A Complete Timeline of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s Relationship
All relationships have their ups and downs, especially in Hollywood, but Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s relationship timeline is especially a subject of fascination for many. It was a scandal when the couple got together (Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston when he met Jolie on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith), but they seemed like a solid unit for over a decade…at least on the outside.
When Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in 2016, the news instantly sent shockwaves through Hollywood—and Team Jen social media users. Over the course of 12 years together, Brangelina had weathered scandals, health scares, and raising six children together. Of course, in the years following their split, even more details about their married life have come to light. But we’ll get to that.
Here, take a look back at Pitt and Jolie’s relationship, from their controversial beginnings to their lengthy divorce battle.
Alamy Stock Photo1/38Summer 2004
Pitt and Jolie meet while filming their spy thriller Mr. and Mrs. Smith—and though they deny relationship rumors initially, they both later admit that was when they “fell in love”—controversial and unfortunate because Pitt is still married to Aniston.
Getty Images2/38January 2005
With Brangelina rumors swirling, Pitt and Aniston announce their separation after five years of marriage.
Getty Images3/38March 2005
Aniston officially files for divorce from Pitt, citing “irreconcilable differences.”
LA Times via Getty Images4/38July 2005
The smoking gun: After being spotted vacationing together in Kenya in April, Brad and Angelina are featured in an extensive W magazine spread titled “Domestic Bliss.” The images depict the two as a happy couple and were taken in March. #TeamJen fans are outraged, and Aniston says there is a “sensitivity chip” missing in response to the spread. Jolie also adopts six-month-old Zahara from Ethiopia the same month; Pitt accompanies her on the trip.
Getty Images5/38January 2006
And baby makes five: Brangelina confirm they were expecting their first baby together three months after Pitt’s divorce to Aniston was finalized. A judge also grants a request to change Maddox’s and Zahara’s last names to Jolie-Pitt, and Pitt’s legal adoptions of the children are finalized soon thereafter.
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Getty Images6/38May 2006
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt is born in Namibia. She makes her debut on the cover of People a month later.
Getty Images7/38October 2006
No wedding bells just yet—Pitt says he won’t marry Jolie until “everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able.”
Getty Images8/38December 2006
As if we needed any additional confirmation, but Pitt and Jolie make it red-carpet official when they step out together at the NYC premiere of Jolie’s The Good Shepherd.
Getty Images9/38March 2007
Pitt and Jolie head to Vietnam to adopt three-year-old Pax, the newest member of the Jolie-Pitts.
Getty Images10/38February 2008
Brangelina arrive at the Independent Spirit Awards with some news: Jolie is pregnant again.
Getty Images11/38May 2008
At the Cannes Film Festival, it’s revealed that Jolie is actually expecting twins. “We weren’t expecting twins,” she tells Entertainment Weekly. “So it did shock us.”
Getty Images12/38July 2008
Twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline are born in Nice, France, in July and make their debut on the cover of People a month later. “It is chaos, but we are managing it and having a wonderful time,” Jolie tells the magazine about life as a family of six.
Amazon13/38December 2009
Ian Halperin’s book Brangelina: The Untold Story of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is released, and in it the author (who claims to have consulted nearly 900 sources) makes many shocking accusations—including that Brad cheated on Angelina.
Getty Images14/38July 2010
After News of the World publishes a report that Pitt and Jolie had split in February 2010, the couple sue the publication for the false report and win.
Getty Images15/38November 2010
This time it’s marriage rumors that are flying around after Johnny Depp refers to Brad Pitt as Angelina Jolie’s “husband” in a Vanity Fair article.
Getty Images16/38April 2012
It’s official: Jolie begins wearing a reported $1 million engagement ring from Pitt. Pitt’s manager confirms the news: “Yes, it’s confirmed. It is a promise for the future and their kids are very happy. There’s no date set at this time.”
WireImage17/38May 2013
Jolie reveals in a New York Times op-ed that she elected to undergo a preventive double mastectomy. She writes: “I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive...Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.”
ANDREW COWIE/AFP/Getty Images18/38August 2014
They’re married: The couple wed at their Chateau Miraval in France, with all six of their children involved in the ceremony. Maddox and Pax walk their mom down the aisle, Zahara and Vivienne are flower girls, and Shiloh and Knox are ring bearers.
