We can’t help but be affected by the couples we see on screen or read about in magazines. Celebrity has always served as a proxy for our own lives, helping us to see a path to success or illuminate a road to ruin. Through famous couples we see ways of living, ways of breaking up and hopefully, learn how to be successful in our own relationships. In this, our latest in a series looking at famous screen couple’s relationships, we take a look at Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, a couple who are now dating over 40 and 50 respectively.
Coined the Power Couple of Tinsel Town, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have become known worldwide as the sexiest pair to unite on the big screen. They’ve got it all; the looks, the money, the fame, the success, the family, they’re charitable, modest, down-to-earth – they seem like the perfect couple! But after twelve years of passionate, turbulent times together, the dream is over.
It all started in the summer of 2004 when Pitt and Jolie met on the set of their first film together, Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Originally denying any suggestion of intimate chemistry between them, it was clear to see that the attraction was intense, though Brad was married to Jennifer Aniston at the time and insisted that his relationship with Ange was purely platonic.
Just a few months later in January 2005, Jennifer Aniston announced her split from Brad Pitt, whom she had been with for seven years. The media followed the sensational story relentlessly following rumours of the ‘Brangelina Scandal’.
Despite initially denying their involvement together, Jolie later admitted that she and Pitt fell in love on the set of their sexy spy movie, and just one month after Aniston filed for divorce, Brangelina were snapped on holiday together with Ange’s adopted son Maddox, confirming the gossip and looking very much in love.
Not shy of the limelight, Brad and Ange posed for a magazine article titled ‘Domestic Bliss’ in July. Though they tried to dismiss speculation by calling it promo for their movie, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, it ultimately caused tongues to wag and spawned much debate over the sensitivity towards his not yet ex-wife Aniston. Even though the couple continued to refuse to validate their relationship, it was clear to all that they were deeply in love.
The pair quickly settled into their happy family roles however with Brad adopting Angelina’s two children as his own, quickly followed by the news of their first pregnancy. The couple went on to adopt another child, and later have biological twins. Their little nest grew rapidly and by mid-2008, Brad and Ange were head over heels for each other and surrounded by six children. They created a large family, something they had both dreamed of, though the pair remained unmarried.
Brad firmly stated that he wouldn’t marry Ange until “everyone who wants to be married is legally able”. However in August 2014 he shocked the nation and finally cracked, apparently due to his persistent children, and the pair finally walked down the aisle and exchanged their vows.
Their twelve year relationship has had its fair share of ups and downs from starting off on rocky territory with Brad’s accused adultery to quickly resulting in adoption, child birth, parenting six kids, working full time, setting up charities, Angelina’s mastectomy, Pitt’s accused infidelity and now more recent; rumours of divorce. But despite the circulating stories, the pair recently celebrated their two year wedding anniversary and were said to be “seriously in love still”.
Unfortunately, it just goes to show what we hear in the press, because in September 2016, it was announced that the couple were to divorce. What has followed has been messy, complicated and played out publicly.
It’s gone to show that whilst love might seem perfect from the outside, from within the relationship it’s often something else entirely.
