The
Love Phenomenon called "Brangelina"
It’s 2015 and
the age old love term “Romeo and Juliet” has stylishly been replaced with Brad
and Jolie’s “Brangelina”.
Brangelina (also called Bradgelina)
is a celebrity Supercouple consisting of
American actor Brad Pitt
born December 18, 1963 and actress Angelina Jolie born
June 4, 1975. "Brangelina" is a linguistic blend
of the pair's names.
Pitt has appeared in over 40 major
films, including Ocean's Eleven (2001), while Jolie
has appeared in over 30 major films, including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).Their
relationship began after they starred together in the (2005) action Blockbuster
movie Mr. & Mrs Smith. They have three
adopted children, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, and have three biological children,
Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.
Pitt was engaged for six months to actress Gwyneth Paltrow,
his co-star in Seven (1995), whom he
dated from December 1994 to June 1997. In May 1998, Pitt met Friends actress Jennifer Aniston;
they married on July 29, 2000. Despite their relationship previously being
considered a rare Hollywood success, Pitt and Aniston separated in January 2005
and divorced on October 2, 2005.
On
March 28, 1996, Jolie married British actor Jonny Lee Miller, her co-star in Hackers (1995). Jolie and
Miller separated in September 1997 and divorced on February 3, 1999. After a
two-month courtship, Jolie married actor Billy Bob Thornton, her co-star in Pushing Tin
(1999), on May 5, 2000. Jolie and Thornton announced the adoption of a son,
Maddox, from Cambodia in March 2002, but separated three months later. Their
divorce was finalized on May 27, 2003.
Pitt
and Jolie met in 2004 on the set of Mr. & Mrs Smith. In early 2005,
their association became the subject of a much-publicized Hollywood scandal,
when they were alleged to have begun an affair while Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston.
Pitt and Jolie denied this on several occasions, but both admitted that they
"fell in love" on the set (Hmmm…Love at first sight).
While
Pitt and Jolie never publicly commented on the nature of their relationship,
speculations continued throughout 2005. In April, one month after Aniston filed
for divorce, a set of paparazzi photos emerged that showed Pitt, Jolie, and her
son Maddox at a beach in Kenya, which seemed to confirm the rumors of a
relationship between Pitt and Jolie. During the summer, Pitt and Jolie were
seen together with increasing frequency, and most of the entertainment media
considered them a couple, dubbing them "Brangelina". On January 11,
2006, Jolie confirmed to People that she was
pregnant with Pitt's child and thereby acknowledged their relationship for the
first time in public.
On
March 10, 2002, Jolie adopted her first child, seven-month-old Maddox Chivan,
from an orphanage in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia. He was born as Rath Vibol on
August 5, 2001 in a local village. Jolie applied for adoption after she had
visited Cambodia twice, while filming Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and on a mission
in her capacity as Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR. The adoption
process was halted in December 2001 when the U.S. government banned adoptions
from Cambodia amid allegations of child trafficking. Once the ban was lifted
for the waiting families, she took custody of Maddox in Namibia, where she was
filming Beyond Borders
(2003). Although Jolie and her then-husband Billy Bob Thornton announced the
adoption together, she in fact adopted Maddox as a single parent.
Jolie
adopted a daughter, six-month-old Zahara Marley, from an orphanage in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia on July 6, 2005. Zahara was born as Yemsrach on January 8, 2005 in Awassa. At the time of the
adoption, Jolie did not know whether her daughter was HIV positive, but Zahara
later tested negative. Shortly after they returned to the United States, Zahara
was hospitalized for dehydration and malnutrition. In November 2007, media
outlets reported that Zahara's biological mother wanted her daughter back, but
she denied these reports, saying she thought Zahara was "very
fortunate" to have been adopted by Jolie.
Pitt
accompanied Jolie when she traveled to Ethiopia to pick up Zahara. Jolie later
indicated that she and Pitt had made the decision to adopt from Ethiopia
together. In December 2005, Pitt's publicist announced that Pitt was seeking to
adopt Maddox and Zahara. To reflect this, Jolie filed a request to legally
change her children's surnames from Jolie to Jolie-Pitt, which was granted on
January 19, 2006. The adoptions were finalized soon after.
On
May 27, 2006, Jolie gave birth to Shiloh Nouvel, in Swakopmund, Namibia. Pitt
confirmed that their newborn would have a Namibian passport. Pitt and Jolie
decided to sell the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images
themselves, rather than allowing paparazzi to make these valuable photographs. People
paid a reported $4.1 million for the North American rights, while Hello! obtained the British
rights for a reported $3.5 million. All profits were donated to charities
serving African children. In July, Madame Tussauds
in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it marked the first
time an infant was recreated in wax by the museum.
On
March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted a son, three-year-old Pax Thien, from an
orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam. He was born as Pham Quang Sang on November 29, 2003 in the capital.
She adopted Pax as a single parent, because Vietnam's adoption regulations do
not allow unmarried couples to co-adopt. The following month, she filed a
request to legally change her son's surname from Jolie to Jolie-Pitt, which was
approved on May 31, 2007. She revealed that his first name, Pax, was suggested
by her mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand before her death in
January 2007.
The rights for the first post-adoption images of Pax were sold to
People for a reported $2 million, as well as to Hello! for an
undisclosed amount. Pitt's adoption of Pax was finalized in the United States
on February 21, 2008.
At
the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008, Jolie
confirmed that she was expecting twins. She gave birth to a son, Knox León, and
a daughter, Vivienne Marcheline, on July 12, 2008 in Nice, France. The rights
for the first images of Knox and Vivienne were jointly sold to People
and Hello! for a reported $14 million—the most expensive celebrity picture ever taken The proceeds were donated to the
Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
Starting
in 2005, Pitt and Jolie's relationship became one of the most reported
celebrity stories worldwide. After Jolie confirmed her first pregnancy in
January 2006, the unprecedented media hype surrounding them "reached the
point of insanity," as described by Reuters in their story
"The Brangelina Fever". In an attempt to avoid the media attention,
Pitt and Jolie went to Namibia for the birth of their first biological child,
to whom the Associated Press
referred as "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ". Two years
later, Jolie's second pregnancy again fueled a media frenzy. For the two weeks
she spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, France, reporters
and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report on the birth of the
twins.
Like
their relationship, Pitt and Jolie's six children themselves have gained
considerable fame and appear regularly in the tabloid media. In January 2008, Forbes named Shiloh the
most influential celebrity child, based on her web presence, press clippings,
and awareness data, and her parents' consumer-appeal rankings. Ethiopia-born
Zahara ranked third, while Vietnam-born Pax came in fifth. Cambodia-born Maddox
was, at six, too old to qualify. In a November 2008 repeat survey, Shiloh
ranked second behind Suri Cruise, the daughter of actors Tom Cruise
and Katie Holmes.
Zahara again placed third and Pax moved up to fourth place. Twins Knox and
Vivienne were too young and infrequently seen to qualify.
Below are some amazing pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Jolie's dress at her wedding to
Brad Pitt had their children's drawings and artworks on it. The gown and the
veil had flowers and cartoons drawn on by the couple's six children.
Angelina Jolie’s wedding dress is covered in her kids’ drawings
