The Brad Pitt L.A. Times article - discussion post
December 29, 2008 by Sherry
Okay. We’ve all read it already, right? On December 26th, the L.A. Times posted an article about Brad Pitt, talking about his new movie (which continues to do well at the box office!). However, more than what he said about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, people are talking about what he said about his love life and family.
In particular, this seems to be a hot topic right here:
As everyone but a handful of Himalayan monks doubtless knows, the woman who sleeps by Pitt’s side these days is Angelina Jolie, with whom he shares parenting duties for six children (three of their own, three adopted). During an interview of an hour’s duration, Pitt refers repeatedly to his satisfying home life and the way it has refashioned his priorities.
“I had a whole other life and I got to experience a lot. And I probably got away with more than I should,” he says. “And it kind of ran its course, you know, it kind of hit a dead end.” Fatherhood, he notes, is “the direction I always thought I would go in. But not until, with Angie and it felt like a natural evolution, a natural direction.”
Many people are saying that Brad is finally fighting back against things that certain very specific people have said about him and about Angelina Jolie in the media. Other people are saying that it’s callous. And a lot of people - myself included - figure that after about four years, for the love of God, the man is allowed to talk about the love in his life and the happiness he has with Angelina and their children.
Many of you emailed me to ask me to start a proper discussion post about it so that we can all talk about the article and our thoughts on it. I did indeed want to but because I wasn’t online as frequently during the holiday period, I didn’t want to risk having people caught in moderation for days on end, which would stall the conversation. Now that I’m back online on a regular basis, it’s a good time for us to chat.
What do you think of the overall article and what Brad said about his love life in particular?
Keep reading for more quotes and commentary!
I think the article is great and I enjoyed his perceptions on life that were cause by the filming of the movie. Even when speaking about his character, he can’t help but reflect on his feelings for his kids:
Pitt agrees that, as he has matured professionally, “I don’t have to grope as much for the character.”
“I can get there quicker, so it’s not as much trial and error,” he says. “Also, as I get older, more experiences, I’m more fine-tuned in what I’m after, what I think speaks in the piece. And lastly I want to hurry and get home to my kids.”
His closing comment in particular was very striking for me, having just spent the holiday missing some of my family who have passed on over the years and seeing others who are getting older. What he says is so true:
“Another thing the film points to,” he says, “you meet someone who is maybe in their 60s, 70s, even 80s, and you meet them as that person, anyone beyond the age of retirement, so to speak. And you seldom realize they had a whole life of experience. They were just as virile and ingenious and capable as you believe yourself to be.”
Mostly though, as I mentioned, I think that the “hot button” comment is probably at least partially a response to what was said in his ex-wife’s Vogue article, but overall I think it’s just that Brad is a happy, satisfied family man and is just really tired of having to tone it down. He’s happy, he’s in love, and he’s a father who is over the moon for his children. It’s time for him to be allowed to say it.
Your thoughts?
Image used with permission: Newscom
Pittwatchers might want to watch this Tuesday night on PBS to see another part of the picture of fixing the Lower 9th Ward -
Frontline profiles a Katrina victim who never says die
Frontline’s “The Old Man and the Storm” (Tuesday, 9 p.m., PBS) is about Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans and the government’s bungling in the reconstruction. It focuses on one man, Herbert Gettridge, who was determined to rebuild his house in the lower Ninth Ward no matter what. Gettridge is a testament to the indomitable human spirit in the face of impossible odds — and by “impossible odds,” of course, I refer to the Bush administration.
Gettridge camps out in his shattered house without gas, electricity or water. He hammers it all back together so that his ailing wife can return from Madison, where she’s staying with their daughter. He waits for reconstruction money that the government promised, only to get caught up in red tape. The Department of Housing and Urban Development changes the rules in midstream; FEMA underestimates the extent of the damage; and the Bush White House blocks federal appropriations to the city’s hobbled utility, proclaiming that (are you sitting down?) it opposes bailing out private corporations.
“This is a cruel world, in a way, some of the people that live in it,” Gettridge says with characteristic understatement.
Then it’s back to hammering.
