BRAD AND JEN Could this really be the sequel?
A look of love, a soft embrace... years after THAT dream marriage collapsed, the tantalising pictures that have millions of fans praying for a new fairytale ending
TWENTY years, three divorces and six children have passed since their beautiful, black-and-white wedding photograph. So when Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt embraced warmly at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night, it was a very big deal indeed.
They were older, wiser, had been delivered more than their fair share of public knocks over the years, but when their eyes locked it was as if time had stood still. We were back to the good old days of Brad and Jen, Hollywood darlings and sweethearts. A love story without an ending.
For the army of hopeless romantics on ‘Team Jen’, this was the reunion which made their day, their week, their month or even their year.
‘Brad and Jen: This is not a drill!’ yelled one fan on Twitter. Actress Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney’s sister, wrote on Instagram: ‘WE WILL BE TELLING OUR GRANDKIDS ABOUT THIS. THAT’S HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS.’
Indeed, in recent weeks it has been confidently asserted that Brad and Jennifer have remarried on a beach or plan to adopt a Mexican orphan.
SADLY, none of this is true. However, speculation has grown ever shriller since Brad and Angelina Jolie split in September 2016, and Aniston and actor Justin Theroux announced the end of their marriage in February 2018.
And it can’t be denied that these supremely eligible A-listers are now single, and are seeing each other – albeit only socially.
Pitt, still one of the most handsome men in Hollywood, was among the guests celebrating Jennifer’s 50th birthday at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles last February. More recently, he attended her annual Christmas party, and was one of the last to leave. At the Golden Globes earlier this month she was seen clapping rather adoringly during his acceptance speech. They hung out at length at a private party afterwards.
And now, finally, comes a reunion in public – complete with hand-holding, delighted smiles and what seems to be a flirty eye-lock. Cue mayhem!
One well-placed source says it was no accident: ‘The timing is absolutely right and both of them are happy to spark off the idea that they might get back together, as it’s a great poke in the eye for their exes.
‘But more than that, you can see from the look on his face that he is in love with her. He’s always been a softie and a serial monogamist.’
One friend says that ‘nothing can be ruled out’.
But another reveals that Brad is – heartbreak! – currently dating other women. However, if he and Aniston reconnect, it would be the twist to end all twists in the blockbuster story of their romance.
And writing the script, it turns out, is Jennifer Aniston herself.
For the story behind the Brad and Jen reunion is one of superlative forgiveness and graciousness on her side.
Devastated as she was after being publicly dumped 15 years ago, she recently loaned him her team of stylists to see him through awards season.
She also offered to go to court as a character witness for Brad when he was being ‘killed’ in his divorce from Jolie two years ago.
But back to Sunday night in Los Angeles. On the way to the SAG awards, Pitt, 56, was asked about his ex-wife and said, with a relaxed smile: ‘I’ll run into Jen – she’s a good friend, yeah.’
He delighted her when delivering a speech after being named best supporting actor for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
‘Let’s be honest. It was a difficult part. A guy who gets high, takes his shirt off and doesn’t get on with his wife. It was a big stretch.’
This rather bold swipe at former wife Jolie brought the house down, and made the first Mrs Pitt beam from her seat in the auditorium.
Later in the evening, while backstage, Brad paused in front of a monitor to watch Jennifer take to the stage to win outstanding performance by a female actor for her role in The Morning Show. His reaction? A smile and: ‘Wow!’
Soon afterwards, he had the chance to congratulate her in person, grasping her hand as she touched his lapel.
AFTER the ceremony, they both attended the Netflix party.
The pair were introduced by their respective agents in 1998 and married in a clifftop Malibu ceremony two years later. They hired a 40-member gospel choir and splurged €58,000 on fireworks. What, everyone thought, could possibly go wrong? Enter Angelina Jolie. Brad met Angelina in 2004 when they co-starred in the crime thriller Mr & Mrs Smith.
Shortly afterwards, he and Jen announced they were splitting up, but insisted that it had nothing to do with Angelina.
Nevertheless, Brad and Jolie became a couple soon afterwards, leaving Jen heartbroken.
She wept in front of interviewers and declared: ‘I’m a human being having a human experience in front of the whole world.’ Nonetheless, she was far more popular in Hollywood than the twice-divorced Jolie, who arrived in the public eye trailing stories of drug abuse and wearing vials of blood.
The public bought ‘Team Jen’ and ‘Team Ange’ T-shirts, but there was
no contest in Tinseltown.
Pitt and Jolie withdrew from Hollywood, buying a mansion in France and raising six children, three of whom are adopted.
Far from being consumed by bitterness, Aniston seemed to look better every year (workouts, facials, fabulous hair).
In 2015, she married actor Justin
Theroux at their Bel Air home.
After nine years together, Brad and Angie finally tied the knot in 2014, but separated just two years later when it was sensationally alleged that a ‘drunk’ Brad had got physical with eldest son Maddox during a confrontation aboard a private jet. Both the FBI and social services investigated, and Brad was exonerated. Yet that was not the end of it.
Four years of vicious fighting – over everything from money to the children – and their divorce has still not been finalised.
Brad, who admitted to having had problems with alcohol, is now sober and is being supported by a large group of friends. Crucially, these include some in Jennifer’s circle, notably actresses Laura Dern and Courteney Cox.
A source said: ‘Brad has always had access to Jen’s inner circle, via Laura and Courteney. Even during those years when they weren’t speaking, there was a sort of indirect contact: they could check in on each other.
‘The relationship between them thawed particularly after her divorce from Justin. Brad has now stopped denying that the marriage was wrecked by Angelina Jolie.
‘Of course, he knows that Angelina will be made as mad as a snake by the pictures. Both of them can see that the story is that Jen has “won” and that the public will go crazy – and they are both in a place where they can actually enjoy the attention.
‘The timing is great as they are both going through this awards season on the crest of a wave.’
They were reported to have renewed contact by text in 2017 and to be on warm terms by the end of the year. Now she has introduced him to her stylists, Nina and Clare Hollworth.
He is under her wing again and the industry is welcoming him back after his somewhat fallow Angelina period.
‘He’s an intelligent man, he’s sober now, and he can laugh at himself,’ I’m told.
Meanwhile, Jennifer has never been more in demand or, shimmering in an ivory vintage Dior gown on Sunday, more gorgeous.
Professionally, she is on a high thanks to The Morning Show, a project for Apple TV which she originated with her friend, Reese Witherspoon, and for which she is being paid €18million a season.
She told The New York Times: ‘I’m entering into what I feel is one of the most creatively fulfilling periods of my life.
‘I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I feel like it’s just about to really bloom.’
Last year she joined Instagram and immediately broke the record for getting a million followers in the shortest amount of time.
She credits her girlfriends and her dogs with making her happy, saying: ‘I’ve had more fun post-40 than I can remember – from a work point of view, a physical point of view, a psychotherapeutic point of view.’
Doing it her way, with grace and good humour, she has proved that nice girls can finish first after all.
But, crucially, will we see a rerun of Brad And Jen, The Love Story? Never say never...