One of the most famous marriages in the Hollywood scene was the one between Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie, who stayed married for three years between 2000 and 2003. There was one specific reason why they broke up.
They were a couple that kept the eyes of the press on them throughout their relationship. More than a decade after their separation, Thornton joined an interview with HFPA in Conversation in 2018 and reflected on his marriage to Jolie, saying:
“I remember our time together as really being great. We just had different lifestyles. Hers is a global lifestyle, and mine is an agoraphobic lifestyle. So, that’s really—that’s the only reason we’re probably not still together, maybe, because of a different path in life we wanted to take.”
Jolie and Thornton crossed paths during the making of ‘Pushing Tin’ in 1999. However, they didn’t become a couple back then, as Billy was engaged to Laura Dern, and Angelina was linked to actor Timothy Hutton at the time.
Their relationship later captured the public’s attention due to their expressive affection, like wearing vials of each other’s blood around their necks. The couple wore these necklaces during big events, even on the red carpet. Speaking of the necklaces, Thornton said in the same interview:
“The necklaces were a very simple thing: ‘Hey, let’s poke our fingers with a pen and smear a little blood on there, and when we’re away from each other, we’ll wear the necklace.’ It was that easy. But by the time it came out in the press, it sounded like we were wearing a bucket of blood around our necks.”
Jolie also opened up about the blood necklace in a 2008 chat with Entertainment Weekly, explaining:
“It was like a flower press. It was like a slight cut on your finger, and you pressed your fingerprint in. It was kind of a sweet gesture. I thought it was kind of romantic! I still love him dearly and think the world of him, and I am proud to have been his wife for a time.”
Since 2014, Thornton has been married to Connie Angland. Angelina, on the other hand, entered a marriage with Brad Pitt in 2014, but their relationship ended in 2017.