In an interview with Parade magazine, Brad Pitt said he 'wasn't living an interesting life' when he was married to Jennifer Aniston
It’s not you it’s me.
Or in this case it wasn’t Jennifer Aniston, it was Brad Pitt.
World media outlets went into a frenzy last week when Brad Pitt (apparently) admitted that his five-year marriage to Jennifer Aniston ended because ‘he wasn’t living an interesting life’.
I was a bit shocked when I read the reports. Jennifer Aniston boring? I find that hard to believe.
Here’s what Brad said in his interview with Parade magazine:
In your younger days, you were not known for charitable work or, frankly, seen as much of a family man. Was there an event that changed how you saw yourself in the world?
“I spent the ’90s trying to hide out, trying to duck the full celebrity cacophony. It wigged me out a bit. I started to get sick of myself sitting on a couch, holding a joint, hiding out. It started feeling pathetic. It became very clear to me that I was so intent on trying to find a movie about an interesting life, but I wasn’t living an interesting life myself. I think that my marriage [to actress Jennifer Aniston] had something to do with it. Trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn’t.”
Everyone was quick to assume that it must have been an uninteresting Jen who was making Brad’s life so pathetic. Especially after he added that his subsequent relationship with Angelina Jolie had made him a ‘satisfied man’.
But in a statement released by his talent agency after the commotion, Brad Pitt said his words were misinterpreted.
Reuters reports:
“It grieves me that this was interpreted this way. Jen is an incredibly giving, loving, and hilarious woman who remains my friend. It is an important relationship I value greatly. The point I was trying to make is not that Jen was dull, but that I was becoming dull to myself — and that, I am responsible for,” Pitt said in the statement.
As it turns out, what Brad was trying to convey was that it was his relationship that had made him uninteresting. He felt that he had changed and that had affected the state of his marriage. He didn’t like the person he had become. Maybe he looked in the mirror one day and saw a face he didn’t recognise; a person he didn’t like.
The words ‘it’s not you it’s me’ are often used as an easy way out of a relationship (and I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve used them before.) But maybe they do speak the truth.
Have you ever been in a relationship where you didn’t like the person you had become?
And here is a little gallery of Brad Pitt (just because we can).
Brad channels a hit man for Interview magazine.
Comments
66 Comments so far
I still love you Brady!
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Meh, I used to care. And I was team Jen. It’s a bit odd that journos keep mentioning it, though, it was so long ago.
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“Maybe he looked in the mirror one day and saw a face he didn’t recognise” – that’s a big call for one of the world’s most recognisable faces! ha ;D
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After reading this maybe he is defending his partner and mother of his children from the continual media bashing she gets. Jen and brad broke up so long ago, Brad has a bloody 5year old!! Calm down Ange haters, who cares, seriously WHY DO YOU CARE!!!
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I dated a guy into university for about a year and I had to break up with him when I realised what a bitch I’d become. He put me on a total pedestal and it just was not an even power balance. I think I resented him for loving me for someone I wasn’t and I used to deliberately pick fights and provoke him just to see if he’d finally stand up to me. I wanted someone to think I was an asshole sometimes and still love me, not love me because they thought I was someone I wasn’t. As bad as it sounds and as nice as he was, it’s irritating being with someone who has this completely unrealistic view of you. Now I’m in a relationship where the power balance is even and it’s so much better.
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Brad and Ange seem happy together. I can’t stand Jennifer Aniston, but she broke up with Brad. I still remember seeing those images of Brad an Angelina onset in mr and mrs smith, the one where they were opposite each other and she’s leaning back on a railing? Totally something going on! It irks me how Jennifer always said how much she loved Brad and painted Angelina as stealing her husband…but NO MAN can be led astray unless he wants to be. Oh God I can’t believe I’m even responding to the whole Brad and Ange and Jen story…damn it!! I get what he’s saying and I hate Gwyneth and Jennifer…he has gone through his most famous period and didn’t like he was and who he had become. I’ve gone through the same in relationships and even work.
