Irreconcilable Differences

Is there any question what the cover story on tomorrow's new People magazine will be? Just kidding, but if you've been under a rock since mid-morning central time, here's a hint. These stories are all currently posted at people.com:

• Brad Pitt Breaks Silence on Divorce from Angelina Jolie: "What Matters Most Now Is the Well-Being of Our Kids"
• Inside Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's Final Months Together
• Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Most Memorable Red Carpet Moments
• Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Divorce: Couple Separated Just 5 Days Ago, Court Filing Says
• Brad Pitt Fled to France Amid Fight with Angelina Jolie This Year, Source Says
• A Look Back at Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie's Best Collaborations
• The Way They Were: Brad and Angelina Jolie Pitt's Most PDA-Filled Moments

And most intriguingly, this:

• Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Split Has Nothing to Do with His Allied Costar Marion Cotillard, Source Says 

If you change "Angelina Jolie" to Jennifer Aniston, "Allied" to Mr & Mrs Smith, and "Marion Cotillard" to Angelina Jolie, you will have time-warped right back to 2005, when Pitt and Aniston announced they were separating and wanted everyone to believe it had nothing to do with Angelina. (Allied is a movie coming out in November, starring Pitt and Cotillard.)

I admit, in common with many other people, I was shocked by this. As a blogger who writes about celebrities and keeps an arch eye on pop culture, I know that from Brangelina to the Bachelor to the Real Housewives of New Jersey, we don't really know anything about what's really going on in the lives of famous people, but still. I thought Brad and Angie would go the distance. They appeared, at least, to be in sync with each other and committed to raising their family of six kids. To be fair, that may have been the case for most of the time from 2005 until 5 days ago, or whenever it was that things fell apart.

So now it starts. The tabloids and other media have already initiated their Celebrity Divorce 101 protocols and this story will be competing with the New York/New Jersey bombings and the presidential election for airtime and pixel space for the next few days at least. I haven't seen a specific quote from Pitt or Jolie asking for "privacy at this difficult time," but I'm sure one's out there. Jennifer Aniston hasn't been heard from either but she would hardly be human if she isn't feeling just a teensy weensy bit of schadenfreude. Read my past musing about Brangelina here, here and here.   

Finally, is there anything else going on in the world? Well, yes. Apparently former president George H.W. Bush is giving serious thought to voting for Hillary.