The realization of the entire situation is.. Brad Pitt did not want to continue a relationship with someone he was no longer in love with and wanted to be with. He deserves much respect for being honest enough to tell this woman he had feelings for someone else. havine enough respect to be honest at that level says he cared enough for JA feelings to NOT be dishonest in their marriage. The relationship between BP and JA is OVER!! He has found someone he wants to share with, grow with, to learn from, to teach and I’m sure AJ share’s his feelings as well. They have a BOND which cannot be broken by anyone or anything, inlcuding words. They excluse CLASS, simply because they refuse to let anyone or anything come between what they have and what they’re continuing to build with and for each other.. A FAMILY! THEIR FAMILY!! There is someone for everyone. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston ARE NO LONGER MARRIED!! The sooner JA excepts this fact the sooner she will be able to move on and one day have what Brad Pitt and Anjelina Jolie have… REAL LOVE!!!
IMO, the infernal Bermuda triangle will live on as long as:
a) it generates money/sales/ratings/internet traffic for all forms of tabloid media – print/broadcast/internet/etc.;
b) it benefits X by publicizing her projects or keeping her in the public eye when she doesn’t have a project’. A needs B’s cooperation.
I’m as tired as everybody of rehashing the same old things.
And sometimes, it’s not the same ole thing – it comes in the same package (triangle) but brings new/deeper issues – when is it cool/uncool to speak about feelings/events, ‘joke’ about an ex-‘s children, what’s fair in love & war, etc.
We’ve done a few discussions and gone a few rounds that had some common elements posted by Pittwatchers. Maybe at the beginning of our next discussion, it’d be useful to post these as sort of a common language to promote better understanding – not that we all necessary agreed to everything but these were something worth considering. And maybe we could save some time?
• We’re each entitled to our opinions, we’re not entitled to our own facts;
• JoliePittFanatic’s explanation of the triangle, cheating, etc. and its different interpretations;
• My explanation of the im/mutability and non/universality of morals & standards;
• Neela’s link to the Huffington Post Joyce McFadden article asserting it’s impossible to steal a husband/wife;
• Quotes by various people from about 1974-2008, Vanity Fair, Vogue, New York Times, tv interviews, etc.
UNDER MOD:
We’ve done a few discussions and gone a few rounds that had some common elements posted by Pittwatchers. Maybe at the beginning of our next discussion, it’d be useful to post these as sort of a common language to promote better understanding…
Ligaya, thanks for acknowledging all our posts
I think your suggestion is a good idea. I’m sure I’ve been recycling my comments from our other 2 discussion posts, and it’s all because the talk keeps going back to the triangle, Jen’s recent Vogue interview and our distinct views about affairs and morals. On the one hand, there are comments that still surprise me because they bring up good points.
Neela, I agree! I have posted my comments about our distinct views on morals and affairs at least three different times now (including my orginal posting of it)!
@Danielle:
two people make a marriage fail, not one. we know nothing about how Brads marriage with Jen was. don´t blame Jen for something you can´t know she did or didn´t. its as ridiculous as saying that Brad is the only guilty one because he fell in love.
and as for the “Jen worshippers”. have you considered that there might be people who like Jen AND Angie? I like Jen AND Angie and i fell sad that you think that you have the right to tell people to stay away from this site because they like a person you seem to hate.
sorry i forgot …..i just read that Brad “was not happy” in his marriage (since 2004). ok then….then HE should have ended it before Angie came into the picture. it SEEMS as if he waited till he found someone to not be alone after an eventual seperation…if he was THAT miserable in his marriage he should have done something about it before he meet Angie. BUT of course its hard to speculate because NOBODY of us has clear facts.
now its done. all three are happy. can´t we just leave it that way and behave like grown-ups? the only ones who are responsible for this whole drama are the fans who read too much into things.
phoebe- My feelings are that Brad was trying his best to save his marriage, and I believe that Angie was a catalyst in his decision to end it. I think that, when he met her, he realized that he had to face the fact that his marriage was beyond repair and he needed to end it.
That said, why do you guys think JA feels the need to use Brad and Angie to promote her movies. Is she really that bad of an actress?
