Back in 2004, Jennifer Aniston and hubby Brad Pitt were considered Hollywood's golden couple. Everyone thought their 4-year-old marriage was rock solid.
Then Pitt made Mr. and Mrs. Smith with actress and super-mom Angelina Jolie. And the next thing you know, Aniston and Pitt are separated, then divorced.
Hollywood was choosing sides, with "Team Jennifer" and "Team Angelina" tee shirts popping up out of nowhere.
And there was Jennifer Aniston, alone and miserable, nursing a broken heart, watching Brad and Angelina cavort across the world's stage.
Then in 2005 Jennifer stars opposite Vince Vaughn in a movie ironically titled The Break-Up. And one thing led to another.
Recently Jennifer has said that Vince and their relationship brought her back to life after her own break-up with Pitt.
Let's have a look at the relationship and how it helped Jennifer move on.
The Real Break-Up
Just days before Angelina and Brad began filming Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jennifer and Angelina just happened to run into one another in a parking lot. Jennifer, who was just finishing off her successful run in TV's Friends, pulled over and introduced herself to Ms. Jolie.
She said: "Brad is so excited about working with you. I hope you guys have a really good time."
Oops. Little did she know. Aniston has admitted that shortly after he began filming with Jolie, Brad sort of "checked out" of the marriage. Years later, an emotional Brad apologized to Jennifer for leaving her for Jolie.
Too little. Too late.
The betrayal left Aniston broken and unable to move on. She went into therapy, intensive therapy, which helped. She reconciled with her mother Nancy. Nancy, who enjoyed Jennifer's fame a little too much, had blabbed to the press once too often, causing a rift between mother and daughter.
And then Jennifer made The Break-Up with Vince Vaughn. Kind of on the quiet, they began dating.
They kept the whole relationship thing on the DL. Neither wanted the media attention. Jennifer would have been accused of "being on the rebound". And Vince would have been seen as taking advantage of the vulnerable star. Oh sure, they appeared in public together, but both kept quiet about what was really going on.
The Break-Up was a forgettable film about the acrimonious break-up of the relationship between Aniston's character Brooke and her significant other Gary played by Vaughn. Aniston very seldom, if ever, challenges herself with the roles she picks. And this movie was no exception. But it did serve to bring the larger than life Vince Vaughn into her world.
Her Defibrillator
In 2018 she told Vogue: "I call Vince my defibrillator. He literally brought me back to life." High praise indeed.
She went on about what he meant to her back then: "My first gasp of air was a big laugh! It was great. I love him."
Where Brad Pitt had been restrained and a little buttoned-down, Vince was a breath of fresh air. Pitt tried too hard to control Jennifer and what she got up to. But Vince was a live and let live kind of guy. She has said that he was "a bull in a china shop". And she loved it.
Both she and Vaughn accepted the relationship for what it was, a temporary harbor for them both. According to Aniston: "He was lovely and fun and perfect for the time we had together. And I needed that. And it sort of ran its course." The two started dating in 2005 and broke up in 2006, amid tabloid stories that Vaughn had cheated on Aniston. In fact, he ended up suing three tabloids who accused him of cheating on Jennifer.
Vaughn has been very vocal on not wanting the glare of the media spotlight on his relationships. He said liking someone and spending time with them was a private affair. He has complained that he spent way too much time and energy trying not "to be drawn into the attention". He went on: "I think lying low and not talking about it put me in a good position later".
They eventually went their separate ways. Jennifer married actor Justin Theroux in 2015. No, that didn't last either. They divorced in 2017. Vince went on to marry Kyla Weber, a Canadian real estate agent, in 2010. While Aniston has not had kids, Kyla and Vince share a son and a daughter.
As the world knows Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ended up parenting six kids before their acrimonious split in 2016. It has pretty much been a battle royal between the two since then, with Jolie hinting at abusive behavior by Brad and Pitt demanding more time with his kids.
We're not saying Jennifer Aniston is the kind to gloat. But who would blame her if she did, just a little? Pitt must rue the day he hooked up with Jolie. And, by all accounts, Angelina feels the same.