While rumours of ‘peace talks’ circulate, a resurfaced Instagram post from the couple’s son Pax, calling Pitt a ‘world class a**hole’, tells a different story
Once the most loved-up couple in Hollywood, borne like a phoenix from the ashes of Brad and Jennifer Aniston’s world-rocking break up, Brangelina has taken quite the tumble.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie announced their split in 2016, just two years after they tied the knot in Miraval, southeast France, where they also co-owned a successful vineyard (but we’ll get to that). Since then, there’s been allegations of abuse, claims of forced NDAs, a revolving door of legal professionals and more than a little crying over spilt rosé.
Most recently, according to MailOnline, comments made by Jolie and Pitt’s adopted son Pax, now 19, via his Instagram stories three years ago have resurfaced, where Pax can be seen to call Pitt a “world class a**hole” on Father’s Day 2020. He also calls his father a “f*****g awful human being” and accuses Pitt of having “no consideration or empathy toward your four youngest children who tremble in fear when in your presence.”
Jolie also recently eluded to a difficult past few years in an interview with Vogue, where she said that her children “saved” her. “Having children saved me and taught me to be in this world differently,” she told the publication.
To make things all the more high profile — as if Vogue interviews, award-winning wine brands and viral Instagram story posts weren’t enough — the film that brought the pair together, Mr & Mrs Smith, has just been remade as a series starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, with the first teaser shared this summer and a release slated for early 2024.
From on and off screen lovers that couldn’t keep their hands off each other to embittered exes, where did it all go so wrong for Brad and Ange?
How it all began
First, let’s go way back. The two actors first met on the set of action comedy Mr & Mrs Smith in 2004. Chemistry between the pair — playing a married couple who both turned out to be assassins hired to kill the other — was said to be palpable. At the time, Brad was married to Jennifer Aniston, making him one half of the most adored celebrity couple. Brad and Jen’s Malibu wedding in 2000 was no small affair (if you’ll pardon the phrasing), it reportedly cost $1 million and was attended by the entire cast of Friends, including David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, Matthew Perry, and Matt LeBlanc. He was the biggest movie star in the world and she was the Rachel Green. People from all across the world were obsessed and ate up every available inside detail on the pair’s relationship. Like, for instance, their wedding vows: he promised to split the thermostat bill and Jen pledged to always make Brad his favourite banana milkshake.
Their approach to marriage was charmingly liberal. “Neither of us wants to be the spokesman for a happy marriage, for coupledom,” Brad told Vanity Fair. “I’ll tell you what I despise: this two-becomes-one thing where you lose your individuality. We don’t cage each other with this pressure of happily ever after. You figure it out as you go along. We feel it out, rather than setting policies and rules.”
Adding: “Jen and I always made a pact; that we’ll see where this thing is going. I’m not sure it really is in our nature to be with someone for the rest of our lives, just because you made this pact. You keep going as long as you keep growing. When that dies, we do. We still have that friendship; we still have a good laugh, which can go in and out depending on the dynamics and outside influences. It’s complicated, but that’s what keeps it interesting.”
