Inside Angelina Jolie’s Decision: Divorce ‘Is Not Something You Do Impulsively’

People Magazine wrote: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie: the reasons behind the split

(PEOPLE Staff) 13 hours ago

After 12 years and six kids together, Angelina Jolie files for divorce from Brad Pitt just after their two-year wedding anniversary. Subscribe now for the real story behind the split, only in PEOPLE.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt may have had the ultimate Hollywood romance from the outside, but behind closed doors, their marriage was slowly coming apart.

After months of mounting tensions between the two, Jolie, 41, told Pitt she wanted a divorce, an end to their two-year marriage and 12-year relationship.

“Things built and built over time – it wasn’t any one thing,” a source close to the actress tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story, on newsstands Friday. “She’s loved this man for several years, and [divorce] is not something you do impulsively.” Meanwhile, a Pitt source tells PEOPLE: “There was clearly a breaking point, where she’d just had enough,” says the Pitt source. “He may have been broken himself and said he couldn’t go on, and she reacted. This has been difficult for a while.” In the cover story, sources detail how Jolie told Pitt she wanted a divorce, why he “begged” her to wait and how their relationship began to crumble after their 2014 wedding. They faced increasing differences over parenting styles (with Brad taking a “stricter approach versus Angelina’s “more relaxed attitude,” according to another insider), the direction of their careers and more. For more details inside Jolie and Pitt’s decision to end their marriage, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

A Pitt source says Jolie told Pitt she was moving forward with the divorce just two days before she filed papers in an L.A. court on September 19 – and Pitt was “wrecked.”

“He was appealing to her to do this quietly – not to save the marriage but to consider the well-being of the children – and it was ignored,” says the Pitt source. But Jolie – who said in a statement the decision was “for the health of her family” – did “what she needed to do,” says a source close to her. For more on the divorce, watch People Cover Story: Brad & Angelina on the new People/Entertainment Weekly Network (PEN). Go to people.com/PEN or download the free app on your Smart TV, mobile and Web devices.

Still, both sides say Pitt and Jolie still love each other and expect them to find a way to “move forward in a dignified way,” as a Pitt source puts it. Says a Jolie source: “They have six kids together and are always going to be in each other’s lives.”

nicko wrote:Wasn't she responsible for the break up of Pitts first marriage?

nicko wrote:Wasn't she responsible for the break up of Pitts first marriage?

Syl wrote:I feel a bit sorry for Angelina Jolie.

I recall she got most of the bad publicity when Pitt left  Jennifer Aniston (his then wife) because he had fallen for Jolie.
I remember it was he paraded their love about, Aniston said she thought he must be missing an "empathy gene" because he had little regard for her feelings at the time.

Maybe he never did find that empathy gene....I read he is once again acting like a single man whilst she is the (obviously mentally delicate) earth mother type.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Syl wrote:I feel a bit sorry for Angelina Jolie.

I recall she got most of the bad publicity when Pitt left  Jennifer Aniston (his then wife) because he had fallen for Jolie.
I remember it was he paraded their love about, Aniston said she thought he must be missing an "empathy gene" because he had little regard for her feelings at the time.

Maybe he never did find that empathy gene....I read he is once again acting like a single man whilst she is the (obviously mentally delicate) earth mother type.

I read that she was gushing about her children seeing the film where their parents fell in love, so I don't feel sorry for her because I think he was still married to Jennifer Aniston at the time. It sounds like they're a pair of idiots.

Syl wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

I read that she was gushing about her children seeing the film where their parents fell in love, so I don't feel sorry for her because I think he was still married to Jennifer Aniston at the time. It sounds like they're a pair of idiots.

I read that it was him that said that....just shows you cant believe what you read in the papers.
I don't think they are idiots....I think they certainly  put themselves before everyone else, and now, years on, when they have 6 kids between them, their lives have moved in different directions.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Syl wrote:

I read that it was him that said that....just shows you cant believe what you read in the papers.
I don't think they are idiots....I think they certainly  put themselves before everyone else, and now, years on, when they have 6 kids between them, their lives have moved in different directions.

Which makes them idiots. They've only been married a couple of years.

The Devil, You Know wrote:pitt believes in discipline and structure for kids and joile is away with the fairies.

Original Quill wrote:

The Devil, You Know wrote:pitt believes in discipline and structure for kids and joile is away with the fairies.

eddie wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

I know.

Original Quill wrote:

eddie wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

I know.

