Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt broke hearts
the world over when Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016, asking for sole custody
of their six kids. What happened to upend this Hollywood power
couple? Here are a few reasons why Brangelina may
have fallen apart. A faulty start You know the story by now: In 2003, Brad Pitt,
who was then married to Friends favorite Jennifer Aniston, signed on to star in Mr. and Mrs.
Smith. Originally, Nicole Kidman was set to play
opposite the blond hunk, but according to Entertainment Weekly, Pitt reportedly didn't
feel enough chemistry with her and dropped out of the film. Kidman continued on with Stepford Wives. As The Herald Sun reported, "… immediately after [Producer Arnon Milchan]
cast [Jolie] as the female lead, Pitt called him back to say he was happy to play Mr. to
her Mrs." Filming began in January 2004, and just months
later, rumors began to swirl that the pair was hooking up. "So what do we do?" "Hmm." In May 2004, Pitt made an appearance with
then-wife Aniston at the Troy premiere, possibly to quiet the tabloid chatter. That August, paparazzi captured Pitt and Jolie
looking cozy, which Mr. and Mrs. Smith insiders dismissed as being "in character," according
to Entertainment Weekly. Later that year, Pitt vacationed with Aniston,
but by January 2005, they had announced their separation. That March, Aniston filed for divorce. And in April 2005, Pitt and Jolie were photographed
vacationing with Jolie's son, Maddox. Keeping their stories straight The Jolie-Aniston-Pitt love triangle blew
up the tabloids. Despite all parties denying that there was
any cheating involved, Pitt and Jolie had a hard time keeping their stories straight. They both initially claimed nothing happened
until after Pitt and Aniston divorced, but in a 2007 Vogue cover story, Jolie made it
clear that a deep relationship had developed during Mr. and Mrs. Smith, when Pitt was still
married. She claimed, "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." For a long time, the pair courted the unrelenting
media scrutiny. Remember that infamous 2005 W magazine spread
that starred Pitt and Jolie as a sexy married couple, and came out as Pitt and Aniston were
falling apart? It looks like the press Brangelina loved so
much in the beginning, came back to bite them later. Putting their marriage to the test Pitt and Jolie co-starred in 2015's By the
Sea, which may have been a case of art imitating life. The film focused on a broken relationship
between an unhappy couple. "Stop, stop, I don't know what's happening." "You don't understand?" "Stop!" But when they were asked about it, Brangelina
was quick to deny any problems. Jolie said on Today in 2015, "I'm counting on the audience to know that
if it was close to us at all, we could never make this film. It's because we're actually very, very stable
and these aren't our issues." Jolie later told the Daily Mail that throughout
production, "It was our way of testing ourselves. We knew that if we could get through this,
we'd come out even stronger and happier. And we did. We've always liked putting ourselves through
challenges, even though it was maybe a little more dangerous for us as a couple." Leading different lives "Why do you think we failed? Because we were leading separate lives? Or was it all the lying that did us in." Page Six reported that Jolie and Pitt had
very different priorities in life. She was said to be looking for fulfillment
outside of Tinseltown while he supposedly loved being Hollywood's golden boy. A source told the tab, "The older she gets, the more serious she
becomes, and she is sick of the Hollywood thing… He wants to make movies. She doesn't. It's a fundamental difference. It's how you live your life." "I'm not here because I'm a director who wanted
to make a movie… And so this country for me has been, was my
awakening." But did Jolie's quest to serve the greater
good of the world damage her own family? Another insider told Page Six, "Ultimately, she almost got too comfortable
[acting as a role model]. She wasn't able to adapt to some of the realities
of her marriage and her life. She just assumed that people would follow
whatever she said, including her husband, and so when they had marital issues, she…
believed she could just bully him into whatever she wanted." While Pitt appeared to champion Jolie's efforts
in the past, he may have grown skeptical over time. A source told Radar Online in 2018, "Brad used to admire Angie's humanitarian
work, but is now more suspicious of her true motivations. Brad wasn't surprised that Angie went to Iraq…
when he was with the kids for Father's Day." Sources also told Us Weekly that the couple
argued over politics. During the 2016 election season, when their
split was announced, those "heated political fights" may have intensified. The circle of friends Jolie also admitted to Marie Claire that she
relied on Pitt for adult interactions outside of work conversations, claiming, "I don't have a lot of friends I talk to. He is really the only person I talk to." Perhaps she wanted Pitt to join her in an
isolated bubble. Radar Online claimed Jolie resented his friendships
with other stars, most notably actor Ed Norton. A source alleged to the tab, "Angelina has always thought Ed's a shallow
underachiever who brings out the immature side of Brad, and she's not impressed by his
wife." And an insider told Page Six that Jolie supposedly
envies the attention showered on renowned human rights attorney Amal Clooney, the wife
of Pitt's bestie, George Clooney. Meanwhile, the friends that Jolie does have
were suspected of planting stories that smeared Pitt in the press, according to Page Six. The cheating rumors And speaking of smears, the tab also reported
