Politics Caused Brad and Jen Split

Tinseltown tongues are wagging over rumors that another man may have come in between A-list couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Pitt's competition wasn't an actor or Hollywood hottie, say insiders, but the most powerful man in the free world: President George W. Bush.

Aniston's embrace of conservative issues said to cause tension

By Russell D'Arby, Arts and Entertainment Correspondent

HOLLYWOOD, CA—Tinseltown tongues are wagging over rumors that another man may have caused the split-up of A-list couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Pitt's competition wasn't an actor or celeb hottie, say insiders, but President George W. Bush.

Tabloid and glossy mags had been warning of trouble in paradise for months, pointing to Pitt's much publicized desire to start a family and the take-off of former 'Friend' Aniston's silver-screen career. But celeb watchers may have missed a more fundamental division plaguing the couple, say friends of Brad and Jen: their politics.

The couple released a joint statement on Friday announcing that they were separating after nearly five years of marriage.

Aniston: more conservative than you thought
Tension between the two began to escalate, say friends, during the recent presidential campaign when Pitt publicly endorsed democratic contender John Kerry, going so far as to hang a Kerry campaign poster outside of the couple's Hollywood dream home, a gesture that rubbed his glamorous wife the wrong way. "Jen thought that was really disrespectful to the president," a source said. "She made that clear to Brad and it became a really tense situation."

But no amount of behind-the-scenes sweet talking could dissuade Pitt from campaigning for Kerry; the star of Troy and Ocean's Twelve even attended a screening of the Kerry bio-pic "Going Up River: The Long War of John Kerry" at his alma mater, the University of Missouri.

No love for Jen on left coast
Aniston was noticeably missing from her hubby's arm at the many democratic love-fests Pitt attended this fall. And while the blonde beauty's publicists laid the blame for her absence on Jen's red-hot movie career—she currently has half a dozen films in the pipeline—sources say it was her lack of enthusiasm for candidate Kerry that kept her off the elite Hollywood party circuit. "Jen is extremely loyal and patriotic," said a source close to the actress. "The way Kerry behaved when he returned from Vietnam really sickened her."

Pitt, 41, and Aniston, 35, began dating in the spring of 1998 and quickly emerged as one of the most watched celebrity couples in Hollywood. They tied the knot in 2000, joined by 200 of their friends as they said "I do" in an extravagant ceremony in Malibu.

But the couple's wedded bliss hit a serious speed bump when hijackers flew commercial airliners into the World Trade Center on September 11. "Brad wasn't sure that we should have gone into Afghanistan," said a source. "Jen strongly disagreed. She thought the situation demanded a strong military response, not a police action like Brad wanted."

Battle of the Hollywood stars
Sources say that the couple's problems only escalated during the buildup to the Iraq war. As Pitt joined close friend George Clooney and other members of the liberal Hollywood elite in opposing the war, Aniston confided her unhappiness in a few close friends. But their rocky relationship further unraveled during the presidential campaign. Not long after President George W. Bush's decisive re-election, Aniston removed her wedding ring.

Celebs feel pressure to conform
The couple's announcement that they are splitting up made no mention of their political differences. Sources close to Aniston say that the actress plans to keep her conservative leanings to herself lest they jeopardize her film career in the notoriously liberal bastion that is Hollywood. "Jen saw all of the heat that Mel took after 'Passion' came out," a source said. "I think that helped her decide to keep her politics private."

For now, Pitt and Aniston are asking the public to respect their privacy as they embark on a sensitive and difficult period. Pitt is reportedly considering sitting down with Barbara Walters this spring. Actress Aniston is said to be planning an interview with conservative talk show host Sean Hannity.

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Comments

[celebrity videos]

Its for good of both of them. For Brad is better.

[[email protected]]

Looking back, this article was too funny since they both voted for Obama in 2008.

[Kelly Kasey]

I love it! It is so refreshing to see a famous Hollywood type support the conservative party. I have always liked Jennifer & now I like her even more.

[Charles Ives]

Why are all liberals whiners? Why are all conservatives stoic? I dunno. But I tend to like stoics more than whiners. They take what life throws at them and do the best that they can, refusing to blame the world for their misfortunes. Liberals never ever take responsibility for their misfortunes and, as a result, are loath to ever look at themselves directly in the mirror. Look at the stuff written here. The Libs' posts all have that nasty, smartass, bitter tone. The conservatives just state the facts.

[Ashley]

I think that everyone should just leave Jennifer and Brad out of your gossip about politics. Who cares what their views on certian issues are? I am a die hard Aniston fan, and I don't even know if she is liberal or consertive. Just leave them alone, they would greatly appreciate it.

[jane]

Right, because everything on the internet is true. Blog owners never, ever make up porkies.

Jennifer Aniston is not a republican. She is a diehard liberal and hates Bush with a passion. She has spoken out against Bush and for the Democrats multiple times, dating back to when Friends first hit it big, and dating to months after she and Brad Pitt split. I am not a fan but I don't believe for one second that a woman who publicly called Bush "a jackass" and "a f***ing idiot" would ever complain about not respecting the president.

[Dogwood]

I wasn't aware that political differences cause their breakup, but yeah, i couldn't be involved in a relationship with a woman who supports the most hated man in history.

[Spaz Cadet]

This was freaking hilarious! Thanks!

[James]

Wow. This is a speculative article with no verifiable truth to it and already you’re ready to name call and condescend to Ms. Aniston over her rumored political leanings? According to this story it was her soon-to-be ex-husbands very public political views that caused tension. Yet you waste no time, and without any credible evidence to suggest that Jennifer Aniston needs to “grow up.” How childish.

[PopMuse.com]

it's the end of the world as we know it... Aniston's a Divorced Greek Conservative Bush Lover? I weep for the Future.

[PopMuse.com]

it's the end of the world as we know it... Aniston's a Divorced Greek Conservative Bush Lover? I weep for the Future.

[Reality]

C'mon, are you serious? I call bullshit in a big way. Just look at the regurgitated republican talking points: "Brad wasn't sure that we should have gone into Afghanistan," said a source. "Jen strongly disagreed. She thought the situation demanded a strong military response, not a police action like Brad wanted."

Then it goes on to say that Barbara Walters will interview Brad Pitt and Shawn Hannity will interview Aniston, but Aniston wants to keep a low profile on her political leanings? Bullshit. I called it first.

[patty]

So "the way John Kerry when he returned from Vietnam really sickened her."? How old was Jennifer Aniston at the time John Kerry returned from Vietnam -- two?

If Ms. Aniston had any sense of the historic, of civic process, of the contagion of ideas, of social movement, she might have observed that John Kerry was far, far, far from alone in his views those many years ago and that it was the actions of him and those like him who helped bring that war to a close.

I can understand her objection to her husband usurping the right to put a sign supporting "his" candidate on "their" house. It's pretty nervy, especially if she has strong political views of her own.

But to object to the sign because "it's disrespectful to the president" assumes that we should all honor the man who holds the office just because he holds the office, a perfectly galling position promulgated by Karl Rove and the rest of the hypocritical Bush neo-cons. It is a position familiar to anyone whose run up against a dictatorship or against any Republican president since Gerald Ford.

Jennifer Aniston may wrap herself in a flag, rather than think beyond the end of her nose, but there is no excuse for such a shallow and babyish grasp of the democracic process at her age. It's time she grew up and read a book.