Jennifer Aniston is reflecting on her divorce from Brad Pitt.
The two actors were seen as Hollywood’s golden couple in the late '90s and early 2000s. Pitt was and still is an A-lister, with hits like Interview with the Vampire and Fight Club, while she was America’s sweetheart from Friends.
The couple met in 1994 through their manager, but they did not start dating until 1998. They tied the knot in 2000 in Malibu, however, marital bliss did not last, and in 2005, the pair announced their divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.
In the weeks prior, however, speculation had littered the headlines, accusing the actor of having already found love with his Mrs and Mrs Smith co-star Angelina Jolie, with the pair playing the titular married couple in the spy-themed rom-com.
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A media frenzy ensued, and Aniston said she still has ‘some PTSD’ from this period as it left her feeling ‘vulnerable’.
Two decades ago, Aniston gave her first interview following the shock split to Vanity Fair, and in a new interview with the same publication, she shared her current outlook.
“I just remember the experience of doing it — which was kind of jarring,” she said of the 2005 interview. “It was also such a vulnerable time. But yeah, that was one for the memoirs.
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“Journalism back then felt more like a form of a sport,” Aniston continued. “There’s obviously some PTSD we all have, which is why [interviews] scare me.”
The ‘love triangle’, as Aniston refers to it in the interview, became tabloid and celebrity blogger news for years.
“It was such juicy reading for people. If they didn’t have their soap operas, they had their tabloids.”
She added: “It’s a shame that it had to happen, but it happened. And boy did I take it personally.”
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Speaking in 2005, months after her split from Pitt and the birth of Brangelina, Aniston shared: “I love Brad; I really love him. I will love him for the rest of my life. He's a fantastic man. I don't regret any of it, and I'm not going to beat myself up about it.
“We spent seven very intense years together; we taught each other a lot—about healing, and about fun. We helped each other through a lot, and I really value that. It was a beautiful, complicated relationship. The sad thing, for me, is the way it's been reduced to a Hollywood cliché.”
Pitt has also touched on his relationship with Jolie. He told Esquire magazine in 2013 he only found happiness after starting a family with the Tomb Raider star.
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"I have very few friends. I have a handful of close friends and I have my family and I haven't known life to be any happier," he explained. "I'm making things. I just haven't known life to be any happier."
He also commented: "I always thought that if I wanted to do a family, I wanted to do it big. I wanted there to be chaos in the house...there's constant chatter in our house, whether it's giggling or screaming or crying or banging. I love it. I love it. I love it."
Pitt and Jolie reached a divorce settlement in December 2024 after the latter filed for a dissolution in September 2016.
Topics: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Celebrity, Jennifer Aniston
Gregory Robinson