Update, Sept. 20, 2:54 p.m.: The rumor mill has it that Pitt’s relationship with French actress Marion Cotillard played some role in the Pitt-Jolie breakup. Pitt and Cotillard co-star in the forthcoming film Allied, and had to spend a lot of time together perfecting their chemistry for their roles; some recent reports claimed that Pitt was flirting with Cotillard on set, angering Jolie. Meanwhile, Page Six quotes a “well-placed source” claiming that Jolie hired a private investigator who confirmed her suspicion that Pitt was cheating. The Page Six source also alleges that he took advantage of the “hard drugs and Russian hookers” available off the set of Allied. “He’s in the throes of some insane midlife crisis, and Angie is fed up,” the source said.
Update, Sept. 20, 12:14 p.m.: TMZ’s sources have also said that Jolie thought Pitt was smoking too much weed and potentially drinking too much. She reportedly believes he has an anger problem that, when paired with his substance abuse, could turn “dangerous” for their kids.
Original post:
According to a report from TMZ, Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt on Monday, citing irreconcilable differences in their marriage.
Paraphrasing “sources connected with the couple,” TMZ writes that Jolie decided to break it off with Pitt because of his parenting methods, which made her “extremely upset.”
Jolie’s divorce filing seems to bear out that theory. She’s filed for physical custody of their six children and asked that Pitt be granted visitation rights. She’s not asking for financial support.
The couple has been together for more than a decade and married two years ago. What made Jolie decide to end it now? Maybe Pitt wasn’t pulling his weight with the kids while she struggled with a heavy workload in the lead-up to this week’s United Nations General Assembly. Maybe the pressures of fame, international advocacy, and raising six children in a cruel, unforgiving world caused permanent fissures in their matrimonial bonds.
We might also blame their 2015 film By the Sea, which makes their characters’ relationship/their IRL marriage looks like an overwrought, glamorous, abusive, too-passionate, lonely, pill-popping, exquisitely melancholy affair. Might they be such skilled craftspeople that their onscreen fights and tears turned real? Might Jolie have tired of looking at Pitt’s insufferable, mustachioed, cigarette-addicted face? Might day-in-and-day-out work-life partnership be too much for even the wealthiest and most beautiful among us? Either way, that film is about to get an excruciatingly close reading from the celebrity obsessives in our midst.
