It was during awards season in 2020 that Jennifer Aniston set the internet alight by sharing a hug with her ex-husband Brad Pitt. But don’t expect a similar love-in this year should Jen run into her long-standing nemesis Angelina Jolie at the Golden Globes later this week.
With a Best Actress nomination for her role in Maria, 2025 will likely mark Angelina’s first appearance at the ceremony since 2018. In contrast, Jen has been a staple at the event in recent years, thanks to her hit Apple TV series The Morning Show, on which she serves as both executive producer and leads the cast as Alex Levy.
According to our source, Jen, 55, is dreading coming face to face with Angelina, 49 – and it’s not just the Globes she’s worried about, as she also fears Ange is muscling in on other aspects of her life.
‘Hollywood is a very small town, and with Angelina out on the awards circuit – she’s in the running for an Oscar, too – it’s going to take a big effort from Jen to avoid her in the coming months,’ we’re told. ‘On top of that, Jen feels Ange is starting to encroach on some of her professional relationships, too. She produced Maria with Netflix, who Jen has worked with extensively in the past. Jen has been a huge force in show business in recent years, but now Angelina is back up there with her.’
The alleged feud between Jen and Angelina dates back to 2004, when there was rumoured to be an overlap between the end of Jen and Brad Pitt’s four-year marriage and the beginning of his and Angelina’s. Although Brad and Ange – who are parents to Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 16 – split in 2016, our insider says Jen’s anger towards Angelina still endures. ‘The amount of animosity between them was ridiculous. Jen holds Ange responsible for her and Brad’s break-up. She sees her as a “home-wrecker”,’ we’re told.
‘Jen feels Angelina was very arrogant about the situation and she feels her relationship with Brad helped solidify this narrative in people’s minds that Jen was too career-driven to give him children.’
The source adds, ‘If Jen had moved on, and found lasting love again and had kids of her own, she probably would be able to let it go. But that hasn’t happened and she holds Angelina responsible for a whole lot of pain in her life. As Jen has since said, she did want to have kids with Brad and to become a mother – she tried many times over the years to make it happen. That’s a source of deep sadness for her life and – rationally or not – she sees Angelina as the reason for it. That kind of pain doesn’t just go away and even after all these years Jen still believes Angelina should be held accountable.’
Although Jen – who has been single since her split from second husband Justin Theroux in 2018 – and Brad, 60, have since made up, the bad blood between her and Angelina has continued. Our insider says, ‘Jen can’t stand to look at her – and she avoids her wherever possible. For a long time, she felt the same about Brad, but he reached out to make amends a while ago, so she was able to forgive him. If Angelina had ever tried to get in touch and talk things over, Jen likely would have been able to let this go, but it hasn’t even come close to that, and isn’t likely to. Angelina feels that she did nothing wrong and so, therefore, has nothing to apologise for.’
The source continues, ‘Jen’s close friends will support her no matter what, but for the most part they think she ought to have moved on by now. The fact is, this seems like a heartache Jen will carry with her forever.’