Originally appeared on E! Online
The one where Jennifer Aniston takes on the tabloids.
It’s been 20 years since the Friends alum announced her separation from then-husband Brad Pitt—amid rumblings that the actor had sparked a romance with his Mr. & Mrs. Smith costar Angelina Jolie—but Aniston still remembers that “love triangle” era all too well.
“It was such juicy reading for people,” the Morning Show actress told Vanity Fair in an interview published August 11. “If they didn’t have their soap operas, they had their tabloids.”
“It’s a shame that it had to happen, but it happened,” she added. “And boy did I take it personally.”
As for her mindset at the time? “Just pick yourself up by the bootstraps,” she explained, “and keep on walking, girl.”
The same year that Aniston, 56, and Pitt, 61, called it quits, he officially moved on with Jolie, 50, and the new couple even posed for pictures together in a spread for W magazine, titled “Domestic Bliss,” depicting them as married with kids. (Pitt and Jolie later married in 2014 before she filed for divorce two years later, leading to a decade-long legal battle.)
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After Pitt and Jolie’s 2005 photoshoot was released, Aniston told Vanity Fair shortly after, “There’s a sensitivity chip that’s missing.”
And although Aniston hasn’t looked back at her interview with the outlet in a while, she can still recall her emotions at the time.
“I just remember the experience of doing it—which was kind of jarring,” she told VF in her new interview. “It was also such a vulnerable time. But yeah, that was one for the memoirs.”
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Keep reading for more of Aniston and Pitt’s quotes about each other…
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And even though those emotions still linger, Aniston—who was married to Justin Theroux from 2015 to 2018 and has recently been link to hypnotist Jim Curtis—has well moved on from her relationship with Pitt. In fact, the two have even shared friendly interactions over the years.
Keep reading for more of Aniston and Pitt’s quotes about each other…
2005: Enter Angelina Jolie…
When asked about her reaction to seeing published photos of her then-estranged husband Brad Pitt getting cozy with his Mr. & Mrs. Smith costar (and eventual partner-turned-ex) Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston said in a 2005 Vanity Fair interview“The world was shocked, and I was shocked. I’d be a robot if I said I didn’t feel moments of anger, of hurt, of embarrassment.”
She added, “He makes his choices. He can do—whatever. We’re divorced, and you can see why.”
Though Aniston noted that there appeared to be “a sensitivity chip that’s missing” in her ex, she told the magazine, “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.”
2008: “It Was Never That Bad”
“When were Brad and I healed? Well, it never was that bad,” Aniston told Vogue in 2008. “I mean, look, it’s not like divorce is something that you go, ‘Oooh, I can’t wait to get divorced!’ It doesn’t feel like a tickle. But I’ve got to tell you, it’s so vague at this point, it’s so faraway in my mind, I can’t even remember the darkness. I mean, in the end, we really had an amicable split. It wasn’t mean and hateful and all of this stuff that they tried to create about Brad can’t talk to Jen and Jen can’t talk to Brad because this person won’t allow it. It just didn’t happen. The marriage didn’t work out.”
“And pretty soon after we separated, we got on the phone and we had a long, long conversation with each other and said a lot of things, and ever since we’ve been unbelievably warm and respectful of each other,” she continued. “Whoever said everything has to be forever, that’s setting your hopes too high. It’s too much pressure. And I think if you put that pressure on yourself—because I did! Fairy tale! It has to be the right one!—that’s unattainable.”
2011: Brad Pitt Clarifies Jennifer Aniston Was Not “Dull”
“It became very clear to me that I was intent on trying to find a movie about an interesting life, but I wasn’t living an interesting life myself,” Pitt told Parade magazine in 2011. “I think that my marriage had something to do with it, trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn’t.”
The actor later clarified in a statement“Jen is an incredibly giving, loving, and hilarious woman who remains my friend. It is an important relationship I value greatly. The point I was trying to make is not that Jen was dull, but that I was becoming dull to myself—and that, I am responsible for.”
2011: Jennifer Aniston Is “Good People”
“She’s good people,” Pitt said during a 2011 appearance on NBC’s Today show.
When asked about his Parade comments, he said, “I think it’s a shame that I can’t say something nice about Angie without Jen being drug in. You know, she doesn’t deserve it.”
Pitt also denied that Aniston called him after his quotes came out, saying, “She’s also a seasoned veteran and she knows. You know, and she’s a valuable person. We spent seven years together. Come on.”
2015: Divorce Not “Painful”
“I don’t find it painful,” Aniston said of their divorce while appearing on CBS Sunday Morning in 2015. “I think it’s a narrative that follows you because it’s an interesting headline. It’s more of a media-driven topic.”
She added at the time, “We’ve exchanged good wishes and all that sort of stuff to each other, but not a constant thing. I mean, do you talk to your ex-wife?”
2015: “Stop With the Stupid, Soap Opera Bulls–t”
“We’re not in daily communication. But we wish nothing but wonderful things for each other. Nobody did anything wrong. You know what I mean?” Aniston told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. “It was just like, sometimes things [happen]. If the world only could just stop with the stupid, soap opera bulls–t. There’s no story. I mean, at this point it’s starting to become—please, give more credit to these human beings.”
2018: “Successful” Marriages
“My marriages, they’ve been very successful, in [my] personal opinion. And when they came to an end, it was a choice that was made because we chose to be happy, and sometimes happiness didn’t exist within that arrangement anymore,” Aniston, who was married to Justin Theroux from 2015 to 2017, told Elle in 2018. “Sure, there were bumps, and not every moment felt fantastic, obviously, but at the end of it, this is our one life and I would not stay in a situation out of fear. Fear of being alone. Fear of not being able to survive.”
She continued, “To stay in a marriage based on fear feels like you’re doing your one life a disservice. When the work has been put in and it doesn’t seem that there’s an option of it working, that’s okay. That’s not a failure. We have these clichés around all of this that need to be reworked and retooled, you know? Because it’s very narrow-minded thinking.”
2019: Reconciliation?
Two years after Aniston’s breakup from Theroux and three years after Pitt’s split from Jolie, a paparazzo asked the actor if he and Aniston were getting back together.
His response? Pitt chuckled and replied, “Oh my God.”
2020: Friendly Exes
2021: Good Times
After their 2020 reunions at the SAG Awards and a virtual table read of Fast Times at Ridgemont HighAniston dispelled any speculation that there was awkwardness between her and her ex.
“It was absolutely fun,” she recalled of the encounters during a 2021 appearance on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show. “You know, Brad and I are buddies. Like, we’re friends and we speak.”
2022: No Baby Blues
Aniston set the record straight on rumors that followed their divorce, including the “narrative that I was just selfish” and “just cared about my career,” in a 2022 interview with Allure.
“And God forbid a woman is successful and doesn’t have a child,” she said. “And the reason my husband left me, why we broke up and ended our marriage, was because I wouldn’t give him a kid. It was absolute lies. I don’t have anything to hide at this point.”