Yeah...to clarify, I think Dean's right.  Just that "away with the fairies" gave me a tickle.

eddie wrote:Rags do you understand that there are shades of grey?

Syl wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

Which makes them idiots. They've only been married a couple of years.

Together for 11 year though.

Syl wrote:I feel a bit sorry for Angelina Jolie.

I recall she got most of the bad publicity when Pitt left  Jennifer Aniston (his then wife) because he had fallen for Jolie.
I remember it was he paraded their love about, Aniston said she thought he must be missing an "empathy gene" because he had little regard for her feelings at the time.

Maybe he never did find that empathy gene....I read he is once again acting like a single man whilst she is the (obviously mentally delicate) earth mother type.

Raggamuffin wrote:I'm wondering what Jennifer Aniston thinks of all these memes which are floating around now.

Tommy Monk wrote:

Is this really news...!?

Original Quill wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:
Is this really news...!?

Must be...look at all the hits it's gotten.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Syl wrote:I feel a bit sorry for Angelina Jolie.

I recall she got most of the bad publicity when Pitt left  Jennifer Aniston (his then wife) because he had fallen for Jolie.
I remember it was he paraded their love about, Aniston said she thought he must be missing an "empathy gene" because he had little regard for her feelings at the time.

Maybe he never did find that empathy gene....I read he is once again acting like a single man whilst she is the (obviously mentally delicate) earth mother type.

Who says she's mentally delicate or an earth mother? She's loaded for a start, so she's a business woman who knows how to make a load of dosh. If he dumped Jennifer A at the drop of a hat, why would he change later?

Tommy Monk wrote:

Is this really news...!?

Syl wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:

Is this really news...!?

It's not in the earth shattering news department, but lots of people are interested.  

I'm surprised you are not already in his corner, bemoaning the fact that she wants custody and he will be left on the outside looking in.....even though the latest reports don't show him in a very good light where his kids are concerned.

Syl wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

I read that she was gushing about her children seeing the film where their parents fell in love, so I don't feel sorry for her because I think he was still married to Jennifer Aniston at the time. It sounds like they're a pair of idiots.

I read that it was him that said that....just shows you cant believe what you read in the papers.
I don't think they are idiots....I think they certainly  put themselves before everyone else, and now, years on, when they have 6 kids between them, their lives have moved in different directions.

Syl wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

Who says she's mentally delicate or an earth mother? She's loaded for a start, so she's a business woman who knows how to make a load of dosh. If he dumped Jennifer A at the drop of a hat, why would he change later?

Well her reported behaviour over the years seems to indicate that she is a bit mentally delicate, and the fact that she has accumulated a "rainbow family" as she refers to them, and from all accounts takes them with her wherever she goes would suggest she is the earth mother type......money doesn't change either of those traits.

People do and can change, they grow up...sometimes.

Original Quill wrote:Second that, HT.  I knew she was internally conflicted when I read she couldn't even hold a relationship with her own parents.  I'd take one look at that and run like hell.
.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Syl wrote:

Well her reported behaviour over the years seems to indicate that she is a bit mentally delicate, and the fact that she has accumulated a "rainbow family" as she refers to them, and from all accounts takes them with her wherever she goes would suggest she is the earth mother type......money doesn't change either of those traits.

People do and can change, they grow up...sometimes.

Mentally delicate?   Not sure about that.   Judging from her past behaviours, more like nutty as a fruitcake.

Syl wrote:

Original Quill wrote:Second that, HT.  I knew she was internally conflicted when I read she couldn't even hold a relationship with her own parents.  I'd take one look at that and run like hell.
.

She was very close to her mother who brought her and her brother up after her father left when she was a baby.
He (John Voight) later told press that she had serious mental problems, maybe the fault of the relationship breakdown was more down to him than her.

Syl wrote:

Original Quill wrote:Second that, HT.  I knew she was internally conflicted when I read she couldn't even hold a relationship with her own parents.  I'd take one look at that and run like hell.
.

She was very close to her mother who brought her and her brother up after her father left when she was a baby.
He (John Voight) later told press that she had serious mental problems, maybe the fault of the relationship breakdown was more down to him than her.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Syl wrote:

Well her reported behaviour over the years seems to indicate that she is a bit mentally delicate, and the fact that she has accumulated a "rainbow family" as she refers to them, and from all accounts takes them with her wherever she goes would suggest she is the earth mother type......money doesn't change either of those traits.

People do and can change, they grow up...sometimes.

