Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thorton’s Relationship Timeline, Explained

At the height of Angelina Jolie’s fame, she curated more interest in her personal life when she married fellow actor Billy Bob Thornton out of the blue. She was fresh off of a divorce and he wasn’t necessarily single when they got hitched. The two were an instant magnet for the tabloids with their eccentric lifestyles and mystique. 

Just as quickly as the relationship started, it faded. While it remains one of Hollywood’s greatest love stories, their full romance lasted just three years. Here’s a look back at their time together. 

Meeting on set

Jolie and Thornton met on the set of the 1999 film, Pushing Tin. In the film, Jolie and Thornton play a married couple working through strife after infidelity. 

A love triangle but a rush to the altar

Ironically, art imitated life because Thornton was very much in a relationship when he began his romance with Jolie. In fact, he was engaged. In May 2000, they eloped in a Las Vegas ceremony while Thornton was engaged to actress Lara Dern. Per Ranker, Dern would later comment that she “left our home to work on a movie, and while I was away, my boyfriend got married, and I’ve never heard from him again.”

Cover stars

Their love affair was instant tabloid fodder and they played into it with magazine spreads and interviews, including the cover story for Us Weekly. They purchased a mansion in L.A. for over $3 million and gushed about their home renovations. Jolie and Thornton also spoke about how intimacy was the glue of their marriage.

Blood is thicker than water

As if the world didn’t know they were inseparable, they had to take it up a notch by wearing vials of each other’s blood in the form of a necklace. And they defended the decision. Thornton described the blood necklaces as “lockets.”

Infidelity rumors surface

Within two years of the marriage, rumors of Thornton’s infidelity surfaced. Jolie was reportedly devastated to learn he’d slept with a therapist who was treating him for a reported sex addiction.

The romance fizzles

The couple split in 2002 and covered up their respective tattoos of one another. Thornton would later say their differing lifestyles, with Jolie being interested in global philanthropy and her art and him preferring life outside of the spotlight contributed to the breakup. Jolie would claim it was that they changed too much to appease the other.