The sudden wedding of Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie in 1999 made news and shocked many people.
The couple was 20 years apart in age, and they were both seeing other people at the time, which made things even more interesting.
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Among those caught off guard was Billy Bob’s fiancée, actress Laura Dern. Laura says that she found out about her partner’s wedding to Angelina at the same time that everyone else did. This made her relationship plans less predictable.
Based on E! Online, Billy Bob and Laura started dating in 1997, not long after Laura broke up with Jeff Goldblum and while Billy Bob was still divorcing his fourth wife, Pietra Dawn Cherniak. In 1999, Billy Bob met Angelina on the set of Pushing Tin. They had been dating for two years, were engaged, and were getting ready for the wedding.
Their quick fall in love led to a surprise wedding in Las Vegas in May 2000, which caught Laura off guard. In Style, Laura talked about the sudden change in her life: “I left our home to work on a movie. While I was gone, my boyfriend got married, and I haven’t heard from him since.” She felt like she had lost something important and was confused about what to do next.
Billy Bob has never admitted to doing anything wrong, but he did say he was sorry in an interview with the Mirror in 2001: “Others may say that you left our girl and married someone else.” But it made someone else and me happy. I’m sorry it hurt you.
Bruce Dern, Laura’s dad, talked about that time. Bruce talked about the 1978 movie Coming Home. “Laura babysat one night for Angelina when Angelina was 2 and Laura was about 8,” he said. “They were staying at Hal Ashby’s house, so they asked Laura to come over and watch Angie.”
After the breakup, Laura’s friend Melissa Etheridge was there for her and told her how she helped Laura move out of the house she shared with Billy Bob.
Melissa told Andy Cohen on his SiriusFM radio show (via the Sun): “I was around when Angelina wasn’t being nice to Laura Dern with Billy Bob.” I went through that for myself and then to understand Jennifer and Brad’s point of view. When Laura and Billy Bob moved out, I helped them. It was so gross that I broke into their house to get their stuff.
Following the event, everyone concerned went on with their lives. Laura finally got married to Ben Harper and has two kids with him. Since then, she has been tied to former NBA player Baron Davis.
When Billy Bob and Angelina got divorced in 2002, he stopped dating famous people out of worry for his privacy. In 2014, he married a puppeteer to try to live a quieter life away from the attention.