Billy Bob Thornton says he and Angelina Jolie never wore blood vial necklaces
By Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter
Actor Billy Bob Thornton has denied that he and Angelina Jolie wore necklaces containing vials of each other’s blood when they were married.
The 70-year-old said he did wear a locket with a drop of the 50-year-old Tomb Raider actress’s blood in, but said he felt the story had been over-exaggerated and the vials of blood “never existed”.
Thornton told Rolling Stone: “We each had a little locket, literally with a drop of blood in them. That’s a romantic little idea, and that’s all that was. But by the time it’s over, we’re vampires. We live in a dungeon, we drink each other’s blood, and this kind of stuff.”
The pair were married for three years from 2000 to 2003. Jolie went on to marry Brad Pitt in 2014, but they divorced in 2019, while Bad Santa actor Thornton married his current wife, make-up effects specialist Connie Angland, in 2014.
Thornton said he remains friends with Jolie, adding: “Of course, Angelina and I had a great time together. That was one of the greatest times of my life. She and I are still very, very close friends. That was the one that ended up being a really civilized break-up.
“We simply split up because our lifestyles were so different.”
He also described the period as “pretty weird” due to the pair being followed by the paparazzi.
Thornton explained: “We couldn’t go anywhere. I mean, we did, and then of course we had times when we would say things that became soundbites or whatever.”
Prior to his marriage to Jolie, Thornton was married four previous times, to Melissa Lee Gatlin from 1978 to 1980, to Toni Lawrence from 1986 to 1988, to Cynda Williams from 1990 to 1992, and to Pietra Dawn Cherniak from 1993 to 1997.
Thornton won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for 1996 independent drama film Sling Blade, which he wrote, directed and starred in, and is best known for roles in films such as One False Move (1992), Armageddon (1998) and Monster’s Ball (2002).