A
year after she blindsided Brad
Pitt with divorce papers,
Angelina Jolie continues to
twist the knife with her words.
In a September 13 interview
with The New York Times, the
actress called the six kids she shares with Brad
- Maddox, 16, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 11,
and nine-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - ‘the best friends I ever had’, adding that
‘nobody in my life has ever stood by me more’.
The Times writer caught Ange’s shade.
‘That last sentence hung in the air,’ the
journalist wrote, ‘perhaps a subtle allusion
to, or indictment of, Mr Pitt.’ Ange also
seemed to imply that she and the kids are
better off now without Brad. ‘None of it’s
easy,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s very, very difficult,
a very painful situation, and I just want my
family healthy. They’re getting better.’
While Ange made it clear her marriage
was no fairytale romance, Brad is running
back to the great love of his life: Jennifer
Aniston. Nearly 13 years after Brad, 53, and
the Friends star, 48, shocked the world and
announced they were splitting after four-and-
a-half years of marriage, the actor is hoping
to forge a new relationship with his ex-wife.
Brad, whose reputation and parenting
skills were smeared by Ange, 42, in the
wake of their split, ‘wants and needs Jen
in his life, especially during this trying
time’, a source tells OK! exclusively.
But Jen’s husband Justin Theroux needn’t
worry. ‘Brad wouldn’t dream of breaking
up her marriage,’ says the insider. ‘Brad’s
leaning on her as a confidant now. His
renewed relationship with Jen has been
a huge source of support and comfort
through the toughest year of his life.’
Ange has gotten wind of the renewed
bond between Brad and Jen – and she isn’t
happy. In fact, says the insider, ‘She’s furious.
Jen’s always been Angelina’s greatest rival
when it comes to Brad. She hates the way
that she has always been depicted as the
evil femme fatale and Jen as the girl-next-
door victim in the famous love triangle.
Jen, meanwhile, takes delight in Ange’s
anger. ‘She’s getting her well-deserved
revenge,’ says the source. ‘Jen feels Angelina
lorded her relationship with Brad over
her all these years.’ (Indeed, in 2006, Ange
bragged to Vog u e that she and Brad fell
in love on the set Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which
they filmed when he was still wed to Jen.
‘That stuff about how she couldn’t wait to
get to work every day?’ Jen later said. ‘That
was really uncool.’) Now, notes the insider,
‘Jen’s having the last laugh. She loves that
fact she has become his confidant.’
Two emotional conversations cemented
their new-found friendship. As part of Brad’s
newly sober lifestyle – ‘I was boozing too
much,’ he told GQ earlier this year – he has
stopped drinking and started apologising
to those he wronged.
And Jen ‘was the person highest on his
apology list’, says the source. So he called
her in June and expressed his sorrow. ‘Bradflat-out apologised for all the heartache and
pain he caused by leaving her for Angelina.
He came off as genuinely sorry, and Jen was
deeply touched. She was completely won over.’
Brad, however, wasn’t satisfied. While Justin
was out of town working recently, Brad
reached out to Jen again. ‘They did some major
catching up,’ says a second source. During thetalk, Brad didn’t hold back. He opened up
to Jen about the infamous plane incident
last September when he allegedly got drunk
and got physical with Maddox, the split from
Ange, and the subsequent custody battle
that still rages on today. ‘He soberly spoke
about hitting rock bottom,’ says the source,
‘and how he made the climb out.’
He then offered another mea culpa.
‘He launched into a grand apology,’ says
the insider. ‘He apologised for being an
absentee husband in the marriage – being
stoned and bored much of the time. He also
made amends for being an avoider, getting
lost and in a serious drinking-and-getting-
high phase when he fell for Angelina while
making Mr. & Mrs. Smith.’
Brad, who knows Jen is married and is
glad for her, even wistfully wondered what
might have been. ‘He told Jen they might
still even be married if he were emotionally
and physically present and sober at the time.
It was the most intimate conversation Brad
had ever had with Jen,’ who famously said
in 2005 that he’s missing a ‘sensitivity chip’.
However, not all of Brad and Jen’s
conversations have been so deep. The twoBRAD’S RENEWED
RELATIONSHIP WITH
JEN HAS BEEN
A HUGE SUPPORT
(^) OCTOBER 16, 2017 2 9
THEY LOST
A CHILD
Over the course of their
four-and-a-half-year
marriage, ‘Jen and Brad
desperately wanted kids,’
reveals a source. At the time,
though, parenthood wasn’t
in the cards for the couple:
Jen reportedly miscarried.
THEY HAD A
SAD GOODBYE
Though they had already
decided to split, Jen and
Brad holidayed in Anguilla
in January 2005. Days after
they held hands on the
beach, the pair confirmed
they were separating, but
remained ‘caring friends’.
THEY’VE BEEN
THROUGH SO MUCH!
HE
CHEATED
Brad fell hard for
Angelina on the set of
Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2004,
the year before he and
Jennifer split up. While
making the movie,
‘I fell in love,’ Brad told
Rolling Stone.