Love Is Over, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Are Reportedly Getting a Divorce
Dear 2016, can you please end already? Is the apocalypse here yet? Is this the afterlife and we’re stuck living in a Roland Emmerich movie? After everything you’ve put us through, from multiple real-world tragedies to a presidential election from hell to far too many celebrity deaths, why oh why have you destroyed love? As of the morning of Tuesday, September 20, 2016, love died along with the end of Brangelina.
That’s when TMZ sent the tweet that destroyed the internet, revealing Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were reportedly splitting. Jolie allegedly filed for divorce from Pitt on Monday in papers that list the couple’s separation date as September 15. Sources close to TMZ reveal that it had to do with Pitt’s parenting skills, and that the actress is asking for physical custody of their six children. According to the site, the actress’ choice to separate was solely based on Pitt’s interaction with their children. But the plot thickens.
According to Page Six, the split has to do with a rumored affair with Marion Cotillard. The site reports that Jolie hired a private investigator to spy on Pitt on the set of his upcoming movie with Cotillard, Allied. A spy spied on Pitt while he was playing a spy! Take this all with a grain of salt, but it is pretty interesting that Allied, a carbon copy of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, could be what led to the end of another marriage for Pitt. The 2005 spy movie was what led to Pitt’s split from Jennifer Aniston when he began his relationship with Jolie. Maybe Pitt should avoid spy romance dramas for a while.
Pitt and Jolie also starred in last year’s By the Sea, a period drama written and directed by Jolie. By the Sea was all about a couple’s tumultuous crumbling marriage (hmm) and some infidelity with French people (hmmm indeed). Jolie said in an interview last year that the film had no real-life basis saying of her marriage to Pitt, “It’s because we’re actually very, very stable and these aren’t our issues.” Sure, but maybe it’s time to give By the Sea another watch; those tears look mighty genuine.
Jolie and Pitt have been Hollywood’s power couple for nearly a decade. The two have been together since 2004 after meeting on Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They only just married in 2014 and have raised six children together. Jolie adopted Maddox Chivan and Zahara Marley, whom Pitt also later adopted when Jolie changed the children’s last name to Jolie-Pitt. The couple had their first child, John (previously known as Shiloh Jolie-Pitt) in 2006, adopted Pax Thien, and had twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, in 2008.
These two raised one of the most diverse, and not to mention biggest, families in Hollywood, all while starring in and producing major films. They also proved to be some pretty progressive celebrity parents when they supported their first biological child’s gender identity and name change. Safe to say, Brangelina were pretty much the best.
So what do we do now? Tweet more smug Jennifer Aniston GIFs? Send broken heart emoji texts to everyone in our contacts? If anything, this news is a nice relief from the actual real-world trauma plaguing this year. And love isn't totally dead (hey we still have Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor). But 2016, please kindly consider humanity’s request to skip the next three months and jump into 2017. It’s all just too much.