Mentally delicate?   Not sure about that.   Judging from her past behaviours, more like nutty as a fruitcake.

eddie wrote:

Syl wrote:

She was very close to her mother who brought her and her brother up after her father left when she was a baby.
He (John Voight) later told press that she had serious mental problems, maybe the fault of the relationship breakdown was more down to him than her.

Didn't her mother pass away a year or so ago? And let's not forget, breast cancer was prevalent in her family and she had a double mastectomy because of it.
Perhaps we shouldn't judge too harshly.

Original Quill wrote:

Syl wrote:

She was very close to her mother who brought her and her brother up after her father left when she was a baby.
He (John Voight) later told press that she had serious mental problems, maybe the fault of the relationship breakdown was more down to him than her.

From what I've seen, as a professional behind the divorce screens. its probably down to Angelina's mother.  

It's partly a function of the fact that in many divorces the woman is left with nothing but the children, and such women in divorces tend to use what they have, and that's...well, the children.  Much of that has changed with the financial adjustments that society has taken, but in Voight's case he was a big star and no doubt took away more than money.  The ex-wife poison was probably administered abundantly.

There is something very strange about Angelina's behavior.  She adopts all these kids, and from what I've heard, she is never not surrounded by them.  It's to the point of an obsession.  Then she picks husbands--Jonny Lee Miller, Billy Bob Thornton, and Brad Pitt--so unlike her more cultured father, who are virtually creeps.  You mentioned 'earth' mother, but I think of her as 'warped' mother.  Something very strange, indeed.

Syl wrote:

HoratioTarr wrote:

Mentally delicate?   Not sure about that.   Judging from her past behaviours, more like nutty as a fruitcake.

She certainly has a volatile past. Anorexia, self harming, planned suicides....all this when she was young.
Fame, beauty and money count for nothing if you are so disturbed.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Syl wrote:

She certainly has a volatile past. Anorexia, self harming, planned suicides....all this when she was young.
Fame, beauty and money count for nothing if you are so disturbed.

I tend to believe fame, beauty and money feed the nuttiness.

Original Quill wrote:

Syl wrote:

She was very close to her mother who brought her and her brother up after her father left when she was a baby.
He (John Voight) later told press that she had serious mental problems, maybe the fault of the relationship breakdown was more down to him than her.

From what I've seen, as a professional behind the divorce screens. its probably down to Angelina's mother.  

It's partly a function of the fact that in many divorces the woman is left with nothing but the children, and such women in divorces tend to use what they have, and that's...well, the children.  Much of that has changed with the financial adjustments that society has taken, but in Voight's case he was a big star and no doubt took away more than money.  The ex-wife poison was probably administered abundantly.

There is something very strange about Angelina's behavior.  She adopts all these kids, and from what I've heard, she is never not surrounded by them.  It's to the point of an obsession.  Then she picks husbands--Jonny Lee Miller, Billy Bob Thornton, and Brad Pitt--so unlike her more cultured father, who are virtually creeps.  You mentioned 'earth' mother, but I think of her as 'warped' mother.  Something very strange, indeed.

Raggamuffin wrote:If she's unstable, why was she allowed to adopt children? She seems stable enough to me.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:If she's unstable, why was she allowed to adopt children? She seems stable enough to me.

If you're rich enough you can do just about anything in certain countries.

Syl wrote:

HoratioTarr wrote:

I tend to believe fame, beauty and money feed the nuttiness.

Maybe...especially if you are not brought up in a stable home surrounded by people who guide you.

Syl wrote:

eddie wrote:

Syl wrote:

She was very close to her mother who brought her and her brother up after her father left when she was a baby.
He (John Voight) later told press that she had serious mental problems, maybe the fault of the relationship breakdown was more down to him than her.

Didn't her mother pass away a year or so ago? And let's not forget, breast cancer was prevalent in her family and she had a double mastectomy because of it.
Perhaps we shouldn't judge too harshly.

Her mum died in 2007 with Ovarian cancer. Angelina Jolie had a double mastectomy and also her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed because the cancer gene has apparently killed other members of her family and she felt the risk to her was high....so she has improved her chances of not getting the cancers.

eddie wrote:

Syl wrote:

Her mum died in 2007 with Ovarian cancer. Angelina Jolie had a double mastectomy and also her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed because the cancer gene has apparently killed other members of her family and she felt the risk to her was high....so she has improved her chances of not getting the cancers.

That's correct.  And 2007?? Is it me or does that seem like it's too long ago? I swear I just heard that story last year...... Mind you, time is often a mystery to me.