Alamy Stock Photo19/38November 2014
Pitt and Jolie work on their first movie together since Mr. and Mrs. Smith: another relationship drama, By the Sea. It is written and directed by Jolie and stars Brangelina.
FilmMagic20/38March 2015
Jolie reveals in a second New York Times op-ed that she elected to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed after an annual blood test showed markers that could be “a sign of early cancer.” “I called my husband in France, who was on a plane within hours,” she writes.
Getty Images21/38August 2016
Jolie files for divorce from Brad Pitt, citing irreconcilable differences. She requests primary custody of their six children, and the couple’s lawyer, Robert Offer, releases a statement: “This decision was made for the health of the family. She will not be commenting, and asks that the family be given its privacy at this time.”
- GVK/Bauer-Griffin22/38
June 2018
The pair reach a temporary custody decision to allow Pitt visitation and phone access to his kids while the family is in London, where Jolie is filming Maleficent. A judge rules that Pitt can have “unsupervised” phone calls and text conversations with each of the kids and sets up a schedule whereby Pitt has time with the children without Jolie present in London and with a therapist, per People. He then gets custody of them in Los Angeles for part of July. This applies only to the five youngest children; Maddox is 16 at the time, and the judge rules that he can decide for himself how much time he wants to spend with his dad.
- Jason Merritt/TERM/Getty Images23/38
April 2019
As of October 2022 their divorce is still not finalized, but in April 2019 a judge declares both Jolie and Pitt “legally single,” something they petitioned for in 2018. According toPeople, the legal maneuver is called “bifurcation” and allows both parties to file separate taxes, rather than jointly as a married couple.
Monica Schipper24/38June 2020
Jolie shares with Vogue India that she believes her separation from Pitt was the “right decision” for her family. “I continue to focus on their healing,” she says. “Some have taken advantage of my silence, and the children see lies about themselves in the media, but I remind them that they know their own truth and their own minds.”
Robyn Beck/Getty Images25/38June 2020
Pitt and Jolie cause a bit of a stir after he is spotted at her house at the end of June. “Brad and Angelina have come a very long way, and they’re finally in a place where they both want to work together to raise their kids,” a source tells Entertainment Tonight. “They have no plans to reconcile, and any communication between them is regarding their children’s needs and future.”
- Michael Loccisano/Getty Images26/38
January 2021
Jolie sells her shares of their Chateau Miraval winery and estate, apparently without informing Pitt (this is disputed). Six months later Pitt’s lawyers will sue her for breach of contract, claiming she made the sale to “intentionally harm” the business’s reputation. This is the lawsuit (and, later, the countersuit) at the center of much of the contention over the next year and a half.
- Axelle/Bauer-Griffin, Getty27/38
October 2021
Maddox, Vivienne, Knox, Shiloh, and Zahara Jolie-Pitt accompany their mother to the premiere of Marvel’s Eternals. There haven’t been reports of Pitt spending time with any of the children for months.
- Jon Kopaloff28/38
August 2022
After going to Capitol Hill together to speak about the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act in February, Jolie accompanies her daughter Zahara to (and did the Electric Slide at) an event for Spelman College students, the HBCU Zahara chose to attend. While promoting his film Bullet Train, Pitt praises Zahara, saying, “I’m so proud of her. She’s so smart. She’s going to flourish even more at college. It’s an exciting and beautiful time to find her own way and pursue her interests. I’m so proud.”
- Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images29/38
October 2022
Amid reports that Pitt is seeing the newly divorced Emily Ratajkowski, his legal battle with Jolie over shares in the Chateau Miraval winery continues. Pitt also launches a skin care line, while Jolie uses her platform to advocate for the orphans of Ukraine, flood victims in Pakistan, and the brave women of Iran.
- Axelle/Bauer-Griffin30/38
July 2023
The Chateau Miraval legal dispute ratchets up yet another notch, as Pitt is accused of “looting” the winery’s assets in order to retain control, per CNN.