that Pitt allegedly hooked up with Allied co-star Marion Cotillard, with an insider
saying he was shacking up with "Russian hookers" as well. A source claimed, "He's in the throes of some insane midlife
crisis, and Angie's fed up… She hired a private eye because she felt that
he was fooling around with [Cotillard] on the set, and it turns out, he was." Cotillard denied any affair with Pitt, addressing
the rumors on Instagram in 2016, writing: "Firstly, many years ago, I met the man of
my life, father of our son and of the baby we are expecting. He is my love, my best friend, the only one
that I need… Finally, I do very much wish that Angelina
and Brad, both whom I deeply respect, will find peace in this very tumultuous moment." Nothing materialized from all that tabloid
dirt, but the salacious headlines likely added more strain to Brangelina's marriage. Sketchy relationship history "You have to just make the choices you make
in life. I made the choices I made because I believe
they were right for me." When Jolie was married to actor Jonny Lee
Miller, she reportedly cheated on him with model Jenny Shimizu, whom she met on the set
of 1996's Foxfire. Jolie then reportedly hooked up with her second
husband, Billy Bob Thornton, while he was in a live-in relationship with actress Laura
Dern. Dern told Talk magazine, "I left our home to work on a movie, and while
I was away, my boyfriend got married, and I've never heard from him again." Considering Jolie has also described doing
drugs and cutting with former lovers, via The Daily Mail, perhaps the relative stability
of her marriage to Pitt grew boring to her. Raising their children "What's better, when Brad is working and you're
with the kids?" "Yes." "Or when you're working and Brad's with the
kids?" "When I'm home with the kids." Insiders claim the biggest issue Jolie and
Pitt faced in their relationship was their conflicting views on parenting, and considering
their brood of six children, that's a very big problem. A source told People, "Their parenting approach was always very
different. Since their separation, it's been obvious
that they weren't going to figure things out on their own when it comes to the kids." A different source also told the magazine, "Brad has always been stricter… Angelina always had a more relaxed attitude
when it came to the kids." But Pitt told GQ in 2017 that his upbringing
may have influenced his parenting style. He said, "I grew up with… the father [being] all-powerful,
super strong, instead of really knowing the man and his own self-doubt and struggles. And it's hit me smack in the face with our
divorce." But to each of their credit, Jolie gave Pitt
some props on Good Morning America in 2017. "In the past you've described Brad often as
a wonderful father, of course, as part of the family. Do you still believe that?" "Of course, of course. We will always be a family." That in-flight incident While it's unclear exactly how Pitt and Jolie
differ on parenting, something definitely happened on a private plane between Pitt and
their son, Maddox, that prompted Jolie to file for divorce and initiate a Child Protective
Services investigation into Pitt. TMZ reported that Pitt allegedly argued with
Jolie during a private flight, at which point Maddox stepped between his parents to defend
his mother. Pitt was then accused of lunging at Maddox. Us Weekly reported that the fight was sparked
when a frustrated Jolie urged Pitt to quote, "sober up." Pitt was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing
or abuse allegations in an LA County Department of Children and Family Services investigation. Substance abuse TMZ also reported that Jolie was fed up with
Pitt's alleged marijuana and alcohol abuse and its potential effects on their kids. Amidst reports that Pitt was in treatment
for addiction and attending AA meetings, he addressed his issues head-on, telling GQ in
2017, "I can't remember a day since I got out of
college when I wasn't boozing or had a spliff, or something… I stopped everything except boozing when I
started my family. But even this last year… I was boozing too much. It's just become a problem. And I'm really happy it's been half a year
now, which is bittersweet." Jolie famously battled heroin addiction when
she was younger and also allegedly used cocaine, according to Radar Online. Being around someone who even recreationally
abuses substances can be a potential trigger, so that could be why she pulled the plug on
their marriage. She's out for blood "The Pitt-Jolies. It's getting really nasty." Jolie and Pitt initially agreed to keep their
divorce proceedings private to protect their kids, but custody negotiations got ugly in
2018. Jolie has maintained primary physical custody,
but in June 2018, The Blast reported that a judge ordered Jolie to allow their children
to speak and text with Pitt without her monitoring the conversations, warning her that alienating
the kids from Pitt wasn't helping her case. Jolie hired celebrity divorce attorney Laura
Wasser to represent her in 2016, but TMZ reported in August 2018 that Wasser quit working for
Jolie because the actress allegedly had frequent screaming fits. A source claimed, "She's fueled with anger and has gotten ridiculously
unreasonable." Court documents obtained by NBC News revealed
that Jolie slammed Pitt for allegedly not paying, quote, "any meaningful child support." Meanwhile, Pitt's camp told Page Six that
he'd paid Jolie $9 million since their split, and accused Jolie and her attorneys of deliberately
attempting to smear him publicly. A source told Radar Online in November 2018, "The longer this case drags on, the more determined
Angie is to… prove she’s the parent who deserves the final say on everything."
