Birthday girl!
Brad makes Jen’s night
Agleaming Cadillac pulling up to the swanky Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood hardly raised an eyebrow on February 9. Not only was Grammys weekend in full swing, but actress Jennifer Aniston was celebrating her 50th birthday y upstairs. p However, as the car door opened and a handsome man in a newsboy cap climbed out and sauntered inside, jaws dropped. It was Jen’s ex-husband Brad Pitt. Fourteen years after their headline-making split – one of the most high-profile break-ups in showbiz history – Brad was on his way to spend an evening with America’s sweetheart. While many of Jen’s famous guests were astonished to see screen heartthrob Brad, 55, steal a special moment with the former Friends star, sharing a warm hug and slipping her a card, a well-placed source tells Woman’sDay exclusively that those in Jen’s very inner circle weren’t surprised at all. “It was George Clooney who orchestrated their reunion,” the source tells us. “He persuaded Brad to reach out to Jen following her split with Justin Theroux last year. And at the same time, he persuaded Jen to give Brad the chance to redeem himself after all these years.” It seemed like a tall order. Brad broke Jen’s heart in 2005 when he left her for his Mr. &Mrs.Smith & co-star Angelina Jolie, who he’s now in the process of divorcing. Jen famously said at the time her ex-husband had “a sensitivity chip that’s missing” after he dished in an interview that he “wasn’t living an interesting life” until Angelina came along and that he was “trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn’t”.
But, says our source, the FightClub star “felt lousy for all the times he hurt Jen” and took George’s sage advice, asking her for forgiveness. Jen gave it and the pair have forged a strong friendship over the past year.
“Brad’s proven to be Jen’s rock through her break-up with Justin,” tells our source. And Brad, in return, has leaned on Jen for support during his bitter battle with Angelina, 43, over custody of their six kids, Maddox, 17, Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 12, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 10.
“They speak and text regularly,” reveals the insider. “Brad often calls her his ‘second therapist!’”
Brad’s also been welcomed back into Jen’s inner circle, often attending parties and dinners she hosts at her home. Our source spills, “They also just hang out sometimes at his place. Brad likes trying out new recipes on Jen.”
Her dad, former soap actor John Aniston, 85, was harder to win over. “Things were initially frosty between them, but John eventually saw how much of an effort Brad was making to put things right and decided to forgive him.”
The star-studded guest list for Jen’s big bash included Reese Witherspoon, Kate Hudson, Demi Moore, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Ellen DeGeneres, George and Amal Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Robert Downey Jr, Jen’s former Friends co-stars Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow, and Brad’s former fiancée Gwyneth Paltrow.
Expensive champagne flowed and guests had fun hamming it up in the photo booth. Jen enforced a total social media ban, but some of the images still made it on to Instagram.
Like many of her guests, Brad sent the birthday girl a special gift to her house on February 11. “He gave her a stunning amethyst necklace which he had custom made,” tells our source, “as well as a painting copied from a photograph of Jen and her Friends co-stars from their 2000 wedding. He knew she’d always loved it. She had it close to her bed when they were married.”
Brad is currently dating MadMax actress Charlize Theron, 43, and our source says his relationship with Jen is platonic and built on a mutual respect.
“Jen was thrilled Brad came to her birthday,” another insider tells. “It’s the first time they’ve been publicly seen together for years and Jen has been eager for a while to stop hiding their friendship. This big gesture is their way of showing that everything that’s happened between them is water under the bridge.”
Adds another source close to the actress, “They might be just friends, but Brad is the love of Jen’s life – he always will be – and the spark is still there despite everything they’ve gone through.”