Billy Bob Thornton Explains Why His Sixth Marriage to Connie Angland Endures

Billy Bob Thornton has made rare comments about his marriage to 61-year-old Connie Angland.

The 70-year-old Landman actor told Rolling Stone magazine that he and his sixth wife, whom he wed in 2014, are just a natural fit. 

Thornton also shard that they have built a loving and stable life together.

‘Connie and I have been together 23 years and married for 12. Our daughter is 20. So, I found the right spot to be,’ shared the star.

‘The other times I got married were just like, you had a little too much to drink one night and somebody said: “We should get married.” You go: “Yeah, OK.” I always tell people, at least I was trying.’

Thornton previously admitted he doesn’t consider himself to be part of Hollywood because he avoids the party scene and prefers to spend time at home with his loved ones.

He told People: ‘I don’t talk about politics and stuff with people. I just kind of stay out of it all. I’m not really much of a part of Hollywood, as you say. I’m at home with the family, or I’m in a recording studio or on the road or making this. Those are the things I do, and I just kind of mind my own business.’

And his 70th birthday party was low key with the help of Angland.

The Armageddon star reached the milestone on August 4 but he didn’t want a big party or any presents, even telling his wife not to ‘mention it to anybody’ so he could just spend the big day at home with his family.

Thornton told RolIing Stone magazine: ‘Connie asked me what I wanted and I said: “Nothing, absolutely nothing. As a matter of fact, don’t mention it to anybody.”

‘We really just hung out here at the house, just me and Connie and the kids, and had a nice time, and they got me a vegan cake, which – I can’t eat wheat or dairy, so that was awesome. Anytime a guy like me could have cake, it’s a great day.’

This comes after he told Rolling Stone why his marriage to Angelina Jolie, 50, came to an end after only three years. 

The actor and Jolie said ‘I do’ in 2000 in Las Vegas despite their 20-year age gap. However, their divorce was finalized three years later. 

‘That was the one that ended up being a really civilized breakup,’ he shared. ‘We simply split up because our lifestyles were so different.’ 

The star added that both he and the Maleficent actress ‘had a great time together’ before revealing that it had also been ‘one of the greatest times of my life.’ 

In regards to their relationship two decades after calling it quits, Thornton said, ‘She and I are still very, very close friends.’ 

Both he and Jolie first crossed paths in 1999 on set of Pushing Tin and the pair eloped in Las Vegas the following year. 

In 2002, the then-couple announced their adoption of son Maddox – whom she requested full custody of after their split. 

In 2016 while talking to GQ, the Bad Santa actor further reflected on their separation and said that he ‘never felt good enough for’ Jolie. 

‘I’m real uncomfortable around rich and important people,’ Thornton expressed, adding that he preferred to stay home rather than attending red carpet events. 

And during a past interview with ABC News’ Nightline, he stated that he ‘blew it’ when it came to his marriage to Jolie. 

‘I blew it because I didn’t think I was good enough for her. She has one way she wanted to live her life and I had another way to live mine and I was just too insecure.’ 

He continued, ‘I did feel like the Phantom of the Opera hiding in the catacombs. People have actually said that I didn’t deserve to be with her.’

Thornton also told Us Weekly back in 2019: ‘We’re good friends. We’ve been friends for years and years and years.’ 

The actor added, ‘We keep up with each other. She’s not in town a lot, so we don’t see each other much, but we talk.’

At the height of their past romance, the scrutiny was relentless – something Thornton still remembers as ‘very weird.’ 

‘When we got together… for some reason, the people and the media were very interested in celebrity couples. So it was weird,’  he stated in his latest interview with Rolling Stone. 

‘We couldn’t go anywhere. And then of course we had times when we would say things that became sound bites or whatever.’

He also addressed one of the most infamous pop-culture myths of the era: the so-called ‘vials of blood’ they allegedly wore around their necks.

Thornton insisted the story has been blown wildly out of proportion.

He said the items weren’t vials at all: ‘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 over time, he said, public fascination twisted the gesture into something ‘negative.’

‘By the time it’s over, we’re vampires. We live in a dungeon, we drink each other’s blood, that kind of stuff.’

The actor previously talked about the blood necklaces during an appearance at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film Television in 2014. He said: ‘[A] vial of blood is very simple. Angie came home one day with a kit she bought. You know those lockets you buy that are clear and you put a picture of your grannie in it or something like that and wear it around your neck? That’s what it was.

‘She thought it would be interesting and romantic if we took a little razor blade and sliced our fingers, smeared a little blood on these lockets and you wear it around your neck just like you wear your son or daughter’s baby hair in one.’

The Fargo actor continued, ‘Same thing. From that we were wearing quart jars of blood around our necks.’

Thornton shares daughter Amanda, 46, with ex Melissa Lee Gatlin; sons William, 32, and Harry, 30, with ex-wife Pietra Dawn Cherniak; and daughter Bella, 20, with Angland.

As for Jolie – who is mom to Maddox, 24, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, and 16-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne – she’s publicly echoed his affection over the years. ‘I still love him dearly and think the world of him,’ she said in 2008. ‘And I’m proud to have been his wife for a time.’