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It doesn’t really matter if Brad was taken out of context, it really is poor form that after what 8/9 years after their divorce he still has to put the boot in.
She was humiliated enough that he left her for Angelina, and then gloat how happy he was. Good luck to him, but really can’t he just leave it alone, much water is under the bridge now and the reason that Jennifer has so much more class than him, regardless if she is boring is b/c she doesn’t feel the need to have to talk about a past relationship all the time, and when I have seen her in interviews and has been asked about the marriage she has always been coy and still respectful on Brad.
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I don’t care for weddings, but Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s wedding photo is just so goddamn beautiful.
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Gosh that man can look sooooo gorgeous!
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Funny I was just having this conversation with a friend at lunch.
Sometimes so couplings are toxic. Each person may not be toxic but one or the other may bring out the worst in a person. This does not make them a bad person.
Not saying Jen and Brad were toxic. But I do understand what Brad was saying when he didn’t like the person he was in the married. Brad may have not been the worst – but he may have not been his best either!
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If I’m not mistaken he was with Gwyneth Paltrow in the 90s (before he broke off their engagement and later took up with Jen) so why is anyone surprised he’s admitting his life was a tad “pathetic” back then? Anyone who has ever read or seen an interview with the pompous Gwyneth over the years would sadly have to admit “pathetic” is indeed one word for it… In my opinion he traded up in both of his subsequent relationships.
But seriously, as for the brouhaha over these comments, surely it’s just a case of a man publicly sticking up for the women he is now with and speaking highly of the mother of his children to acknowledge the role she has played in making him a happy and fulfilled man.
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I still do not understand, how anyone, with any kind of intelligence, even those with very little intelligence, can fail to understand that none of “us” (people that aren’t actually friends with any celebritys) don’t know anything about them!
All the information you all get, from magazines, to interviews (yes, even direct quotes from the actors themselves) are CONSTRUCTS of who the celebrity’s team and the media have CREATED. They are not real, Brad Pitt to us is the Brad Pitt they have made, and probably bears little resemblance to his actually personality.
How anyone fails to understand this is completely beyond me, all this “once a cheater always a cheater” or “Jen is the girl next door, Angelina is a scheming minx” non of this is based on any actual facts about the real people. It may match their persona, that they have either created themselves, or the media themselves. Do you not understand that all this love triangle bullshit is a created situation, none of “us” know anything about it. Why do people spend energy on this, why is there still articles about this, why can’t we discuss real relationship issues. Of course, someone will say that they used this as a platform to discuss real issues, such as how we see ourselves in our relationships, but really, people just clicked on this to find out what they think is real information about real people.
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I would love to see a count of the headlines that I have seen n magazines about Brad and Angelina’s relationship. Every week it is Brad leaving Ange to go back to Jen, Ange leaves Brad, Ange is pregnant, Jen is pregnant, Ange is adopting another baby, Jen is adopting!!! I don’t understand how the editors of magazines can publish a story without a single fact in it and then turn around the next week and publish a story that still contains no facts but says the complete opposite. I have given up my last magazine (Who) and feel sad about it, I had been reading it since it first started. And is it just me or does Brad seem not too smart?
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I think you’re spot on.
This is exactly why I think we take sides and get angry because we’re not really seeing them, we’re seeing us. The fairytale we want.
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People are commenting that Jennifer is boring. Maybe, but she handled the break up, which must have been incredibly painful … brutal, with such diplomacy and grace.
Can you imagine the enormous pain of a marriage breakup, plus public awareness & the other woman an internationally renowned actress.
Doubt many people would have handled it as she did.
That is why so many people think highly of her.
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Very true. SHe definitely has class.
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I agree, she must be a very strong, amazing woman. I know a few women who have in the last few years, been through marriage breakups and they have been to hell and back, emotionally and mentally. It took them a long time to get their lives back on track. So for her to have survived that so publically and knowing he hooked up with such a super woman, I just dont know how she did it.
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I remember seeing a programme a couple of years ago that talked about Angelina’s response to the whole ”cheating with a married man” thing.
