Secret Reunion

It’s the rebirth of Brangelina! Eight months after their messy split, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie get close again

After a bitter split and custody battle, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt fall for each other all over again.

Brad Pitt is a changed man. Since his relationship with Angelina Jolie famously imploded in September, the actor’s replaced wine and vodka with matcha green tea and cranberry juice, and begun attending therapy. “I just started therapy. I love it,” he says. “For me, this period has been about looking at my weaknesses and failures and owning my side of the street.”

Angie’s noticed. While things were once so tense that the actress refused to be in the same room as her estranged husband, “They’ve been seeing each other several times a week lately,” reveals a friend. And it’s not just for the sake of co-parenting their six children. Life & Style has exclusively learned that Brad, 53, and Angelina, 41, are secretly back together. “Slowly the old feelings have started to return,” says the friend. “They ’ ve been open with each other like they haven’t been in years, and it’s like they are now dating again.”

HITTING THE RESTART BUTTON

The thaw started with an apology. In a shocking confession that helped lure Angelina back, Brad now acknowledges that he was “boozing too much” around the time he had a bust-up with son Maddox, 15, on an La-bound private plane. As Angie filed divorced papers on Sept. 19, the FBI and the Department of Children and Family Services began investigations into the incident. No charges were brought. Still, “Brad has accepted responsibility for how he could be while drunk, and called Angie to deliver a heartfelt apology,” a source reveals. “The phone call was extremely emotional and lasted for over an hour. Both Brad and Angelina cried a lot.”

Therapy and the clear-

headedness that comes with sobriety helped Brad accept the role his actions played in the split. And he came to understand why Angie felt she had to leave him. “He recognizes that she thought she was protecting the kids,” notes the source. “Now they’re talking on the phone almost every day.”

After healing in private, Brad is getting ready to take their reunion public. In the Summer 2017 edition of GQ Style, he elaborates on how the demise of his marriage was “selfinflicted,” calls Angelina “my partner,” encourages the interviewer to watch “Angie’s film,” First They Killed My Father, and

admits he “hit the lottery” with her and their kids, Maddox, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10, and 8- year- old twins Knox and Vivienne. “His words meant the world to Angie,” says the source. “She’d been ridiculed during the split and painted as the bad guy.”

OVERCOMING HEARTBREAK

Over the past several weeks, says the friend, the duo have been spending more and more time together in their old Hollywood Hills mansion, which Brad refers to as his kids’ “childhood home.” The actor’s been staying there post- split, surrounded by children’s bikes, pool f loats and the family dog, Jacques (who, the interview reveals, spends his time “snoring and farting”). At first, he was bitter about being isolated in a house full of memories as Angelina hopped between rentals with the kids. “He felt blindsided and angry when Angie filed for divorce and took the kids with her,” says the friend. Brad was so upset, he would “go into a blind rage at the mere mention of Angie’s name in the immediate months following the breakup,” notes the source. “Losing his family really gutted him. He was left, literally, all alone.”

These days, though, Brad says he refuses to hurl insults at his partner of 12 years. “Angelina has always been the true love of his life,” says the

“For me every misstep has been a step toward epiphany.” — Brad

friend. “Brad never wanted the marriage to end in the first place.”

DIVORCE ON HOLD

Technically, it still hasn’t ended. The dissolution of their two-year marriage has yet to be finalized. But the A-list pair aren’t letting their brood in on the fact that the divorce may not move forward. “Brad and Angie are keeping the reinvigorated relationship under the radar for now because they don’t want to confuse the kids,” says the friend. “The welfare of the children is their priority.”

In fact, Brad’s commitment to the kids has impressed Angie. “Since quitting drinking, Brad has been a much more present father,” says the source. That’s brought him and Angie closer together. “It’s very obvious how much Brad is still in love with Angelina, and she still loves him, too,” says the friend. “She sees the effort he’s been putting in, and it’s winning her over.”

“We’re complicated creatures.” — Brad