This Monday, Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, ending the golden Brangelina era that lasted over a decade. Below, we look back at their history, from their first Mr. & Mrs. Smith days (the ones that led to the end of Pitt's marriage to Jennifer Aniston) to their final outing this July.
2003: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie meet on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pitt is married to Jennifer Aniston; Jolie had just filed from divorce from Billy Bob Thornton in July 2002.
"I didn't know much about exactly where Brad was in his personal life," Jolie says in a 2006 interview of the time filming. "But it was clear he was with his best friend, someone he loves and respects. And so we were both living, I suppose, very full lives…I think we were the last two people who were looking for a relationship. I certainly wasn't. I was quite content to be a single mom."
Pitt was a "surprise" to her. "Because of the film, we ended up being brought together to do all these crazy things, and I think we found this strange friendship and partnership that kind of just suddenly happened. I think a few months in I realized, 'God, I can't wait to get to work.' ... Anything we had to do with each other, we just found a lot of joy in it together and a lot of real teamwork. We just became kind of a pair."
By the end of shooting in 2004, Jolie and Pitt realized "it might mean something more than we'd earlier allowed ourselves to believe. And both knowing that the reality of that was a big thing, something that was going to take a lot of serious consideration." Pitt and Jolie remain "very, very good friends."
Meanwhile, tabloid reports begin that Pitt and Jolie were having an affair on set in May 2004. Pitt and Aniston make a red carpet appearance together that same month.
January 7, 2005: Pitt and Aniston announce their separation to People, via the below joint statement:
We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate. For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media. This decision is the result of much thoughtful consideration. We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another. We ask in advance for your kindness and sensitivity in the coming months.
March 2005: Aniston files for divorce after four and a half years of marriage. She cites irreconcilable differences.
April 29, 2005: Photographers snap Pitt and Jolie on vacation together with her adopted son Maddox in Kenya, confirming they are a couple. When Aniston sees the photos, she tells Vanity Fair in September, "The world was shocked, and I was shocked."
June 2005: Pitt and Jolie attend the Mr. & Mrs. Smith premiere and do press together. Jolie tells NBC that she hasn't been hurt by the affair rumors. "I've just grown up too much to be hurt by what people's opinion of my love life is."
July 2005: Jolie adopts 6-month-old Zahara from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Pitt and Jolie's infamous "Domestic Bliss" W photo shoot is released, with the two playing house. (It's the one Aniston suggests Pitt is missing a "sensitivity chip" for doing.)
October 2005: Pitt and Aniston's divorce is finalized.
January 2006: Jolie is photographed with a baby bump and confirms she is pregnant with her and Pitt's first child. She has her adopted children's surnames changed to Jolie-Pitt, as Pitt legally adopts them, too.
May 27, 2006: Jolie gives birth to Shiloh, the pair's first daughter, in Namibia, Africa. "Brad was with Angelina in the operating room the entire time and cut the umbilical cord of his daughter," their obstetrician, Jason Rothbart tells People. Shiloh's first photos are sold through Getty to the highest bidder (People in the U.S. for $4 million), with proceeds going to charity. The two give a press conference following the birth days later:
October 2006: Pitt tellsEsquire that "Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able."
March 14, 2007: Jolie and Pitt adopt their third child, Pax, from Vietnam.
May 2008: Jolie is revealed to be pregnant with twins at the Cannes Film Festival. She tells Entertainment Weekly in June it was not planned: "We weren't expecting twins. So it did shock us, and we jumped to six [children] quickly. But we like a challenge."
July 13, 2008: People confirms Jolie has given birth to twins Knox Leon and Vivienne in Nice, France. First photos of the twins are sold for a reported $14 million to People, with the money going to a foundation created by the couple that focuses on helping children around the world.
November 2008: While doing press for The Changeling, Jolie explains marriage is not a priority for the two. "It's not [that important]. We jumped into being a family first and that seems like the biggest commitment you could make anyway. It doesn't feel like anything is lacking."
Jolie also tells W that month that Pitt changed her mind about having kids. "I was absolutely never going to get pregnant. I never felt that it was the right thing to do....When we first met, he talked about having children in that way. I talked about only adopting children." After Pitt adopted Maddox and Zahara, "he stopped talking about having other kids in the other way. So I suppose in my heart I realized that he was happy with them as his children, completely. I knew he would never see them as different, and that gave me a certain peace. Then I suppose I just looked at him and loved him and just felt open to [getting pregnant]. I suddenly wanted to. It's one of those things you can't explain."
December 2008: Pitt confirms he did fall in love with Jolie on the Mr. & Mrs. Smith set to Rolling Stone. It's his favorite Jolie film though "we've never seen it. I just mean because, you know...six kids. Because I fell in love."