They said that as soon as the story broke about her and Brad Pitt she flew to Africa and invited some press along to report on her charitable works there, so that she wouldn’t be in the USA when the media exploded with details of their affair.
Its quite telling that we only started to hear about her ‘charitable side’ once details of their affair emerged. I always question why celebrities don’t just make ‘anonymous’ donations or why they don’t just go to these places in private, how come they take along dozens of photographers and invite the media to report on their good works?
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To raise awareness. Sudan was getting no publicity about the true atrocities that was happening to the Southern Sudanese until celebrities like George Clooney got involved. He isn’t a medic or a hostage negotiator so the only real value he could bring was the world’s attention to the issue. And it worked, pressure brought about the independence of Southern Sudan.
And yes, Angelina did do charity work before her and Brad Pitt got together. She started a program in Cambodia for orphans, not a well known program but if you do go to Cambodia you can see the good work she has done everywhere (yes I’ve been and witnessed with my own eyes). Her Goodwill Ambassador role is exactly like George Cloonys role- to raise awareness in areas that are often overlooked and forgotten.
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I agree it brings awareness…..just saying it seemed alittle convenient in timing thats all.
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I think George Clooney, Matt Damon etc. really do help draw attention to issues. They are extremely famous, so garner attention, but they aren’t gossip fodder like Brad and Angelina. Plus they know their stuff, they aren’t just lending a pretty face to a random cause.
When Angelina does it all anyone is talking about is whether she looks pregnant/anorexic, what’s she’s wearing, did she bring the kids, did she bring Brad, if she didn’t why not… She doesn’t seem to do much to prevent this, eg. answering questions about her personal life whilst on UN visits. I doubt many people who see pictures of her doing charity work could name the country or cause 5 minutes after seeing it. So I’m not sure her work is a help or hindrance.
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Hmm are you having a dig at women here? Matt Damon and George do a better job than Angelina because the media is obsessed with her life. Seriously man relax, she does a wonderful job. Leave it be
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Bringing the press along can be to help raise awareness of the plight / poverty. Anyway, Ange does a lot more for charities than a lot of other celebrities do.
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pretty sure she was charitable before that.
when she filmed lara croft she went to cambodia where she feel in love with he place, doing charity and ended up adopting maddox.
This was in the Billy bob days
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He’s looked pretty ordinary since he’s been with Angelina. Jen had him at his hottest. If I was Jen that would please me.
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I think he has gotten much better with age, more rugged. But maybe thats just my taste. That second shot with his shirt open is my favourite though.
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Facial hair is not my thing, I liked him in his younger clean cut days!
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mmmm, not sure about the whole straggly bearded hobo look.
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I completely understand what he is saying. My husband and I try and move forward together as a couple, as a family, and as individuals. This involves a lot of compromise, and if you’re not totally into the relationship it can be very difficult to make sure everyone gets a fair deal. Oddly, I think this is harder as a couple because when you have kids, you tend to focus on their needs.
As far as the Jen-Brad-Ange situation goes, I was a celebrity gossip columnist when all this was going down, and Brad Pitt made several statements that weren’t very carefully considered. I don’t think he guards himself in that way.
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He seems to suffer from major foot in mouth disease! When will he learn to shut up?! It was so unnecessary & hurtful to say these things – even if they wr misinterpreted why discuss his previous marriage at all?!
Wasn’t it enough that he cheated on Jennifer & left her for ANgelina & then did that unbelievable magazine photo shoot depicting happy families?!
This guy is a walking torture chamber!
Just stfu Brad.
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Seeing the photos of Jen and Brad I just thought ‘Ouch’. Its gotta hurt. She looked so happy. But I can also see how he looks to be living a much more interesting life with Ange. Either way, he owes us no explanations, only Jen. I don’t feel the need to judge him.
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The article made sense to me because of that last line – that Brad was ‘ trying to pretend the marriage was something it wasn’t’. Maybe he realised that Jennifer wasn’t the person for him, and simply fell out of love, but the rest of the world still had this expectation that they were a perfect, golden couple.
When you think how much hype there was around “Brad ‘n Jen” – how much speculation about how beautiful their babies would be, for example – is it any wonder that he felt it was difficult to live up to the expectations?
