Mr and Mrs Pitt! Brad, Angelina tie the knot in France

August 29, 2014 | 09:16
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Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt - one of Hollywood's most famous celebrity power couples - are now husband and wife, after a wedding in France described as a "family affair".


Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrive at the World Premiere Of Disney's 'Maleficent' at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on May 28, 2014. (AFP/Frazer Harrison)

LOS ANGELES: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt - one of Hollywood's most famous celebrity power couples - are now husband and wife, after a wedding in France described as a "family affair." The A-list Oscar winners were married by a US judge on Saturday (Aug 23) in a small chapel at Chateau Miraval in the southern French village of Correns, a spokeswoman for the couple said.

Jolie was walked down the aisle by her eldest sons Maddox and Pax. Her daughters Zahara and Vivienne threw petals, while the couple's other two children Shiloh and Knox were the ring bearers. "It was very much a family affair," the spokeswoman said in a statement.

Pitt and Jolie obtained a marriage licence in California from a local US judge, who travelled to France to conduct the wedding, which was described as a "non-denominational civil ceremony".

On Thursday, Pitt was photographed wearing a gold band on his left ring finger during an event in Britain to promote his new World War II film "Fury" in which he plays a battle-hardened army sergeant.

The Tinseltown royal couple fell in love on the set of 2005 action film "Mr & Mrs Smith" - spawning the media phenomenon of "Brangelina" that has dominated celebrity journalism and the tabloids ever since.

Earlier this year, Jolie, 39, had told People that she and Pitt were "not really in a rush" to get married, adding: "We're just waiting for it to be the right time with the kids, with work, when it feels right."

TINSELTOWN ROYALTY

Jolie - twice married and divorced before her wedding to the 50-year-old Pitt - took home an Oscar for best supporting actress for her portrayal of a rebellious woman in a mental institution in 1999's "Girl, Interrupted". She has since played everything from a fairy tale villain ("Maleficent") to a sexy video game heroine ("Lara Croft: Tomb Raider") to the widow of assassinated American journalist Daniel Pearl ("A Mighty Heart").

The actress revealed last year that she had had a double mastectomy to reduce her high risk of breast cancer.

Pitt got his big break more than 20 years ago with a much-talked-about shirtless eye-candy role in the hit movie "Thelma and Louise" - as the two-bit thief who seduces Geena Davis.

Since then, he has also built a resume of varied film roles, starring alongside some of the industry's other mega-watt stars: with Tom Cruise in "Interview with a Vampire," with Anthony Hopkins in "Legends of the Fall" and with George Clooney in "Ocean's Eleven."

He has received three Oscar nominations for his acting - in 1996 for "Twelve Monkeys", in 2009 for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and in 2012 for "Moneyball". This year, Pitt took home an Academy Award as one of the producers of best picture "12 Years a Slave".

Pitt was previously married to "Friends" star Jennifer Aniston - a Hollywood super-pairing that fizzled out, at about the same time as Pitt met Jolie.

Jolie - the daughter of Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight - was married to actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton.

The supercouple are now working on "By the Sea" - their first on-screen appearance together since "Mr and Mrs Smith". The movie is to be filmed in Malta.

Their children are Maddox, 13; Pax, 11; Zahara, 9; Shiloh, 8; and six-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. Maddox, Pax and Zahara are adopted.

FROM TABLOID QUEEN TO UN ADVOCATE

Jolie once delighted gossip columnists by declarations of bisexuality and quirky behaviour such as wearing a vial of Thornton's blood around her neck during their 2000-2003 marriage.

The red carpet darling is now however better known for her humanitarian work than for her tabloid-ready comments. Jolie long served as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

In 2012, she was promoted to special envoy and has visited refugees around the world, from Syria to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. More recently, she has been a vocal advocate for victims of sexual violence in war zones, co-hosting a global summit on conflict rape in June in London. That same month, she was made an honorary dame in Queen Elizabeth II's birthday honours list.

Jolie made her directorial debut in 2011 with "In the Land of Blood and Honey", an unflinching drama about rape as a weapon in wartime Bosnia, saying she hoped to use cinema as a force for reconciliation.

Of her life with Pitt and children, Jolie told People in May: "We've been through so much, we've gotten a lot closer, which I think naturally happens with raising a family together."

"You have this person you live with who really knows you, and you know them so well. You're not lovers or boyfriend and girlfriend as much as you are a family," she added.

 

AFP

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