Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s decade-long fallout, reexamined: ‘There were a lot of issues’

People close to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are revisiting the breakup a decade later, telling PEOPLE the relationship had been strained long before it ended. The pair were together for 12 years and married for just two, and, according to those insiders, the cracks preceded the headlines.

“They were not necessarily as good as they looked to people on the outside. There were a lot of issues that were festering for many years,” a source close to Pitt told PEOPLE.

The separation followed a private-jet flight on September 14, 2016, after which Jolie filed for divorce citing “irreconcilable differences.” The incident prompted investigations; the FBI cleared Pitt, and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services concluded its review with no findings of abuse.

“For a decade she has kept silent, so not to disparage the father of her children. She has kept a dignified silence even while she was being attacked with misinformation,” another source, close to Jolie, told PEOPLE.

The divorce was finalized in December 2024, though disputes between the former couple reportedly continued after the legal split.

Their last movie together

Before the marriage became a legal saga, the two reunited on screen in By the Sea (2015), their first collaboration since Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Written and directed by Jolie, the drama casts them as Roland (Pitt) and Vanessa (Jolie), an American couple whose marriage unravels during a stay at a quiet seaside hotel.

They filmed the project in Gozo, Malta, during their 2014 honeymoon. Universal Pictures released it in November 2015, and the film earned about $3 million against a $10 million budget. Jolie later told The Hollywood Reporter the story’s core came from a deeply personal place:

“at it’s core, is about grief,”

It would ultimately be their final on-screen collaboration.