It took a few years, but the Oscar winner would ultimately indicate that she and Pitt had indeed fallen in love during the making of Mr. and Mrs. Smith…in 2004.
Pitt went to Ethiopia with her when she adopted her second child, Zahara, in 2005—and he formally adopted Zahara and Maddox in 2006. Daughter Shiloh was born in May 2006, Jolie adopted Pax in 2007 (Pitt followed suit in 2008), and twins Knox and Vivienne were born in 2008. Spurred on by their kids, Brangelina (nicknames being very much in vogue by the time they got together) finally married at their chateau in France in 2014 after being engaged for two years.
“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,” Jolie told Elle in 2014, before the surprise nuptials. “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.”
The following year, Pitt told British GQ (not talking about marriage, per se, but still), “I’ve always believed happiness is overrated, you know? It’s those difficult times that inform the next wonderful time, and it’s a series of trade-offs, of events, of wins and losses.”
Jolie filed for divorce on Sept. 19, 2016, citing irreconcilable differences and requesting primary custody of the kids. It took about five months to be on speaking terms again, but the dust settled and up rose a tentative co-parenting arrangement and a lot of soul-searching.
“Well, there’s a lot to tell [the kids] because there’s understanding the future, there’s understanding the immediate moment and why we’re at this point, and then it brings up a lot of issues from the past that we haven’t talked about,” Pitt said in GQ Style‘s Summer 2017 issue. “So our focus is that everyone comes out stronger and better people—there is no other outcome.”