How Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Went From Hollywood’s Hottest Romance to a Divorce That’s Dragged on for…see more

How Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Went From Hollywood’s Hottest Romance to a Divorce That’s Dragged on for 8 Years

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s relationship has had highs and lows

In 2016, Jolie, 49, filed for divorce from Pitt, 60, citing irreconcilable differences. Their split kicked off a years-long legal saga involving disagreements about properties, businesses and custody of their six children: sons Maddox and Pax Thien, daughters Zahara Marley and Shiloh Nouvel and twins Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline.

Before their contentious separation, the pair famously met while playing the titular married duo in 2005’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith. At the time, Jolie was a single mother to Maddox, now 22, and Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston. A year after Pitt’s split from Aniston, 55, in 2005, as media attention grew around the couple dubbed “Brangelina,” Jolie confirmed to PEOPLE that they were together and that she was pregnant with Shiloh, now 18.

In the following years, Pitt and Jolie garnered as much attention for their growing family as they did for their hit Hollywood projects (they also reunited onscreen in 2015’s romance drama By the Sea). Of totaling six kids with the birth of Knox and Vivienne in 2008, the Girl, Interrupted Oscar winner gave PEOPLE a glimpse of family life: “It is chaos, but we are managing it and having a wonderful time.”

The couple remained unmarried until 2014, when they held a private wedding ceremony at the Château Miraval, France, which they jointly owned. “It was important to us that the day was relaxed and full of laughter,” the newly married couple told PEOPLE at the time. “It was such a special day to share with our children and a very happy time for our family.”

Only two years later, it became apparent that Pitt and Jolie’s happy home life was at an end.

On Sept. 14, 2016, Jolie and Pitt got into an alleged physical altercation on a private plane ride with their six kids from France to their home in Los Angeles. In heavily redacted FBI documents released six years later in 2022, Jolie claimed that Pitt’s actions made her feel “like a hostage” on the plane as he allegedly grabbed and shook her, pushed her into a wall and punched the ceiling of the aircraft.

She further alleged that he looked “like he was going to attack” one of her children after they called him a “prick” during the alleged fight. Jolie also admitted to wrapping her arms around Pitt’s neck in a chokehold style.

The incident resulted in Pitt being investigated by the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services. They later concluded the investigation with no findings of abuse.

The report resurfaced amid the former couple’s legal battle over the custody of their kids. The Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood Oscar winner was briefly granted joint custody of their minor children in 2021, until a judge was removed from the case over impartiality concerns, reverting the agreement back to Jolie’s full custody.