Ange’s surprise interview
In a new bombshell divorce twist, Angelina Jolie has taken full responsibility for her split from estranged ex-husband Brad Pitt – shockingly admitting: ‘It’s all my fault.’
The mum-of-six poured out her heart in a new interview, revealing how she pushed Brad to make the 2015 film By The Sea together – a movie that was panned by critics and a boxoffice disaster – in the hope that it would improve their marriage and fix communication problems.
The film – written by the Tomb Raider star – explores a range of deep, dark, marital woes between a couple, which were played by Brad and Ange.
But instead of fixing their problems, the actress admits the film had the opposite affect on their relationship – causing even more damage, which ultimately lead to their shock split.
‘We had met working together and we worked together well... I wanted us to do some serious work together... I thought it would be a good way for us to communicate,’ she told The Hollywood Reporter’s podcast, Awards Chatter.
‘In some ways it was, and in some ways we learned some things. But there was a heaviness probably during that situation that carried on and it wasn’t because of the film.’
She continued: ‘It was something that we were dealing [with]... things happen for different reasons, and things – why did I write that exact piece? Why did we feel that way when we made it? I’m not sure.’
The 42-year-old, who filed for divorce from Brad in September 2016, went on to explain she’d experienced a lot of heartache and personal struggle in the lead-up to the film and their marital split, which also caused more tension in the relationship.
She added that while the failed film – which she pushed Brad, 53, to make – had some positive effects, it ultimately opened the couple up to even more problems that they simply couldn’t fix.
‘Over the span of that decade, I did lose my mother,’ she revealed. ‘I did have my mastectomy, and I did then have an ovarian cancer scare and have that surgery as well, and other things of course that happened in life that you go through.
‘A piece of art can be something that’s healing or something that’s difficult. I don’t know. I’m glad we did that film, because we did explore something together.
‘Whatever it was, maybe it didn’t solve certain things, but we did communicate something that needed to be communicated.’
Adds a friend: ‘Ange is really pouring out her heart at the moment. It’s been over a year since the split, and she’s at her lowest point.
‘She blames herself for the split and knows all the problems came out while they were filming By The Sea. Looking back, she wishes she’d never written the movie and they’d never made it together.
‘If she hadn’t, then maybe their problems wouldn’t have escalated and they would’ve carried on being a happy, loving family. Brad’s drinking wouldn’t have kicked up a notch, and there wouldn’t have been all this darkness around them.
‘She’s really tearing herself up over it all at the moment – she thinks it’s all her fault.’
Ange’s candid confession – that she is to blame for their marital split – flies in the face of Brad’s admissions that his drinking had lead to problems in the marriage, telling GQ that he could ‘drink a Russian under the table’.
He continued: ‘I mean I stopped everything except boozing when I started my family. But even this last year, you know – things I wasn’t dealing with. I was boozing too much. It’s just become a problem. And I’m really happy it’s been half a year now, which is bittersweet, but I’ve got my feelings in my fingertips again. I think that’s part of the human challenge: you either deny them all of your life or you answer them and evolve.’
The pair continue to work through their divorce settlement.
‘I heard one lawyer say: “No-one wins in court – it’s just a matter of who gets hurt worse,”’ Brad admits.
And Ange says she hates being single. ‘Sometimes maybe it appears I am pulling it all together,’ the newly single mum told the UK’S Telegraph. ‘But really I am just trying to get through my days.
‘I don’t enjoy being single. It’s not something I wanted. There are no upsides, there’s nothing nice about it. It’s just hard.’