The actor got candid in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, sharing how truths get spun when one is in the public eye: “by the time it’s over, we’re vampires.”
Married in 2000, Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie had the public wrapped around their finger for the three years they were together. Now, 22 years later, Thornton is setting the record straight about the relationship — particularly the rumor that they wore a vial of each other’s blood around their neck.
The vials “never existed,” Thornton told Rolling Stone. The rumor sprouted from lockets the couple wore that, according to the 70-year-old, were made “literally with a drop of blood in them. That’s a romantic little idea, and that’s all that was.”
However, the public ran with the concept and “by the time it’s over, we’re vampires. We live in a dungeon, we drink each other’s blood, and this kind of stuff,” Thornton recalled.
The Rolling Stone profile is not the first time Thorton has commented on the infamous blood necklaces. According to E! News in 2011, Thornton spoke to students at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television, telling the college kids that the lockets were actually Jolie’s idea.
“Angie came home one day with a kit she bought,” he explained, before elaborating on the logic behind them. The idea came because they would be apart filming Tomb Raider and Monster’s Ball. “You know those lockets you buy that are clear and you put a picture of your grannie in it or something like that and wear it around your neck? That’s what it was. She bought two of those,” he shared.
“She [Jolie] thought it would be interesting and romantic if we took a little razorblade and sliced our fingers, smeared a little blood on these lockets and you wear it around your neck just like you wear your son or daughter’s baby hair in one. Same thing.”
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Jolie and Thornton met in 1999 on the set of Pushing Tin, and they eloped a year later in Las Vegas. Thornton described his marriage to Jolie as “one of the greatest times of my life.” He also described how he was the “more famous one” when they met, and the weird dynamic of their relationship: “for some reason, the people and the media are very interested in celebrity couples, that seems to be a very popular thing. So, it was weird.”
He elaborated, “We couldn’t go anywhere. I mean, we did, and then of course we had times when we would say things that became sound bites or whatever.”
Their divorce in 2003 was amicable and happened “because our lifestyles were so different.” The Hollywood stars are still on good terms as the Landman actor described them as “very, very close friends.”
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Jolie has also commented on her and Thorton’s civil breakup. In 2008, the Maleficent actress told Entertainment Weekly, per E! News, “I still love him dearly and think the world of him, and I’m proud to have been his wife for a time.”
She also stated, “I don’t believe in regrets. It’s a dangerous habit to get into — it makes you pause in your life if you start thinking back and questioning yourself.”
Since their divorce, Thornton has gone on to date and marry Connie Angland. It’s his sixth and longest lasting marriage. He told Rolling Stone, “Connie and I have been together 23 years and married for 12. Our daughter is 20. So, I found the right spot to be.”
Jolie dated and married Brad Pitt before divorcing in 2019. She is currently not publicly dating anyone.
