How on-set romance between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ended a Hollywood marriage
Love triangle between Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and Angelina Jolie began on a movie set
The love triangle between Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and Angelina Jolie began on a movie set, captivated the world, and ended one of Hollywood's most beloved marriages.
It was the story that dominated headlines for years. In the early 2000s, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were Hollywood's golden couple, having tied the knot in a lavish Malibu ceremony in 2000.
Their picture-perfect union began to unravel on the set of the 2005 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pitt was cast opposite Angelina Jolie after Nicole Kidman dropped out due to a scheduling conflict.
The on-set chemistry between the co-stars was palpable. Jolie later told Vogue that a "strange friendship and partnership" blossomed during filming.
"I think a few months in I realised, 'God, I can't wait to get to work'," she recalled. "We just became kind of a pair."
By May 2004, rumours of an affair were rampant, forcing Pitt and Aniston to present a united front at the premiere of his film Troy. But the speculation refused to die down.
On 7 January 2005, the couple announced their separation. Their joint statement insisted the split was "not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media".
Aniston later told Vanity Fair she chose to believe her husband. A friend added, "Brad was saying, 'This is not about another woman.'"
Just three months later, photos emerged of Pitt, Jolie, and her son Maddox on a beach in Kenya. "The world was shocked, and I was shocked," Aniston admitted in the same interview.
The situation worsened with a 60-page W magazine spread titled "Domestic Bliss," conceptualised by Pitt, featuring him and Jolie as a 1960s-style married couple.
Aniston was scathing in her response. "There's a sensitivity chip that's missing," she told Vanity Fair, explaining the timing was particularly hurtful.
Years later, Aniston also addressed Jolie’s candid recollections of their on-set bonding. "That stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool," she told Vogue.