ANGELINA SAYS MARRIAGE IS ON ROCKS
Copyright 2002 www.reuters.com

[ July 17th 2002 ]

Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie and her husband Billy Bob Thornton, one of Hollywood's most eccentric couples, have been living apart for four months, Jolie said in an interview released on Wednesday. Jolie, in an interview with Us Weekly, said she and Thornton had not seen each other since June 3 and were living in separate hotels.

Jolie described herself as both angry and sad at the apparent parting of ways after a two-year marriage whose future has been the subject of frenzied Hollywood gossip for weeks. "I'm angry. I'm sad. It's a very difficult and sad time," Jolie was quoted as telling Us Weekly. "It was a real deep connection, a deep marriage, so it's not that simple to say this or that one thing caused the problems. It's clear to me that our priorities shifted overnight."

The couple's May 2000 wedding was the second marriage for Jolie, 27, and the fifth for Thornton, 46. The intensity of their romance - each wore pendants filled with each other's blood around their necks and tattoos of each other's names - made them instant media stars.

Jolie, daughter of actor John Voight, won best supporting actress Oscar for her role as a young institutionalized sociopath in Girl, Interrupted. Thornton sprang to prominence with the 1996 drama Sling Blade, which he wrote, directed and starred in and which won him an Oscar for best screenplay. Thornton's spokesman declined to comment, telling Us Weekly "They remain very married."