August 5, 2009: Pitt reaffirms that he and Jolie will get married when marriage equality is achieved to Parade. "I have love in my life, a soul mate–absolutely. When someone asked me why Angie and I don't get married, I replied, 'Maybe we'll get married when it's legal for everyone else.' I stand by that, although I took a lot of flak for saying it–hate mail from religious groups. I believe everyone should have the same rights. They say gay marriage ruins families and hurts kids. Well, I've had the privilege of seeing my gay friends being parents and watching their kids grow up in a loving environment."
July 11, 2010: Jolie gushes about her relationship with Pitt to Parade: "There's never a period when Brad and I are pulled apart. We are not separated for more than three days, ever. We stay really connected. We actually don't go out much. It's funny. We're very homebound. We're very much Mommy and Daddy in our pajamas."
"I feel sad for someone who has never known love. Love elevates. Brad knows me completely, exactly as I am, every part of me. He loves me. The kids love me. They know all my flaws and all my oddities. And they accept them. And so I can feel complete.
You know, Brad would joke about me having this conversation about love. Love? It's such a funny word. Brad can find certain phrases of poetry for it. I'm terrible at it. But I know it means wanting the best for the people you love, putting their interests above your own, always. Love does that. Love is what you live for."
August 2011: Jolie shoots down rumors of a wedding or more children to Vanity Fair. "[There is] no secret wedding. I'm not pregnant. I'm not adopting at the moment."
September 2011: Pitt tells Ellen DeGeneres that there's pressure within the family for him and Jolie to get married: "The kids are putting on the heat. They really are. They are putting on the heat. ...How do you I get out of this one? Somebody help me. I don't know what the future holds."
Jolie echoes the statement to Christiane Amanpour that December. "The kids asked me the other day, and I asked them if it was just because they wanted to have a big cake. They see movies that have the people getting married in the movies or somebody's, you know, the happily ever after. Shrek and Fiona are married. …We've explained to them that our commitment when we decided to start a family was the greatest commitment you could possibly have. Once you have six children…you're committed."
April 13, 2012: After mounting pressure from their children, Pitt and Jolie get engaged. "Yes, it's confirmed," Pitt's manager Cynthia Pett-Dante tells People. "It is a promise for the future and their kids are very happy. There's no date set at this time."
May 14, 2013: Jolie writes a op-ed for theNew York Times, revealing she had gotten a preventive double mastectomy. "The decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer."
"I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive," she adds. "So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition. 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."
Pitt praises his wife's courage to the London Standard that same day. "Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie's choice, as well as so many others like her, absolutely heroic. I thank our medical team for their care and focus. All I want for is for her to have a long and healthy life, with myself and our children. This is a happy day for our family."
May 2014: Jolie gets candid with ELLE about her and Pitt's relationship: "We're…family. You get together and you're two individuals and you feel inspired by each other, you challenge each other, you complement each other, drive each other beautifully crazy. After all these years, we have history—and when you have history with somebody, you're friends in such a very real, deep way that there's such a comfort, and an ease, and a deep love that comes from having been through quite a lot together."
August 2014: Pitt and Jolie are married in France. "The ceremony was in France, but we had to do things legally in California," Jolie tells the New York Times a year later. "One day I was in the edit room, and [Brad] was doing something and an assistant said, 'You have to sign some papers.' So we came back and between meetings we were told, 'Here's your license.' Then someone said, 'The judge is outside.' We both said, 'What do you mean, the judge is outside?' Then the judge came in, this lovely guy, and at some point, Brad said, 'Shouldn't we be standing up?' The judge said, 'No.' Then suddenly we realized we were married, in the most unceremonial way possible."
Hello! publishes the first photos of Jolie's Versace dress, the veil of which includes sketches by her children in September. They go off on a working honeymoon, where they film By the Sea together.
March 2015: Jolie writes an op-ed revealing she has also removed her ovaries and fallopian tubes. "My doctors indicated I should have preventive surgery about a decade before the earliest onset of cancer in my female relatives. My mother's ovarian cancer was diagnosed when she was 49. I'm 39." She begins undergoing early menopause and maintains, "I feel feminine, and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family. I know my children will never have to say, 'Mom died of ovarian cancer.'"
November 5, 2015: Pitt and Jolie step out for the By the Sea premiere. They spend their press tour talking about their marriage, relationship, and really how much they love each other. "I trust her with my life," Pitt says at one point.
July 2016: Pitt and Jolie are photographed together in mid-July at Jamba Juice with their daughter Shiloh—their last time spotted together before the divorce news breaks. They had been apart for the last couple months, working on different projects.
September 20, 2016: Jolie files for divorce from Pitt, citing irreconcilable differences. She also seeks sole physical custody of their children. One of her attorneys, Robert Offer, confirms the filing and releases the following 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."
