The One Where The Lines Get Kinda Blurry

The One Where The World Is Watching

"Jen! Jen! Over here Jen! Can you guys get closer together? Brad, this way! Jen, give us a smile! Jen! Jen!"

The insanely bright flashes and noisy hysteria and chaos were something she had never and would never get used to. This was one of the parts of her job that she liked the least. And the worst part about tonight, just like in New York two nights earlier, this wasn't even for one of her movies. This was all about him. His latest blockbuster Troy was being released all around the world and tonight they were in Cannes for the latest in a stream of high-profile events. Her only role was that of trophy wife and although she had played the part many times before, these last few days had almost broken her. She was miserable, she was jetlagged, she was sad, she was lonely, she was depressed, and she was sick and tired of painting on a smile and pretending everything was ok when inside she felt like curling up into a ball and never being seen in public ever again.

Of course, that wasn't possible. She was part way through filming a movie called Rumor Has It and she was about to begin work on another movie, Friends With Money, that would be shot straight afterwards, although there would be a couple of weeks of overlap where she would be working on both. At least she would be busy and out of the house she kept telling herself. Now that filming on Oceans 12 was almost at an end in Vegas, Jen was acutely aware that Brad would be returning to the set of Mr & Mrs Smith alongside Angelina. As predicted by her team, the rumour mill had started to churn out bigger hints of discord in her marriage and over the next few weeks, as Brad returned to film the second half of the dark comedy, there was a noticeable increase in the media attention being put on Brad, Jen and Angelina. Jen found herself being followed to and from the movie sets she was working on, the 'razzis as she called them, getting more and more forceful in their desire for a picture to fit whatever narrative they had decided to run with tomorrow. Mostly they were looking for pictures of her looking sad, miserable and downbeat, and they got plenty of opportunity to get those as that was precisely how she felt for the vast majority of her time.

It was mid August when the photos that she had been told about back in February had finally made it to the press. There they were, Brad and Angelina, blatantly holding hands and for want of a better word, cavorting on set, only it was abundantly clear that this was not in any way for the benefit of the cameras and was totally the two of them very much enjoying each others' company. Jen had been given a heads up and she had seen a couple of the photos in advance. She couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach as she saw the look on Brad's face. That look had been reserved for her until only a short while ago, and whilst she knew she was no angel in all of this, she couldn't help but feel a huge stab of betrayal. Her mind had turned, as it still did every single day, to David. She thought about all those many hours where they would stand together on set, completely wrapped up in their own little world and seemingly oblivious to everyone else around them. And although she knew that she had crossed the line with David, she couldn't help but feel that was different in so many ways. Her and David had been forced apart, told right at the start that they weren't allowed to be together and had tried their very best to follow those rules. Yes, they had bent and blurred them, but at the end of the day, they had both put their work first and their hearts second. This thing with Brad and Angelina looked, from where Jen sat right now at least, to be based purely on sexual chemistry and lust. It paled in comparison to the deep, long lasting, true love she had given up on with David.

Things in the Aniston Pitt household were not easy. Brad was obviously feeling torn between his wife, who he genuinely still loved and cared for, and Angelina, who was new and exciting and totally alluring. When he was home he alternated between being overwhelmingly demonstrative, showering Jen with flowers and gifts; to being cold, and distant and secretive. His phone would buzz with messages that he would open and Jen would see him read with a hidden smile. One day, after a particularly intrusive encounter with a crowd of pushy and downright rude photographers, Jen had confronted Brad about the ever increasing rumours. She had broken down in tears and begged him to tell her the truth and put an end to all the speculation. However, Brad had point blank denied there was anything other than friendly co-star banter between them, just like the kind she'd had with her Friends cast, and that the pictures and rumours were twisting reality as the media was prone to do. Part of Jen believed him. Something in her heart really wanted to. But the bigger part of her knew that he was lying. She had seen far too many warning signs.