What Angelina Jolie Wants You To Forget About Her Relationship With Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's relationship ended exactly like it started: With a huge media bang. And now that it's over, we're guessing there are moments from their decade-plus romance that Jolie would probably like people to forget. From their shady hookup to their gushing displays of public affection, Brangelina was a wild ride that will go down in Hollywood history. But it's definitely full of some cringe-worthy moments that have to be tough for Jolie to look back on.

In January 2005, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston released a joint statement announcing they were separating. They also included a denial about why they were splitting, but nobody was buying it.

"For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any speculation reported by the tabloid media," the couple wrote (via Us Weekly.) "This decision is the result of much thoughtful consideration. We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another."

The speculation was about Pitt cheating on Aniston with his Mr. and Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie, which everyone now knows was definitely happening. However, at the time, Pitt and Jolie were denying everything and shot down reports they were in a relationship. But just a few short months after the separation announcement, Pitt and Jolie were photographed together on a beach in Kenya. The cat was officially out of the bag.

Brangelina was born.

In July 2005, just seven months after his split from Aniston, Pitt and Jolie appeared on the cover of W Magazine to promote Mr. and Mrs. Smith in a photo shoot titled "Domestic Bliss." It was poorly timed to say the least. And it didn't help that the feature included an unfortunate quote from Jolie about how she couldn't wait to get work every day while filming the movie with Pitt. Awkward.

A few months later, Aniston sat down with Vanity Fair where she spoke candidly about her divorce and finding out that something had been going on with Jolie despite Pitt telling her otherwise. However, Aniston remained cordial, but she did have some thoughts on the W photo shoot after learning that Pitt conceptualized the whole idea.

After shaking her head in exasperation, Aniston said. "I can also imagine Brad having absolutely no clue why people would be appalled by it. Brad is not mean-spirited; he would never intentionally try to rub something in my face. In hindsight, I can see him going, 'Oh—I can see that that was inconsiderate.' But I know Brad. Brad would say, 'That's art!'"

Aniston then put the situation more bluntly. "There's a sensitivity chip that's missing."

When their relationship started, Jolie only had one son, Maddox, who she adopted shortly before ending her relationship with Billy Bob Thornton. But in July 2005, around the time of the infamous W Magazine photo shoot, Jolie adopted Zahara from an orphanage from Ethiopia. And that was just the start of the Pitt-Jolie's growing brood. In January 2006, People broke the big news that Jolie was pregnant just a month after Pitt had filed to adopt Zahara and Maddox, officially making him their father.

Keep in mind, Pitt had just separated from Aniston in January 2005, and in one year, he was already on his way to having three kids with Jolie. Talk about fast! It also added fuel to the overwhelming media narrative that Pitt left Aniston because she didn't want to have a baby. But Aniston's friends denied that was the case during her 2005 Vanity Fair interview.

"When Brad and Jen were in the marriage, having a baby was not his priority—ever," a friend said. "It was an abstract desire for him, whereas for Jen it was much more immediate. So is there a part of Brad that's diabolical? Did he think, I need to get out of this marriage, but I want to come out smelling like a rose, so I'm going to let Jen be cast as the ultra-feminist and I'm going to get cast as the poor husband who couldn't get a baby and so had to move on?"

After initially denying when their relationship really began, in late 2008, Pitt and Jolie admitted in separate interviews that their romance began while filming Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Which, for the record, was when Pitt was still very much married to Aniston.

While talking to Rolling Stone, Pitt said that Mr. and Mrs. Smith is his favorite movie, "Because I fell in love." Jolie echoed Pitt's sentiments in her interview with The New York Times, but she went even further by saying that she hopes her children will one day get to watch the film.

"Not a lot of people get to see a movie where their parents fell in love," Jolie said. "What's going to be funny is when they think Mom and Dad are a little bit cool. Because right now, we're not cool Mom and Dad."

In fairness, Pitt and Jolie want to have a special moment showing their kids when they met, which is completely understandable. But where things get awkward is the fact that Pitt was essentially having an affair, which makes it kind of hard to view their romance as a Hallmark moment for the whole family.

As Brangelina's romance (and family) continued to grow, the couple definitely weren't afraid to get affectionate on the red carpet and gush about their love for each other, according to People. The two were often spotted sharing kisses, leaning in close at awards shows, and on one occasion, maybe getting a little too frisky. In hindsight, it seems like the couple was going overboard to sell their romance, which we now know was doomed to end.

We're also pretty sure Jolie would like to forget the 2012 Oscars when her leg became a viral sensation thanks to a revealing dress and some provocative posing. It's probably one of the only times looking sexy backfired on the actress, and while her ex-husband is in the picture to boot.

