Brad Pitt Can't Escape The Nastiest Rumor About His Relationship With Angelina Jolie

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have long moved on from the end of their 5-year marriage, but the world probably never will. Decades after the beloved celebrity couple's split, people continue to question if Pitt cheated on the "Friends" star with his future wife, Angelina Jolie. And the public scrutiny isn't without merit, because rumors of the Oscar winners having an affair while filming "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" were rampant back in 2004. Pitt and Aniston confirmed their separation to People in January 2005, and by April, he and Jolie seemed like they were already an item based on photos of the pair vacationing in Kenya. 

While a People insider still insisted they were just pals, they also felt compelled to clarify that the "Fight Club" star hadn't cheated on his first wife. In an October 2006 Vanity Fair interview, Aniston sadly admitted to being blindsided by the photos. When asked if she thought Pitt had been unfaithful, the TV icon candidly answered, "I choose to believe my husband." However, the "Murder Mystery" star also acknowledged, "At this point, I wouldn't be surprised by anything, but I would much rather choose to believe him." 

Even Aniston's "Friends" co-star, Courteney Cox, with whom she has a close friendship, posited that Pitt and Jolie had a mental connection rather than a physical one. After Cox disclosed that the Oscar winner hadn't hidden his attraction to Jolie from Aniston, she notably confirmed, "It was an attraction that he fought for a period of time." Meanwhile, the "We're The Millers" star confessed that their marriage suffered the brunt of that emotional connection because her husband had mentally checked out before they split up.

While speaking to Vogue in 2006, Angelina Jolie shared that although she wasn't aware of the intimate details of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's relationship when she first started working with him, she knew that he loved her. Then, the "Maleficent" star detailed how they had formed a deep connection while shooting "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." Eventually, Jolie started thinking, "God, I can't wait to get to work," (via People) as a result. During a December 2008 Vogue interview, Aniston responded by noting, "There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening." The actor continued, "I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss. That stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool." 

Meanwhile, when Pitt sat down for a chat with Diane Sawyer in 2005, he flat-out denied that Jolie caused the end of his first marriage. Moreover, the "Se7en" star reasoned that he wasn't losing any sleep over the chatter because Pitt had grown accustomed to his name being dragged through the mud by then. Likewise, in a 2007 appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live," the actor insisted that he had only become "emotionally involved" with Jolie, and only after the end of his marriage. 

Several years after their divorce, Pitt and Aniston's relationship was in a better place. The "12 Monkeys" star was a guest at his ex-wife's 50th birthday party in 2019, and they had a sweet reunion at the 2020 SAG Awards too. The following year, Aniston recalled how she had a wonderful time working with Pitt on "Friends."