Jennifer Aniston’s first and last interaction with Angelina Jolie prior to her split from Brad Pitt has resurfaced as the Mr. & Mrs. Smith stars officially settle their divorce.
More than eight years after it began, the legal battle between Pitt and Jolie reached a settlement on December 30, just in time for the New Year.
The conclusion to the years-long saga comes after Jolie filed for divorce on September 19, 2016, citing irreconcilable differences, after she and Pitt married two years earlier.
The couple had been together for 12 years in total and had come to share six children when Jolie filed for divorce.
But prior to his relationship with Jolie, Pitt was married to Friends star Aniston, who he’d met through his manager.
Pitt and Aniston – Paniston? – initially dated in secret before they tied the knot in 2000, while Aniston was working on Friends.
Three years later, Pitt met Jolie when they played husband and wife in Mr. & Mrs. Smith; a movie he made while still married to Aniston.
It wasn’t until 2005 that Aniston and Pitt split up, but by January 2006 the last names of Jolie’s children had been changed to Jolie-Pitt.
In 2005, Aniston spoke to Vanity Fair about having once encountered Jolie on the Warner Bros. Studios lot in California, where she was filming Friends.
In the interview, she recalled: “I pulled over and introduced myself. I said, ‘Brad is so excited about working with you. I hope you guys have a really good time!'”
Looking back in the wake of their split, Aniston said she ‘chose to believe’ that her marriage with Pitt had not come to an end because of another woman.
When she first saw pictures of Jolie and Pitt together, she recalled: “The world was shocked, and I was shocked.
“I can’t say it was one of the highlights of my year. Who would deal with that and say, ‘Isn’t that sweet! That looks like fun!?’ But s*** happens. You joke and say, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’.”
Now, Jolie’s lawyer, James Simon of Hersh Mannis, has said in a statement to CNN that Jolie is ‘relieved’ about the settlement with Pitt.
“More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr. Pitt,” Mannis said. “She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr. Pitt, and since that time she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family. This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago. Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.”
Jolie filed for divorce after a 2016 incident in which she accused Pitt of physically assaulting her and verbally abusing their children while they were aboard a private jet. The FBI confirmed at the time that Pitt was never arrested or charged with any crimes.
