All The Details About Angelina Jolie's 3 Divorces

The following article includes allegations of domestic violence.

Angelina Jolie has built an incredible career spanning decades, but she hasn't always been as lucky in her personal life. From her strained relationship with father, Jon Voight, to her drama-filled divorce from Brad Pitt, the actor hasn't had it easy, and her most painful relationship confessions certainly confirm that. Over the years, Jolie has dated some of Hollywood's biggest names and has been linked to many more. While filming 2004's "Alexander," for example, she sparked romance rumors with Colin Farrell and Val Kilmer, and in 2021, she and The Weeknd were spending lots of time together, sending tabloids into a tailspin. Ultimately, though, she never confirmed (nor denied) any such reports.

What we do know for certain is that she dated Jenny Shimizu in the '90s and has been married to three fellow actors. First, there was her young love with Jonny Lee Miller, then her eccentric love with Billy Bob Thornton, and finally, what appeared to be her most serious union of all with Brad Pitt. Unfortunately, each marriage ended in divorce for various reasons. Here are all of the details we know about Angelina Jolie's three very different marriages and divorces.

Before she was a household name, Angelina Jolie was an aspiring actor trying to break out of her father's shadow. "I'm not my dad," she declared to The New York Times in 1996, explaining why she doesn't use Jon Voight's last name. Indeed, she was already pushing boundaries and had just wrapped work on a cult thriller called "Hackers." It was on that 1995 film's set that she first met co-star Jonny Lee Miller.

A whirlwind romance ensued and they tied the knot in March 1996. Their wedding was anything but traditional, as it only had two guests (her mom and his best friend) and the bride wore black rubber pants with a T-shirt that had Miller's name written in her blood. Explaining the wild sartorial choice, she cheekily told The New York Times, ”'It's your husband ... you can sacrifice a little to make it really special.”

Unfortunately, having to sacrifice for her hubby ultimately proved to be too much for Jolie. During a press event promoting ”Hackers,” she found journalists were more interested in her nuptials than her work and she was not impressed. ”It was weird to immediately be married, and then you kind of lose your identity,” she explained to the newspaper. ”You're like, 'Oh, I'm half of a couple now, I've lost me' ... I was thinking, 'I need to get myself back.'"

Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller's marriage had a few things going against it from the get-go. Not only did the couple date for just a few months before saying "I do," but they were also incredibly young — she was just 20 and he was 22. What's more, they struggled to choose a home base. It was actually a red flag that initially concerned Jolie. "I wondered if we should stay engaged for a while since he was going to be in Britain and I would stay in LA, but we went for a quick wedding," she told The Sun (via the Mirror) at the time.

Ultimately, the couple decided to call it quits in September 1997 after just 18 months of marriage. However, despite the issues mentioned above, Jolie put all of the blame on herself. Speaking with the Calgary Sun (via Mirror), she admitted she wasn't present enough for the union to work. "It's not fair to the other person that I'm so busy with my career and that I'm often distant even when I am with someone," she said. "Jonny and I never fought and we never hurt each other. I really wanted to be his wife." Unfortunately, she couldn't make the necessary sacrifices. "He deserves more than I am prepared to give at this time in my life," she explained.

Despite their whirlwind romance, Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller shared a genuine connection — one that has lasted decades. After their divorce was finalized in 1999, they kept in touch and their friendship strengthened. Jolie dubbed her ex a "solid man and a solid friend" in 2003 (via People) and even proclaimed in 2004 (via UPI), "Divorcing Jonny was probably the dumbest thing I've ever done." 

While their romance never quite rekindled, they've spent plenty of time together since their split. In 2005, they had dinner together in London; In 2011, he supported her directorial debut at the "In The Land of Blood and Honey" premiere; and in 2014, Jolie told Buzzfeed, "Jonny ... is still a great friend."

In 2021, she even brought her kids to meet her ex-husband. First, Jolie was spotted by paparazzi stopping by Miller's New York City apartment for a few hours. Then, she visited him again with son Pax, and Knox came along as well because he's reportedly friends with Jonny's son, Buster. A few months later, the friendly exes grabbed dinner again, this time in Beverly Hills.

Just as her divorce from Jonny Lee Miller was being finalized, Angelina Jolie met her future husband on yet another film set. While shooting "Pushing Tin" in 1999, Jolie fell in love with Billy Bob Thornton, who was actually engaged to Laura Dern at the time. He abruptly called that off, and he and Jolie went to Las Vegas to elope in 2000. Not surprisingly, their nuptials were tabloid gold, and the couple continued to feed the press with their over-the-top antics. Who could ever forget them wearing vials of each other's blood?

Jump to 2002 when Jolie adopted son, Maddox, and everything appeared to be going well — until it wasn't. Jolie and Thornton surprised fans when they filed for divorce later that year, and it seemed they surprised themselves, too. As Jolie told Vanity Fair in 2005, they slowly and imperceptibly drifted apart until it was too late.

While he was focused on writing music and touring, she developed a newfound passion working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "In a year I became who I am today, very much, and he became who he is today, and it was just totally different paths in life," she told the publication. "Then we just looked at each other one day and we had nothing to say to each other." Thornton agreed in a 2018 HFPA in Conversation interview. "We just had different lifestyles. Hers is a global lifestyle and mine is an agoraphobic lifestyle."

Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie's divorce was finalized in May 2003. Thornton initially told the Associated Press (via EW), "I don't think either one of us knows why we split up." A year later, though, he appeared to have had time to reflect on the split and put much of the blame on himself.

Speaking candidly with NBC News in 2004, he admitted, "Angie was the only person that I ever had a chance with, and I screwed that up." Shutting down cheating rumors, the actor said the divorce was completely his fault, but not because he had been unfaithful. "I walked away," he said. "I was afraid of her ... She was too beautiful for me. She was too smart for me. She had too much integrity for me. I felt so small next to her." Thornton shared a similar sentiment with GQ years later, explaining to the outlet in 2016, "I never felt good enough for her."

It's unclear if Jolie would agree with those statements, however. When cheating rumors first broke, she said, per Vanity Fair, "I don't think they are untrue." She also told the magazine in 2005 that Thornton was indeed driven away from her, but not because of her beauty or smarts. Rather, she said it was Maddox's adoption that frightened him. "He wasn't, uh, ready, but he sent me his love," she lamented. "It's kind of tragic."

We may never know the real reason Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton split, but whatever drama happened between them is clearly in the past. It's true that following their divorce Jolie covered up her Thornton tattoo with a tribute to her kids and he replaced her name with an angel, but they never erased their friendship. While it took a bit of time for them to rebuild, Thornton told NBC News in 2004 that they were friends once again and that he was even spending time with Maddox. The ex-married couple has only grown closer over the years with the actor telling People in 2008, "She is a wonderful person and one of my closest friends."

Speaking with Us Weekly in 2019, Thornton reiterated their special connection, saying, "We've been friends for years and years and years, so we keep up with each other." Although he noted it's hard to make time to see each other in person, he confirmed that they talk regularly. But perhaps the biggest sign of their ever-lasting connection is the fact that Jolie still has a soft spot for Thornton's son, Harry, who was born prior to their union. In 2022, Harry revealed to ET, "To this day, she still sends me Christmas gifts every year."

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's romance started and ended with headlines. The pair met on the set of 2005's "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston. Soon, infidelity rumors became rampant, but Jolie was adamant that their romance was never as salacious as the tabloids reported. "I think we found this strange friendship and partnership that kind of just suddenly happened," she said in 2006 (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Ultimately, Pitt and Aniston divorced in 2005, and he and Jolie went public soon after. They married in 2014 and shared six children together before filing for divorce in 2016, just days after Pitt was reportedly abusive towards his wife and kids. As TMZ learned, Pitt was allegedly intoxicated during a flight on a private jet when he reportedly became belligerent towards Jolie and their children. Both the LAPD and L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services investigated, but Pitt — who later admitted to yelling at Maddox – was cleared of all abuse allegations.

The split that followed was equally dramatic and made just as many headlines. First, the exes couldn't agree on custody and went back and forth until 2021 when Pitt received the joint custody he had wanted. Jolie, who previously accused her ex of failing to pay child support, appealed the decision. She also filed court documents that year alleging she had proof of ongoing domestic abuse. While the actors became legally single in 2019, as of June 2024, they still weren't divorced.

As if Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's divorce wasn't messy enough, the pair also entered into a years-long legal battle over their French winery, Miraval, in 2022. They first bought shares in the chateau and vineyard in 2008 and, according to Pitt, decided they wouldn't sell without the other's permission after they divorced. Well, Jolie didn't abide by that plan when she offloaded her portion in 2021, sparking a 2022 lawsuit from Pitt who said he wasn't notified of the sale. In the lawsuit seen by Us Weekly, he also claimed that his ex chose to sell to "an aggressive third-party competitor" on purpose in order to see him lose his own share of the business.

In 2022, Jolie clapped back by filing her own documents in which she said she did, in fact, offer to sell to Pitt but he asked her to sign an NDA in return. According to Jolie, that NDA was meant to stop her from talking about what happened on that infamous 2016 flight and she refused, so the deal fell through. In 2023, Pitt filed more court documents, saying that wasn't true and that Jolie's decision was made "vindictively," per Us Weekly, as retaliation for their ongoing custody battle. The case was still dragging on in April 2024 when Jolie filed a new countersuit, reiterating her NDA claims and going even further to allege that Pitt had been physically abusive for years.

Unlike her other amicable splits, Angelina Jolie's divorce from Brad Pitt has been anything but easy. The pair's legal battle has dragged on in various courts for years and, making matters worse, it seems their kids are caught in the middle — and they're picking sides.

Speaking with OK! in 2022, an insider alleged that "Maddox, Pax, and Zahara don't really see both sides of the picture." Rather, they're on Team Angelina. Indeed, the Daily Mail discovered that a 16-year-old Pax celebrated Father's Day 2020 with a secret Instagram post in which he ripped into Pitt, calling him a "world class a**hole." What's more, Brad Pitt's relationship with daughter Zahara appeared strained as she dropped his last name and he was nowhere to be found as she went off to college. As for Pitt's relationship with Maddox, well, that's not any warmer. When asked about a possible reconciliation, Maddox seemed indifferent, telling InTouch in 2019, "Whatever happens, happens."

Pitt was dealt another blow in 2024 when Vivienne stopped using his last name publicly and again when Shiloh filed to permanently drop Pitt from her moniker on her 18th birthday. "He's aware and upset that Shiloh dropped his last name," a source told People. "The reminders that he's lost his children is of course not easy for Brad."

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.