In 2014, Pitt and Jolie were working in different parts of the globe. He was in London filming Fury, and she was in Australia directing Unbroken. But the two found a way to keep their passion burning — by pretending they were in World War II? Hey, whatever works.

"He was supportive from a distance, and it was quite romantic in a way," Jolie told People. "We decided to be of that time, when we could imagine he was in the European theater and I was in the Pacific theater, and we wrote handwritten letters to each other that were very connecting for us, thinking of the people that were separated for months, if not years, at a time back then."

Nothing like the world knowing you were into some serious role-playing with your ex, right?

Not long after going public with their romance, Pitt famously told Esquire readers in 2006 that he and Jolie "will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able." Granted, that was a courageous stance to take in 2006, but Branglina did not wait until gay marriage was legal and tied the knot in a lavish wedding in France in August 2014. They were immediately taken to task by the LGBT community.

"It's as if they didn't want to get married in 2006 and said, 'What if we say it's because gay people can't get married? Then people will stop bothering us about getting hitched and we'll look so noble,'" Brian Moylan wrote for Time. "Now that they've had their ceremony and the wedding cake is in the freezer, it looks like their declaration was mercenary rather than thoughtful."

In Pitt and Jolie's defense, the couple reportedly tied the knot after overwhelming pressure from their kids who were very involved in planning the wedding, according to People. That's a tough spot to be in, and ultimately, Brangelina chose their children over their activism.

However, Moylan proposed an easy compromise. "Leading by example is what gay and lesbian Americans really need, but since they've failed at that, we'll at least take their money."

After their wedding, Pitt and Jolie flew their entire family to Malta where they filmed By The Sea, which was written and directed by Jolie. The couple claims the characters in the film don't represent them, but there were an awful lot of similarities.

"By the Sea deals with that period when the honeymoon is well over and the couple is faced with the banality of every day and the pains of the unplanned," Pitt told Vanity Fair. "There are no Hallmark cards that define the next chapter, or the value of a history together. So who are you?"

While describing his character who has a penchant for drowning his sorrows with booze, Pitt made a comment that turned out to be an eerie bit of foreshadowing for his actual life. "I play a good drunk because I've been a good drunk."

The film did not go over well with audiences and critics, according to Rotten Tomatoes, and it's hard not to see By The Sea as the first noticeable sign that things weren't exactly going well in Brangelina Land.

In September 2016, TMZ sent shockwaves through the entertainment world when it reported that not only had Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, but sources connected to the actress made some pretty serious claims about his parenting. "Angelina became 'fed up' with Brad's consumption of weed and possibly alcohol, and mixed with what she believes is 'an anger problem' ... felt it became dangerous for the children," TMZ reported.

The news seemingly came out of nowhere, and for good reason. According to Us Weekly, Jolie had made the decision barely a week before filing papers, and the catalyst was an incident that reportedly occurred on a private jet.

While the details of what really happened are fuzzy, TMZ reported that some sort of altercation allegedly occurred between Pitt and Maddox while the actor may or may not have been drunk. Ultimately, Pitt was cleared of child abuse after being "exhaustively investigated" by L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services, but Jolie was still convinced that he posed a threat to the children.

Things were about to get ugly.

Despite Pitt being cleared of child abuse, the couple were locked in a nasty custody battle that spilled into the tabloids to the point where Lainey Gossip dubbed it "World War Brange." After several months of allegations over who was damaging the children the most by their dirty laundry being aired in public, Pitt and Jolie finally agreed to seal the documents in January 2017, according to TMZ, but not without Jolie's lawyer taking jabs at Pitt in the process by accusing him of trying to "deflect from [his] own role in the media storm which has engulfed the parties' children."

"There is little doubt that [Brad] would prefer to keep the entire case private," Jolie's lawyer also wrote in legal documents. "Particularly given the detailed investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Dept. of Children and Family Services into allegation of abuse."

However, TMZ thought this was a weird thing to say considering the investigation had been widely reported and that Pitt had been cleared. But to Pitt and Jolie's credit, the trail went cold on their custody battle, and their teams worked to keep the issue private.

Despite an extremely nasty custody battle where Pitt was accused of abusing his children, which TMZ reported in August 2017 took reconciliation off the table for the Fight Club actor, conflicting reports have been emerging about the state of the couple's divorce. And according to Page Six, Jolie isn't exactly enjoying the single life. Toss in reports of Pitt's cars being at Jolie's house, and the tabloid wheels are already spinning about the two getting back together. Granted, sources close to the couple told The Daily Mail that the divorce is still on and a reunion isn't happening, Brangelina haven't exactly been honest about their relationship before. So who knows what might happen?