Good on them for cutting their losses and going their own separate ways.
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In many ways I think the reason we’re all so obsessed with the Brad Pitt/Jen Aniston thing is because Jen was the girl next door, Rachel from Friends, someone we all saw a little bit of ourselves in. And Brad Pitt is… Brad Pitt!
When they got married, it was a bit of hope for girls everywhere. A fairytale. The girl next door got to marry Brad Pitt.
I feel that we’re so quick to slam him or Angelina for him leaving Jen because when he left her, he left her for someone more predictable. The prettiest man in the world got together with the hottest woman in the world. Yawn! He destroyed it, we wanted to believe.
In answer to your question, my ex brought out the worst in me. Took me 4 years to realise. Sometimes you have to be with someone who loves the you you want to be.
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So well said MissT, think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. We were mad at Brad for destroying our dreams and as you said, being such a predictable man!
I certainly became someone I didn’t like and didn’t want to be in my previous relationship and it was only when I ended it and spent sometime single discovering who I really am that I became truly happy with my life
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Can I point something out that everyone seems to be missing? He’s talking about the 90′s. He says he was trying to avoid the trappings of celebrity by hiding out with a joint. He was boring IN THE 90′s. He met Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her in 2000. It seems he found himself boring long before Jen A came onto the scene.
Considering that both Brad and Jen have repeately stated they have utmost respect for each other it seems like wilful misinterpretation o his comments to try and turn it into a slight on Jen A.
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He’s been in the game long enough to know that any mention of his previous marriage will make headlines around the world, why even mention it?
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I doubt his life would be boring now
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I think everyone spends so much time judging others without actually knowing them. It’s ridiculous. I’ve just unpacked the same issue on my blog, about Gen Y and job hopping. It makes me mad that people just can’t leave each other alone. or that they are so against change.
http://www.theyouthlife.net
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I totally get what Brad was trying to say
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I get so sick of Angelina bashing. This woman spends a ton of money and chunk of her life working with refugees as the UN’s Goodwill Ambassador and she donates huge chunks of her money to various charities.
What the hell does Jennifer do, every pic I see of her is on a beach in Mexico. Fair enough, each to their own but for god’s sake, I can see where Brad is coming from, seems he is making a difference in the world now (his Hurricane Katrina project), so maybe that is Angelina’s influence MAYBE she is a kind generous woman (gasp!). Stop bashing successful beautiful woman, kudos to Angelina she is making a difference to this planet, not just propping up Mexico’s tourism industry.
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I think that’s unfair to Jennifer Aniston. How do we know she doesn’t help just as much as Angelina? Just because she doesn’t invite the world’s press along with her doesn’t mean she’s not just as generous.
I don’t care for either of them to be honest, but it seems that people who know her have always said Jennifer is an extremely generous person.
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I guess what I’m trying to say is the same old adage- only two people know what is really happening in a relationship and two people are responsible for nurturing it. Whether Jennifer is equally generous is irrelevant, the marriage didn’t work they moved on. One partner moved on quickly and started a family the other not so fast, but why paint the new woman as the bad guy in all this. I hate how women do this, nobody knows what really went on but let’s be above the judgement. Angelina is perhaps to some a bad person but having personally seen the good she has done it just annoys me that she is painted as a villain.
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“but why paint the new woman as the bad guy in all this”
Ummm…because she got involved with a married man and then boasted about them falling in love on set?
I personally don’t particularly like or dislike her, but I do understand why people don’t look at her in the most favorable light.
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This isn’t really in reply to you, but I always find it odd when people try to suggest the way Jennifer Aniston lives is somehow different from the way Brad & Angelina live. If anything, she lives a simpler life.
Angelina does a lot of good work, but she also spends tens of millions of dollars each year on renting palatial estates, she buys a lot of real estate as well as aircrafts, she has full-time hairstylists and make-up artists, she wears thousands of dollars of designer clothing every day, she let’s her young daughter have a custom made designer bag…she’s just as guilty of living a wildly hedonistic life as Jennifer with her Mexican vacations.
