview to her Instagram.

"I truly can't believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States,” Aniston wrote. “All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too."

Aniston had previously opened up about her infertility struggles, telling Allure in 2022, "I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it. I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, 'Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.' You just don't think it. So here I am today. The ship has sailed,” the Friends star said in the interview.

“I just cared about my career. And God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child,” she added.

Coming to Harris’s defense

Kerstin Emhoff defended Harris as a stepparent, telling CNN: “These are baseless attacks. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I. She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present.”

Ella Emhoff posted a screenshot of her mother’s statement on social media saying, “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like cole and I. @kemhoff say it louder for the people in the back... I love my three parents.”

Vance’s resurfaced comments strike a nerve with key voters: Women

Women make up a big chunk of the electorate. As of November 2022, 70% of women said they were registered to vote, compared to 68.2% of men.

Vance’s past remarks about “childless cat ladies” have invoked criticism of Trump’s vice presidential pick from both sides of the political spectrum.

Conservative commentator Meghan McCain, the daughter of late Republican Sen. John McCain, wrote on X: “I have been trying to warn every conservative man I know - these JD comments are activating women across all sides, including my most conservative Trump supporting friends. These comments have caused real pain and are just innately unchristian. This is not who we are.”

Tomi Lahren, an outspoken conservative political commentator, said Vance’s comments could be a problem. “If we’re trying to win suburban women and you call suburban women ‘childless cat ladies,’ you’re not going to convince them to come over to your side,” she posted.

Women who have lost pregnancies or struggled to have a child through IVF also slammed Vance’s comments.

Fox News contributor Beverly Hallberg said in a post on X: "I'm childless on earth, but I have a baby in heaven due to an ectopic pregnancy. Not all women who don't have children are childless by choice. It adds insult to injury, to put it mildly, when these comments are said.”

Host of MSNBC’s The Katie Phang Show also shared her personal experience with pregnancy loss, writing on on X, “I was ‘childless’ for most of my adult life. JD Vance’s utter lack of respect for women reflects his reprehensible character.”

Former Obama staffer Tommy Vietor shared the heart-breaking experience he and his wife endured: “Millions of parents are desperate to have kids but simply can't. Treating people without children like they are lesser human beings is unbelievably cruel.”

Meanwhile, apparent Harris supporters took to social media to embrace the “childless cat lady” trope, some of whom pointed out that Taylor Swift, worldwide music sensation and Time Person of the Year, is also a “childless cat lady.”