What the Hell Happened: Brangelina

When news hit that Angelina Jolie had filed for divorce from Brad Pitt after 10 years together and two years of marriage, the internet unsurprisingly flooded with articles dissecting every aspect of their relationship. From Jennifer Aniston memes to tabloids claiming a cheating scandal had caused the rift between the two, no stone was left unturned. While the couples’ indisputable celebrity is no doubt the root cause of the high level of scrutiny their divorce is getting, one can’t deny that there seems to be a particular interest in this divorce compared to other celebrity couples’. J-Lo and Marc Anthony, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, and Kim Kardashian and Chris Humphries were all couples whose separations garnered a lot of attention, so why does this one feel different? Maybe because it’s Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, but maybe because it feels personal.

Brangelina was a love that seemed both unstoppable and endless. For Brad to leave Jennifer Aniston for another woman? To adopt her two children, and to adopt a third together after having their own biological children? To be together for 10 years, not marrying until it was legal for same-sex couples in every state to get married, only to break their vow of waiting because they just couldn’t wait? Theirs looked like a love story even bigger and better than that of the two characters that brought them together, Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Jolie and Pitt not only represented the quintessential Hollywood glam power couple but also have throughout the course of their public life endeared themselves to us. While Angelina may have had a rough start with the public earlier in her career, carrying a vial of her first husband’s blood around her neck and kissing her brother on the red carpet, her unapologetic way of life, adoption of three children, and genuine humanitarianism have made her Hollywood’s angel. Brad’s increasingly progressive producing and acting choices made him more relatable to fans, and his inability to stay away from Angelina portrayed him as a man who couldn’t stop wanting what the heart wanted. If they, two seemingly perfect people, can’t make it together, who can?

It’s no secret that few Hollywood marriages work. While certain divorces come across as more of a shock than others, a couple’s divorce rarely garners attention for more than a couple of days. The end of Brangelina has forced people to ask themselves whether any relationship can withstand public scrutiny in the long term. The suddenness and shocking circumstances of Angelina’s decision to file for divorce have made people wonder if they can actually recognize true love. Allegations of drug and child abuse on Brad’s part seemed to come out of nowhere. And if we can’t look to the celebrity couple who seemed to have everything going for them for inspiration, who can we turn to? The divorce rate for regular people is about 50 percent, and the conditions of their relationships are often much less agreeable.

At the end of the day, all people want is to see a happy ending they can aspire to. With the end of Brangelina comes not only the end of an era, but also the end of a sort of relationship role model many people looked up to.

—Staff writer Mila Gauvin II can be reached at mila.gauvin@thecrimson.com.