Jennifer Aniston: A woman scorned

ANGELINA Jolie and Jennifer Aniston have declared a war of words with both swiping at each other over the Brad Pitt love saga. SANDRO MONETTI reports on Hollywood’s infamous love triangle.

ADMISSION Actress Jennifer Aniston throws pity parties ADMISSION: Actress Jennifer Aniston 'throws pity parties'

It’s war between Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie. After years of them both keeping a dignified silence over the Brad Pitt love saga, suddenly the actresses are taking digs at each other in public.

Jen, who is soon to turn 40, has finally taken the gloves off but Angelina, 33, is showing her talons too.

Jennifer called Angelina “very uncool” for bragging in an interview about how she and Brad fell in love while he was still married to Jennifer.

Angelina had said she looked forward to the day her children could watch a DVD of Mr And Mrs Smith because “not a lot of people get to see the movie where their parents fell in love”.

THRIVING Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who boasts of their sex life THRIVING: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who boasts of their sex life

That was too much for Jennifer, considering she and Brad were still a couple during filming, and she decided to speak out, calling Angelina’s comments “inappropriate”.

But Angelina wasn’t happy about it and Brad is believed to have phoned Jen and asked her to show a little more respect in view of the fact that Angelina is the mother of his six children.

Now, as both beauties publicise their new films, Angelina for The Changeling and Jennifer for Marley And Me, there seems to be no sign of a thaw in their personal cold war.

Anger can be a normal, and sometimes healthy, part of a grieving process.

Sharon Gardner

Brad and Angelina triggered relationship rumours when they were pictured holding hands on the set of Mr And Mrs Smith in February 2004, 11 months before Pitt and Aniston broke up.

Now they look the picture of domestic bliss with their smiling children and thriving careers.

Yet it seems Angelina can’t help twisting the knife every so often, as when she raved earlier this year about the great sex life she enjoyed with Brad while pregnant with their newborn twins, Knox and Vivienne.

Rumours that Angelina is now pregnant again may not have helped Jen’s mood, especially as she doesn’t have any children but has said she wants a family.

Jennifer just wishes the public could move on from their interest in the love triangle, complaining on the Oprah Winfrey show last month: “It’s 100 years old, for Christ’s sake.”

However, frequent comments suggest she has not entirely moved on. She has recently rekindled her relationship with singer John Meyer who has helped her shed her image as a rejected victim.

But some friends and fans of the former Mrs Pitt believe that when things are going well in her life, Angelina has to throw poison.

MORE ...

WATCH THE LATEST FILM TRAILERS NOW!

THEATRE REVIEW: ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET'S SLEEPING BEAUTY

GET THE LOWDOWN ON THE LATEST GADGETS & GAMES

Jennifer has seemed sorry for herself, saying: “Am I lonely? Yes. Am I confused? Yes. Do I have days when I throw a little pity party for myself? Absolutely.”

Now she is going on the attack for the first time. Los Angeles psychologist Sharon Gardner, says: “Jennifer may have tried to maintain a position of stoicism, perhaps thinking it would help her disconnect from circumstances that have been so painful.

“Perhaps, after being constantly barraged with reports about Brad and Angelina’s life together and the failure of her marriage being ever present in the public eye, her pain has become too much to bear.

“There may be some relief in it but it’s possible that this expression of her anger will give rise to more anger.”

Dr Gardner, who has not treated  Jennifer, adds: “Anger can be a normal, and sometimes healthy, part of a grieving process, of which there are five stages – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. People may pass through these stages several times, in any order, before reaching the final stage of acceptance of the loss.”

Interestingly, Jennifer has never once criticised Brad since saying in summer 2005 that he was “missing a sensitivity chip”. Since then, she has only spoken in positive terms.

Some speculate that she is still in love and she actually wants to get Brad back. The psychologist says: “This may be viewed as one of the above-mentioned stages of grief – denial.

“Jennifer may only criticise Angelina and not Brad because she wishes to preserve some idealised view that Brad was and is a good person and did not leave her for a lack of love for her but was corrupted by someone or something beyond his control. Such an idealisation might make his leaving more bearable.

“Jennifer will, hopefully, feel some sense of control over her life and destiny once again and her recent expression of anger may help towards that.”

So too could her blossoming relationship with Meyer. She recently introduced him to her beloved father John but not to her mother Nancy, despite indications that she was attempting reconciliation following years of estrangement after Nancy’s book about their relationship.

Meanwhile, Jennifer has high hopes for Marley And Me, her first film in more than two years. In contrast to Angelina’s it is unlikely to be an Oscar contender but may well be a bigger box office hit if audiences warm to her character, who is learning life lessons from her adorable but neurotic dog.

Jen has even learned to laugh about the Angelina situation, calling a newspaper cartoon in which she was depicted preparing to clear the air with Jolie by loading a shotgun “the funniest thing I’ve ever seen”.

The former Friends star, whose birthday is in February, recently said: “Turning 40 is kind of awesome but I’m still pretty immature.”

However, given her decision to speak out at last against Angelina, she may well be wising up.

Comments Unavailable

Sorry, we are unable to accept comments about this article at the moment. However, you will find some great articles which you can comment on right now in our Comment section.

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?