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I think there may be some ‘schaudenfreud’ (sorry, spelling?) involved here. I mean Jennifer A is gorgeous, rich, has amazing hair and a great body but still got dumped and has struggled with relationships ever since. Makes us feel a little better possibly?
I have family in LA who work in the entertainment business and they say word in the industry is that JA is not that nice – controlling, shallow and vain. Hmmmm.
Anyway, Brad’s revelations are definitely interesting and generating some great discussion on here.
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I also have family friend in industry over there that said JA is boring too…
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I know someone in media who said Jen was downright rude when they met, lol. Aren’t we b*tchy!
To be honest I never liked her, not even in friends. She has an unfriendly face.
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I am definitely a better person & better at being someone’s partner, now that I am with The Right Person – whereas during my first marriage I was a horrible, selfish, bad person & terrible partner. It’s not that I or my ex-husband were horrible people but we did bring out the worst in each other.
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i find it interesting that he gets called all names under the sun for referencing his marriage, but Jen has said numerous things about him since their split and its ok.
His relationship wasnt what he wanted or thought it would be like. Its not a crime to say that. Im sure every single person has had moments in their relationship where they realise its not what what wanted or its not making them satisfied. The relationship he is currently in made him see how different his previous life was. I feel the same way with my previous relationships. Not to knock those ex’s but looking back they were unsupportive, childish, selfish and not always a benefit in my life. But even though they werent the best relationships, they made me realise what i want now, and made me know within 3 weeks that my hubby was it.
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it is dissapointing to see him dis his ex like that… he could easily say he didnt like who he was without mentioning his marriage. get some grace Mr pitt.
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When I see Brad Pitt these days in the media, I just think, sneak, cheater and Angelina a sleaze.
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Back pedalling!
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Meh. Give me the gracious Hugh Jackman any day!
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there should be a ‘like’ button ……”like like’
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I think people sometimes get stuck in self-defeating patterns they find hard to get out of without drastic action.
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I changed in my relationship with my ex-husband and he didn’t change with me that is why he is my ex.
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According to Charlotte York it takes half the time of the relationship to get over the relationship, so Jennifer was over Brad three years ago, so why are we still banging on about it? If the people in the relationship are over it, why can’t we? I bet the media will still be going on about their marriage and why it broke up until their dying days, maybe even after (if they’re still relevant by then).
I find it interesting that to some people it’s always one person to blame for the demise of a relationship, whereas most of the time it is both parties that are at fault. They didn’t have an ugly breakup so why do we continue to try and make it into one? I can imagine both Jen and Brad being continuously baffled over the ridiculous headlines magazines have reported since their breakup.
Not an attack at MM, but in general.
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I understand where he is coming from. THere are times that I have hated who I have become with my partner because I have felt stuck and lonely. I know it wasn’t my partner but I also knew I was very unhappy
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Yes, I have come to dislike myself in relationships and it was always part of the impetus to end it!
Since my husband and I had children, I have definitely gone through stages where I’ve felt significantly less interesting and my world has felt just so so small.
And I think he would say I have become more unpredictable. Oh the emotional highs and lows! I could perhaps kid myself it’s made things more ‘interesting’ for him
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I dont care how good looking he is. He is a tool.
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Why?
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I read this interview the other day and was immediately pissed off that people were putting words in his mouth. Not once does he say Jen is dull, or bad mouth her in any way. We all know he was unhappy, that’s why he left. This Jen v Ange is just so silly. It was so long ago and all parties seem to have moved on. Its only the media and public who haven’t.
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If he meant what he said then good on him for stepping up and bothering to clarify. I reckon there might be an element of truth to it…
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I really, really, really don’t see the appeal of Mr Pitt……….sorry
But I would love a Johnny Depp montage…..yes his old enough to be my father but damn he is sexy!!
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You might like this post http://www.mamamia.com.au/entertainment/pirate-or-navy-which-one-are-you/ –
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Autoplay does not do the man justice. I had to click one by one and study each pic intently. That man is just so hot.
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