In the mid-'90s, Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt were the ultimate Hollywood couple.
Long before Brangelina and "conscious uncoupling" were ever a thing, these two were inseparable.
But fans held their breath for a Tinseltown wedding that never happened.
Here's the truth about why Brad and Gwyneth called it quits.
"Someone wants Brad Pitt and I to get back together.
I think that ship has sailed."
When Paltrow and Pitt first got together in 1994, she was 22 to his 29.
Looking back, she told Howard Stern,
"I was such a kid, I mean I was 22 when we met.
It's taken me until, like, 40 to get my head out of my a--."
Paltrow later hinted that she was at fault for the split, once telling Diane Sawyer in an interview,
"My kind of internal stuff really tripped up that whole relationship, and I felt really responsible.
[...] I just made a big mess out of it."
"I take the institution of marriage extremely seriously.
Everybody, there are no divorces in my family."
Jean Black, makeup artist and longtime friend of Pitt, explained to Entertainment Weekly,
"I think there were a lot of things that made Brad feel as if Gwyneth probably wasn't ready for marriage."
Paltrow admitted to Howard Stern that one of the issues with her hunkier exes — including
Pitt and Ben Affleck — was that she was all about their looks.
She admitted that she even held onto photos of herself with Pitt, claiming,
"Every piece of your life is an important piece of your life."
Regarding her quick rebound with Affleck, Paltrow said that once again, she was enamored
with looks, adding,
"When you're a kid […] you think that being with a good looking person validates you in
some kind of way. It's not true. It's ego."
Just two months prior to the split, Pitt told Rolling Stone how excited he was to tie the
knot with Paltrow, claiming,
"I can't wait, man.
[…] Walk down the aisle, wear the ring, kiss the bride.
Oh, it's going to be great."
But insiders claimed that Pitt got cold feet when it was actually time to suit up.
A source told People,
"Brad called it off.
He changed his mind about a month ago.
He got caught up in the frenzy of getting married, but he really didn't want to."
It seems that Paltrow may have had an unhealthy obsession with Pitt.
A crew member on 1998's Sliding Doors revealed to People,
"[Gwyneth] was talking about him all the time.
[…] She would say, 'I need my Brad to be with me today, I am really missing him.'"
The crew member claimed she even drank coffee from a mug with Pitt's face on it.
Paltrow had previously told The Los Angeles Times that she initially resisted her feelings
for Pitt when they worked together on Seven, in '95, recalling,
"I'm like, 'Are you sane?
You can't get a crush on Brad Pitt.
Get a hold of yourself.'"
"Alright, laugh it up…
I don't know why you're laughing."
Paltrow later told Vanity Fair that the breakup truly shook her to the core, claiming that
impacted her life forever.
"Brad Pitt and I had just broken up and I had breakup, like, could not eat.
I was really skinny.
It was sort of upsetting."
As a couple, Paltrow and Pitt were constantly hounded by paparazzi.
Pitt even sued Playgirl magazine in 1997 over illicit photos of the couple on vacation,
allegedly taken with a telephoto lens.
"To be honest, it was just a very, very intense time all around.
And you know you're gonna be super scrutinized."
With the exception of her brief romance with Ben Affleck, Paltrow has since made it a point
to keep her love life under the radar.
Pitt, however, went on to marry Jennifer Aniston, then Angelina Jolie, embracing the power couple
status until each marriage fell apart.
Having gone on to briefly date her Royal Tenenbaums co-star, Luke Wilson, Paltrow hinted to Entertainment
Weekly that Pitt's love of the limelight played a role in the split, adding of Wilson,
"He doesn't have to grab all the attention in the room."
People reported that Paltrow turned down at least one role to be closer to Pitt, something
she confirmed when she told Entertainment Tonight,
"We're just not doing movies at the same time."
Claiming that taking turns filming was the key to keeping the spark alive, Paltrow seemed
to be putting the relationship first, telling New York magazine,
"I love acting, but it's not the most important thing to me."
"You really need to do that, I think, in order to have a relationship.
You know, it's too difficult to be separated.
Even though both Pitt and Paltrow survived several years together, it seems that these
two didn't have much in common.
According to People, sources close to Pitt describe him as someone who enjoys life's
simple pleasures, with a down-to-Earth sensibility.
The actor was raised in the midwest by his father Bill, who owned a trucking company,
and mom Jane who was a school counselor.
But Paltrow's upbringing was very different.
The daughter of director Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner, Paltrow was raised
in New York City's elite Upper East Side and went to an exclusive girls' academy.
She later told Entertainment Weekly,
"People are, like, obsessed with knowing why [Brad and I broke up].
[…] When two people aren't supposed to be together, they're not supposed to be together."
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