Something so off the topic here peeps, (just for a breather), Sherry I LOVE THIS WEBSITE thank you for creating it and continuing to bring us fellow Brad and Angie devotees all together in common appreciation of these two beautiful people (that’s inside and out). It’s so wonderful to be a part of this community even if it is via the magical world of the internet. Bless you
Sorry Sherry, one more thing, You’ve asked for suggestion on discussion topics and I don’t know if this has been on the discussion boards before, but what about getting us all to post what our favourite Brad Pitt movie is of all time and a favourite line from one of his movies???? Hope this isn’t a dumb suggestion. I’m just interested as to what we all think. Four words come to my mind, “Legends of the Fall”….I cry just looking at how hot Brad is…Sorry just having a moment
joliepittfanatic:
i see what you mean and i understand. sadly it was his timing though, many people blame Angie because of how and when they got together. it was really bad timing wasn´t it?IMO
all turned out for the best for all three now, so i don´t see why so many fans can´t let go.
i don´t think that JEn needs Brangelina for anything, its just a thing that some fans like to claim to make her look bad. i think she is a great actress and very talented, comedy is hard.
about blaming Jen. many Brangelinafans tend to do this which i think is really sad because fact is that Jen has talked twice about the “bermuda triangle” once in the VF interview 2005 and now in Vogue. even on OPrah she didn´t feel the need to discuss it. she nevr contradicted herself, she always showed class.IMO
i understand why she did it and i see NOTHING wrong with it. as much as some Jenfans like to blame Angie for the end of the marriage, some Angiefans blame Jen for continuing her little quest for promotion. i think thats very hypocritical. never the less i do not want to criticise anyone for their opinion, i just point out that both fancamps should finally let go and be as big as their idols in their behaviour.
Brangelina talk about this all the time and there is no need to mention names for it. as much as they have the right to talk Jen has the right too. its called tolerance and fairness.
i´m sorry Sherry where did my first post go?
I agree with phoebe. It all depends on your point of view. I was an angelina fan before 2005. I never watched friends, but I was immediately on Jennifer’s side when it happened because I felt sorry for her. Now I really feel bad for her because I feel like the media makes Angelina out to be the “winner” and so Jen of course is the “loser” in this drama. People say that Jen should move on, but it has to be hard when you see their fairytale romance play out on TV. The children and twins to boot has to hurt whether she is over brad or not. Damn!!! Have some compassion people and put yourself in this woman’s shoes. And let us not forget that when she is interviewed the first question is about Brangelina. So what if she wants to make a snarky comment or two. The bottom line is that no matter who she gets with in the future the media is always going to compare them with brad. I do agree that she would be better served by saying no comment because someone is going to judge her according to their own transference issues, and I too am guilty of that with Angelina. Has anyone noticed that Oprah hasn’t had Angelina on her show?? Is it because of her friendship with Jennifer??? I do like loyalty.
Well I think everyone need to go on people magazine and read what Brad said about the whole Brad Jen and angelina triangle…he is setting everything straight now we can all move on and talk about something else.
Phoebe, that was a very insightful post. I have always felt the way you do regarding JA and how she handles the “triangle”. While I think joking about the kids was going a bit too far (although in all honesty I really don’t think she meant any harm by it. I feel that she just didn’t think before she spoke, which is something that happens to just about everyone at somepoint, albeit not usually to the media!), I don’t think she neccesarily uses the J-Ps and the triangle for publicity.
It’s easy to forget that, 99 percent of the time, when a celeb says something in an interview, they’re just answering a question rather than bringing up the issue themselves. I think the people who interviewed JA for GQ, Vogue, Vanity Fair, etc. are as much to blame, if not more so, as JA is for still bringing up this whole “triangle” business.
Really, GQ had no business asking JA about what she thinks of Angie and Brad’s decision to sell the twins’ first photos to PEOPLE and give the money to charity (although I wouldn’t be surprised if they worded the question like it was just Angie who made the decision), or anything about the J-Ps for that matter.
Same goes for Oprah. I sort of like Oprah, but I don’t think she needed to ask JA about her comment to Vogue about Angie being “uncool”.
