And then came the oh-so-civilized announcement, on January 7, that Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt were separatingthat their parting was "the result of much thoughtful consideration," that it was not caused by "any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media," and that they would remain "committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another."
If Pitt had kept a low profile in the months to come, that might even have turned out to be true. Instead, the ominous drumroll of gossip began to crescendo as he and Jolie rendezvoused in exotic locales, still denying that they were an item. With the paparazzi snapping away, Pitt stepped into what looked suspiciously like a paternal role with Jolie's adopted Cambodian son, Maddox.
"It was extremely hurtful to Jen that he was seen with another woman so quickly after they were separated," says Andrea Bendewald, an actress who has been one of Aniston's closest friends since they were teenagers.
Instead of being reviled as The Other Woman, Jolie posed for pictures on an energetic round of appearances as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nationsand then trumped even that public-relations bonanza by adopting another orphan, an African girl whose parents had died of AIDS. In the blink of an eye, the twice-divorced Joliepreviously known as a tattooed vixen with a taste for bisexuality, heroin, brotherly incest, mental institutions, and wearing her husbands' bloodhad morphed into a globe-trotting humanitarian who seemed to be channeling Audrey Hepburn.
For the 36-year-old Aniston, who had expected to spend the past year being pregnant, the pain of watching this spectacle unfold was compounded by vicious rumors about herself. As misogynist as they were false, sensationalistic stories claimed the real reason the marriage ended was that Aniston refused to have Pitt's baby because she was so ambitious she cared only about her career.
Even now, that sexist slur makes her face darken. "A man divorcing would never be accused of choosing career over children," she says. "That really pissed me off. I've never in my life said I didn't want to have children. I did and I do and I will! The women that inspire me are the ones who have careers and children; why would I want to limit myself? I've always wanted to have children, and I would never give up that experience for a career. I want to have it all."