LOVE & LIES

Finding themselves single at the same time, exes Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are finally healing after heartbreak

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are mending after their splits. SINGLES CLUB

Nearly a year and a half after filing, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are reportedly coming close to finalising their divorce, moving forward amicably and coordinating schedules so both can spend time with their six kids. “Brad and Angie are doing OK, working out time for Brad to be with the kids, which he treasures,” a source tells WHO. Their children—maddox, 16, Pax, 14, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 11, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 9—live with Jolie in Los Angeles and visit with Pitt, who lives nearby. After a tough time, “Brad seems to be in a better place,” says the source. Now that the exes have finally made their relationship “respectful” for the sake of their family, Pitt is getting back into the swing of his new life as a single man. “Separating was very sad and shocking to him, but he started taking care of himself again,” another insider tells WHO.

“He seems much, much happier.” Perhaps a new love interest is putting a spring in his step? While tabloids—and wishful-thinking fans—have linked Pitt, 54, to his former ex Jennifer Aniston, 49, who coincidentally split from husband Justin Theroux in February, Aniston’s reps have dismissed the claims as “another fabrication.” A source with knowledge of Pitt and Aniston’s current relationship is also sceptical. “They’ve been over each other for longer than they were ever together, ” says the source. “It’s such ancient history.” Still, points out another insider to Entertainment

Tonight, “you can’t predict the future.” For now, Pitt is spending time with Neri Oxman, 42, an accomplished architect and professor of media arts and sciences at the MIT media lab. The actor reportedly met the academic through an architecture project at the university. At the moment, their relationship “is best described as a professional friendship,” a source told Page Six TV. “Brad and Neri instantly hit it off because they share the same passion for architecture, design and art … Both are cautious but Brad is very interested in spending more time with Neri. She is fascinating.”

Not to mention as beautiful as a movie star. While one Pitt source insists to WHO that the two are “just friends,” another insider notes the actor has been frequently flying to the East Coast. He dropped by one of Oxman’s classes in November and was spotted at MIT again a few weeks ago. “It took him a long time to date but he is now,” says the insider, adding that Oxman is his type. “He likes women who challenge him in every way, especially in the intellect and deep-thinking department.”

“He likes women who challenge him in every way” — a Pitt source

Up until now, “dating hasn’t been a priority because Brad wants to spend more time with his children,” a source told Entertainment Tonight. “He has been working on himself. While it’s been a year and a half [after his split from Jolie], it still feels too soon to him.”

Something, it turns out, he has in common with Aniston. Since finding herself separated, “She isn’t a fan of dating, and she never was,” a source close to the actress tells WHO. “She always found dating awkward and unpleasant.” In the meantime, she’s keeping busy, recently returning from a trip to Tahiti where she spent quality time with her famous friends including Courteney Cox, Ellen Degeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, and Jimmy Kimmel and his wife, Molly Mcnearney.

Aniston’s “life now is not very different than it was before,” the source tells WHO. “Justin has moved on with his life in New York,” while “Jen still enjoys hers in LA. She loves socialising with friends.” Theroux, 46, meanwhile, “is just doing his thing. He eats at the same time, goes to the same places, hangs with the same people.”

People including actress Aubrey Plaza, who caused a stir on March 26 when the pair were spotted strolling in New York and stopping by the actor’s apartment. But despite speculation that the two are romantically involved, a source says they were simply meeting to discuss an upcoming project—and Plaza is still dating her longtime boyfriend, director Jeff Baena.

Dealing with scrutiny of their dating lives is something all the born-again single stars are set to deal with. “Brad and Angie are both very secretive about their dating life,” says the industry source. Likewise, Aniston “hates all the media attention that she knows she will get now,” the Aniston source tells WHO. “But she is a big believer in falling in love and spending her life with a partner that loves sharing hers.”

Artist, architect and professor Oxman (in 2013) “is genius and gorgeous,” says a source. Pitt (in May 2017) “is starting to act more like the old, happy and charming Brad,” says a source.

Oxman posed with Pitt at MIT in November.

OUT OF HIDING “All her friends are around her. That is the best supportive group,” says a source of Aniston (centre with, from left, Jason Bateman’s wife, Amanda Anka, Jen Meyer, Jimmy Kimmel’s wife, Molly Mcnearney, and her agent, Aleen Keshishian).

Pitt’s separation from Jolie (with him in 2015) “was very dark for him, but lately he looks healthier and happier,” says a source. “He seems excited about life.” Jolie took her kids (from left, Shiloh, Maddox, Vivienne, Pax, Zahara and Knox) to visit the Louvre in Paris on Jan. 3. Pitt “cherishes his time with them,” says a source.