All of that said, I think that JA is someone who doesn’t have the best communication skills (and I don’t mean this in a mean way at all! I’m the first to admit that my own comminication skills aren’t always that great!) and thus she ends up sticking her foot in her mouth quite frequently.
I also believe that she is over Brad at least to some extent. I don’t think she’d be with John Mayer now if she wasn’t. As far as it hurting her to see Brad and Angie’s relationship and family splashed all over the media…I see your point, Mo, but I don’t think that’s neccesarily the case.
For example, when Nicole Kidman is asked about Tom Cruise (she even recently basically said that if he’s happy, then she’s happy for him and she wishes him well), she has nothing but good things to say about him, and she even seems to be very at ease speaking about Katie and Suri as well. In otherwords, she doesn’t seem hurt by Tom’s relationship with Katie or the fact that they have a child together in the slightest.
Of course, Nicole is happily married and has a daughter with her new husband, plus the two kids she and Tom adopted together while they were married, while JA does not. I realize that may make a big difference in how they feel about their exes new relationships.
My point is that it’s possible for an ex to NOT be hurt by the fact that her ex is now married/partnered with someone else and has kids with that new wife/girlfriend/longtime partner.
Anyway, I’m not even a JA fan myself, but I also don’t think she’s the horrible, insensitive, bitter person people make her out to be.
http://www.accesshollywood.com/brad-sets-the-record-straight-on-the-angie-and-jen-drama_video_918343
here’s the link to AH. i think the interviewer is correct in saying that Brad’s not interested in his past loves. i think he is all about now and his family matters the most, not his past.
and, of course, Jen’s moved on happy with her life. good for her!
thank you mo and joliepittfanatic (its still new for me when people talk to me without yelling/bashing because i like both Jen and Angie LOL)…
i totally agree with mo about Jen having to witness the whole new life of her Ex in the media. thats hard, especially in the first months. i think the feelings depend on HOW things ended.
anyway, she moved on long ago.
i think though that Jen and Angie are equally open in their interviews. both say things which can easily be misinterpreted. i never saw it like you do joliepittfanaftic that Jen is somwhat clumsy when it comes to answers, you could be right though now that i think of it:)
i was like mo at the beginning. i was a huge Angiefan before 2005(i am a huge Friends fan, but never liked Rachel) , after the split i was on Jens “side”, but today i like all three of them even more than before. its important not to believe the media too much and think reasonable. i made th mistake and believed the media in 2005, i won´t make that mistake again.
thanks again you two:)*hugs*
phoebe and joliepittfanatic you have made excellent points! Like phoebe I didn’t initially agree that jen isn’t the best communicator, but thinking about it that may be true as it is with all of us at times. But she is really funny. I do think Oprah asked the question about the uncool comment to help jen clear it up but it was still misunderstood. I’m not sure when angelina made the comment about falling in love on the set of MMS, but maybe that was how jen felt about the comment then and never said it at the time. We have all been there. You know when you think it’s better to be quiet so you don’t say anything, but as soon as your given the opportunity you find yourself saying something about an old hurt. It’s usually too late and then people think that you must not be over it yet or are living in the past. I think it’s better to say how you feel at the time rather than try to address old wounds. I’m sure that it was taken out of context and the point that she no longer feels that way got left out of the story because that wouldn’t fit the “formula” needed to sell magazines. I’m just thankful that I don’t have to live my life under a microscope. I do like all three of them and I do believe that jen and brad genuinely care about eachother based on comments they both have made. Their relationship has just changed is all and she said she is very proud of him and I believe her. I also think that angelina has the right to feel good about her family. Her and brad have a wonderful and inspirational family. They are true role models. And joliepittfanatic I love Oprah and I have a feeling that angelina is going to be on there soon because she represents everything that Oprah and her crew teaches. She was just trying to be loyal to her friend jen but I know she must be dying to talk to angelina. When you think about it angelina has grown so much over the years and is a great mom which is the hardest job there is. Which is probably the reason that jen hasn’t rushed into it. You need to be ready to be a mom because it’s also the most important job there is! Thanks for the intelligent dialogue phoebe and joliepittfanatic.
thank YOU mo and joliepittfanatic:)