In the wake of Angelina Jolie filing for divorce from Brad Pitt after two years of marriage and 12 years together on Monday, September 19, Us Weekly has revisited her first two splits from ex-husbands Billy Bob Thornton and Jonny Lee Miller.
Before she became Mrs. Pitt, the Maleficent star, 41, walked down the aisle twice only to call it quits on both marriages first to Miller, 43, then to Thornton, 61.
Jolie and the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot actor were married for three years from 2000 to 2003. During an October 2014 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Thornton opened up about his brief (albeit intense) relationship with the brunette beauty.
“We were apart a lot because she’s off making Tomb Raider and I’m making Monster’s Ball. She thought it would be interesting and romantic if we took a little razor blade and sliced our fingers, smeared a little blood on these lockets and you wear it around your neck just like you wear your son or daughter’s baby hair in one,” he explained, referring to the vials of blood he and Jolie infamously wore around their necks in the early aughts. “Same thing.”
The controversial neckwear contributed to the public’s collective perception of the pair, the Fargo actor told THR: “From that, we were wearing quart jars of blood around our necks. And we were vampires and we lived in a dungeon.”
At the time, reports suggested that Jolie decided to end things with the dad of four because he was not ready to have more children with her. “We had a great time together,” Thornton told THR of their amicable breakup. “We had a great marriage, and I chickened out because I didn’t feel good enough. That’s all that happened. It was no big deal; we never hated each other.”
In 2012, the One False Move star revealed that he and the Academy Award–winning actress still talk. “She’s got so much energy and so much goodness in her,” he said, “and we check in on each other all the time.”
Years before tying the knot with Thornton, the now-mom of six became a bride for the first time with British actor Miller. After the duo starred alongside each other in the 1995 film Hackers, they eloped in March 1996 in Las Vegas. Similar to rocking a vial of Thornton’s blood around her neck, Jolie memorably wore a shirt scrawled with Miller’s name in blood. “It’s your husband. You’re about to marry him,” she told The New York Times in August 1996. “You can sacrifice a little to make it really special.”
Though they cut the cord on their marriage three years later in 1999, the pair have remained pals. During a May 2014 interview with BuzzFeed, Jolie gushed about the Elementary star, who she considers a “great friend.”
“That’s where I met Jonny [on the set of Hackers],” she said. “I think of him when I think of that. Although, I’m sure the movie looks so ancient now, but we had a lot of fun making that.”
Only time will tell if Jolie will be able to maintain a congenial relationship with Pitt, 52. As previously reported, the actress filed divorce documents Monday, September 19, citing irreconcilable differences. Jolie is requesting physical custody of their six children, Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8. The divorce filings indicate that she requested that Pitt only get joint legal custody. She is not asking for spousal support.
Jolie’s rep issued a statement to Us on Tuesday regarding her decision to part ways with the Big Short star. “Angelina Jolie Pitt has filed for dissolution of the marriage,” the statement read. “This decision was made for the health of the family. She will not be commenting at this time and asks that the family be given their privacy during this difficult time.”
Jolie and Pitt wed on August 23, 2014, in southern France. Sparks first flew between the two on the 2004 set of their film Mr. and Mrs. Smith, when the Fight Club actor was still married to Jennifer Aniston. The Friends alum, now 47, pulled the plug on her five-year union with Pitt after she reportedly discovered his on-set affair with Jolie, and they announced their split in January 2005. Not long after, Pitt and Jolie went public with their headline-making romance.
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