Billy Bob Thornton: Angelina Jolie Romance was ‘Greatest Times’ of His Life

Billy Bob Thornton got candid about his wild early-2000s love story with Angelina Jolie, revisiting the relationship that became the stuff of Hollywood legend.  

The pair married in Las Vegas in May 2000 after a whirlwind two-month courtship — despite a 20-year age gap — following their meeting on the set of Pushing Tin.  

And even though Thorton, 70, has since settled into a 23-year relationship — including 12 years of marriage — with Connie Angland, he didn’t hesitate to rank his time with Jolie among the very best chapters of his life. 

‘Angelina and I had a great time together,’ he told Rolling Stone on Tuesday. ‘That was one of the greatest times of my life.’

He also revealed exactly where the two stand today, even as Jolie remains locked in her long-running legal battle with ex-husband Brad Pitt.

‘She and I are still very, very close friends,’ Thornton said, calling their split unique.

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

At the height of their 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. 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.

‘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 Connie 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.’