A brief history of Brangelina

Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt

Image | Brangelina file for divorce

Caption: (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters) (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Jolie and Pitt recently played a troubled couple in By the Sea.

If art does, in fact, imitate life then it's hard not to search for signs of actual strife in the 2015 drama about an unraveling married couple(external link) following news that Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from actor husband Brad Pitt.

Image | Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie-Divorce By the Sea

Caption: Pitt and Jolie, in character, from the film By the Sea. (Universal Pictures via Associated Press)

The two met on set in 2004.

Pitt and Jolie co-starred in the action comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith, in which they played married assassins who try to kill each other before making up in the film's denouement, and officially became a couple in 2005.

Image | Branjelina MR-AND-MRS-SMITH 2004

Caption: That's Mr. & Mrs. Smith producer Arnon Milchan with Pitt and Jolie at the film's premiere in June 2005. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)

Hollywood's 'first couple' got married in 2014.

Their marriage in France came after a two-year engagement and months of tabloid speculation about if, and where, the A-listers would tie the knot. Dubbed Hollywood's "first couple" their wedding was such a big deal that Madame Tussaud's commemorated the event in wax.

Image | Branjelina wedding at Madame Tussauds 2014

Caption: (Jason Reed/Reuters)

They have six children.

Their off-screen life has been grist for the tabloids from the get-go and the family is often photographed on the road together, kids in tow.
They have three biological children together: Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne, and have adopted three: Maddox, Zahara and Pax.

Image | Branjelina children 2006

Caption: This is Maddox on Pitt's shoulders and Zahara in Jolie's arms outside a hotel in Mumbai in 2006. (Prashanth Vishwanathan/Reuters)

Image | Branjelina pregnant at-CANNES 2008

Caption: A pregnant Jolie and Pitt were in Cannes in 2008. (Vincent Kessler/Reuters)

Jolie and Pitt own a 17th-century château.

Château Miraval, rumoured to have cost the couple some $60 million US, is in the village of Correns, in southern France.

Image | BRANGELINA estate in FRANCE

Caption: (Philippe Laurenson/Reuters)

Jolie is a special envoy for the United Nations Refugee Agency.

The Oscar-winning actress and director was, as recently as Sept. 9, in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan as part of her work with the UN. Jolie is also a champion of breast and ovarian cancer research and had a preventive double mastectomy in 2013.

Image | Mideast Syria Angelina Jolie UNHCR Sept 2016

Caption: (Ahmad Alameen/Associated Press) (Ahmad Alameen/Associated Press)

Pitt's humanitarian work has been more muddled.

After Hurricane Katrina, Pitt started the Make it Right Foundation to build more than 100 homes in the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward. The homes, some designed by famous architects, were criticized for looking out of place in the working-class neighbourhood and a portion began to unexpectedly rot due to use of defective materials.

Image | Branjelina breakup Pitt in New Orleans 2007

Caption: (Mark Mainz/Getty Images)

Life before Brangelina …

Pitt was previously married to actress Jennifer Aniston, while Jolie was married to actor Billy Bob Thornton and, earlier, to Johnny Lee Miller.

Image | Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie-Divorce Jennifer Anniston 2000

Caption: This is Pitt and Aniston together in 2000. (Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)