NEED TO KNOW
- Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton were married from 2000 to 2003, having met on the set of Pushing Tin in 1999.
- Despite their split, they remain close friends, frequently speaking about each other with warmth and respect.
- The infamous “vials of blood” story is exaggerated; each wore a small locket with a tiny drop of blood as a symbolic gesture.
- Both Angelina and Billy have emphasised no regrets and maintain positive reflections on their time together.
Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton’s marriage may have lasted only three years, but two decades later, the bond between them hasn’t dissolved. In fact, the former couple speak about each other with a warmth, affection and ease that’s rare in Hollywood exes… especially those once at the centre of such intense tabloid fascination.
Their relationship in the early 2000s came with a high level of scrutiny: red carpet PDA, tabloid stories about “vials of blood,” and the narrative that Jolie was Hollywood’s resident wild child. But as both have explained in recent interviews, the mythology surrounding their marriage never quite matched the reality.
(Credit: Getty)
Are Angelina and Billy still close friends?
Billy has been the most vocal about where they stand now. In an interview with Rolling Stone published in November 2025, he said their connection never faded.
“Angelina and I had a great time together,” he told the magazine, calling that chapter of his life “one of the greatest times.” He added, “She and I are still very, very close friends.”
It echoes what he said years earlier in the HFPA in Conversation podcast, describing Angelina as “a great person” whose work and values he deeply respects.
Angelina has always been similarly gracious. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly back in 2008, she said, “I still love him dearly and think the world of him… I’m proud to have been his wife for a time.”
Billy has since remarried; he’s been with his wife Connie Angland for more than a decade, and Angelina has been focused on her children and her humanitarian work. But the affection between the former spouses persists.
(Credit: Getty)
Why Angelina and Billy split
Both Angelina and Billy have been clear that their breakup wasn’t explosive or dramatic; it was actually quite the opposite.
Billy has repeatedly explained that their split came down to lifestyle differences more than anything emotional.
“We just had different lifestyles,” he said on the HFPA podcast. “Hers is a global lifestyle, and mine is an agoraphobic lifestyle.”
Looking back, Billy says the media’s fixation didn’t help. When they met, he was the better-known star, but once they married, the attention doubled, and anything they said became a headline.
“We couldn’t go anywhere,” he recalled of the constant attention.
Still, both insist the chaos around them never changed how they felt about each other.
He’s maintained that there was no animosity, calling it a “civilised breakup” in his Rolling Stone interview.
Angelina has said she avoids regrets entirely, once telling Entertainment Weekly: “It’s dangerous to look back and question yourself.”
(Credit: Getty)
The blood necklaces: What really happened
One of the most enduring myths from their marriage is the “vials of blood” story, something the actor says spiralled into full-blown fantasy.
Billy has clarified multiple times that there were no vials and definitely no vampiric rituals.
“We each had a little locket with a tiny drop of blood,” he told Rolling Stone, describing it as a simple, sentimental idea. “But by the end of it, we were apparently vampires living in a dungeon.”
He’s said the same previously: the gesture was small and symbolic, but grew into a wildly exaggerated tabloid tale.
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