The complaint was filed by Jolie’s former investment company Nouvel, which she sold in 2021. Nouvel alleges that Pitt was motivated by feelings of resentment toward Jolie following the sale. “Incensed that Jolie sold Nouvel to Stoli rather than him, Pitt has acted like a petulant child, refusing to treat Nouvel as an equal partner in the business,” the document reads.
- Bruce Glikas/Getty Images31/38
August 2023
Angelina Jolie hires her 15-year-old daughter Vivienne as her assistant while producing the new Broadway musical based on the novel The Outsiders.
“Viv reminds me of my mother [actress and producer Marcheline Bertrand] in that she isn’t focused on being the center of attention but in being a support to other creatives,” Jolie says in a statement to Page Six. “[Vivienne is] very thoughtful and serious about theatre and working hard to best understand how to contribute.”
Per a Page Six insider, “Angelina has been taking her daughter Vivienne to the theater since she was a little girl. Angelina and Vivienne met with [The Outsiders author] S.E. Hinton, who was around Vivienne’s age when she wrote the novel…. [Jolie] wants to ensure the team is listening and working with young people every step of the way, and that their voices are leading in bringing this production to life on Broadway.”
- Gotham32/38
September 2023
While discussing her latest venture, Atelier Jolie, with Vogue magazine, the actor says she hasn’t felt like herself “for a decade.”
“I wonder if I don’t know what my style is because I’m still understanding who I am at 48. I guess I’m in transition as a person,” she says. “I feel a bit down these days. I don’t feel like I’ve been myself for a decade, in a way, which I don’t want to get into.”
Jolie subtly references her divorce, mentioning she cut back on her filming schedule “seven years ago,” only taking jobs “that didn’t require long shoots.”
“We had a lot of healing to do,” she says of her family. “We’re still finding our footing.”
- Gotham33/38
November 2023
Zahara drops Pitt from her name while introducing herself as the newest member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College. You can see the video here.
- JC Olivera/Getty Images34/38
May 2023—June 2023
On her 18th birthday, May 27, Shiloh files to officially drop Pitt from her legal name. A few days later, on June 3, a rep for Pitt states that he was “aware and upset” about Shiloh’s decision.
“He’s aware and upset that Shiloh dropped his last name. He’s never felt more joy than when she was born. He always wanted a daughter,” a source told People. “The reminders that he’s lost his children [are], of course, not easy for Brad. He loves his children and misses them. It’s very sad.”
The source says the distance from his kids “pains him,” with a second source adding, “He still loves all of his kids tremendously. This whole process has been very hard for the whole family.”
- Daniele Venturelli35/38
August 2023
It turns out Angelina Jolie does not live in Los Angeles by choice. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor reveals she lives in LA “because I have to be here from a divorce.”
“As soon as [the twins] are 18, I’ll be able to leave,” she told THR. “When you have a big family, you want them to have privacy, peace, safety. I have a house now to raise my children, but sometimes this place can be…that humanity that I found across the world is not what I grew up with here.”
Jolie plans to “spend a lot of time in Cambodia,” adding, “I’ll spend time visiting my family members wherever they may be in the world.”
- Daniele Venturelli36/38
September 2024
Brad Pitt and Ines de Ramon make their red-carpet debut at the Venice International Film Festival premiere of his movie, Wolfs. The pair have been quietly dating since 2022.
Meanwhile, Jolie reveals that she has matching tattoos with “some” of her kids, noting the meaning behind the ink is “personal to us.”
Though Jolie doesn’t go into much detail, she does reveal one design she shares with Vivienne. “I got ‘Stay Gold’ with my daughter Viv during our time with The Outsiders,” Jolie told CR Fashion Book. “It means so much to us separately and together.”
- Jason Armond/Getty Images37/38
November 2024
Sixteen-year-old Knox makes a rare red-carpet appearance with Angelina Jolie at the 2024 Governor’s Awards.
- Anthony Harvey/Getty Images38/38
December 2024
After more than eight years, Jolie and Pitt signed off on their divorce, according Jolie’s lawyer James Simon.
“More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr. Pitt. She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr. Pitt, and since that time she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family," Simon says in a statement to People. “This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago. Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.”
An anonymous source close to Jolie adds, “She doesn’t speak ill of [Pitt] publicly or privately. She’s been trying hard to be light after a dark time.”
