Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie's relationship made headlines during their two-year marriage in the early 2000s. The former couple was known for their unconventional romantic gestures, and one, in particular, caused a huge stir. The Landman star, 70, and the Maleficent actress, 50, were said to wear vials of each other's blood, and 22 years after their divorce, he is setting the record straight. "We each had a little locket, literally with a drop of blood in them," he told Rolling Stone. "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."
Billy first broke his silence on the blood vial necklaces in 2014, explaining that they were lockets that contained a small amount of blood in them. "[A] vial of blood is very simple. Angie came home one day with a kit she bought," he said while speaking at Loyola Marymount University's School of Film & Television, according to E! News. "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."
He added: "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."
Billy, who has been married six times, including his current wife Connie Angland, whom he married in 2014, and Angelina, first met in 1999 while filming Pushing Tin. He was 44 and she was 24. They tied the knot a year later in Las Vegas, but their marriage only lasted two years before they divorced in 2003. Looking back on their marriage, Billy admitted that the interest surrounding their relationship "was pretty weird" and the two "couldn't go anywhere" without a frenzy. He explained: "When we met, I was the more famous one. And then when we got together, for some reason, the people and the media are very interested in celebrity couples, that seems to be a very popular thing."
© WireImage
© Getty ImagesDespite their split, he and Angelina remain "very close friends." Billy said: "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. And that was the one that ended up being a really civilized breakup. We simply split up because our lifestyles were so different."
© WireImageAngelina has echoed her ex's sentiments, telling Entertainment Weekly in 2008: "It was never a vial... It was like a flower press. It was like from a slight cut on your finger, and you press your fingerprint in. It was kind of a sweet gesture. I thought it was kind of romantic!" Speaking about her relationship with Billy, she added: "I still love him dearly and think the world of him, and I'm proud to have been his wife for a time. I don't believe in regrets. It's a dangerous habit to get into – it makes you pause in your life if you start thinking back and questioning yourself."
