How Angelina Jolie Stole Brad Pitt From Jennifer Aniston

Lizzie Smith

Angelina Jolie has admitted that she and Brad Pitt fell in love while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston.

Hollywood's most glamorous couple have always stressed that they only fell for one another AFTER Brad had split from the Friends star.

But Jolie has now confessed that they found love on the set of Mr and Mrs Smith in 2004, when rumours of romance first emerged but long before Brad's break-up.

However, it was not clear if the 'confession' was a bid for more openness - or an accidental slip-up during an interview with The New York Times which she was 'jet-lagged'.

The revelation came during a seemingly innocent aside that she is excited about her children being one-day able to see their mother and father in Mr And Mrs Smith.

Tellingly, she explained: 'Not a lot of people get to see a movie where their parents fell in love.'

But Angelina will not be afraid of a public backlash, as she insisted: 'I live in a bit of a bubble when it comes to people's perceptions of me, which I'm sure is a very good thing, because I'm sure it's not always very nice.'

She said she is more worried about the day their children are old enough to research their parents' backgrounds - and will easily stumble across the good and the bad.

Jolie admits she already worried about when Maddox, the oldest at seven, will 'look up my name and see some kind of sexy pictures or read a story about himself that isn't true.

'There's a lot we're going to have to explain to them about how public their family is.'

But she said she hoped that their children may also one day get a completely different perspective on who their parents really are.

'What's going to be funny is when they think Mum and Dad are a little bit cool,' she added. 'Because right now, we're not cool Mum and Dad.

'Even video games, you know, it's: "Mum, you can't play this. You won't know how."

'Oh, they all think I can't do anything, that I'm just there to snuggle with. But the other day Madd said, "Can you do a cartwheel?"

'And I said, "Yeah, I can." And he was like, "Wow, Mum." And I thought: "Oh, yeah. I can do some things. You wait. You'll find out. I'm capable.'

Jolie and Pitt are parents to six children - Maddox as well as Pax, four, daughters Zahara, three, and Shiloh, two, and three-month-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

Jolie has made no secret of their desire for their family to keep getting bigger still.

'I mean, I know we seem crazy, just bringing them in one after the other, but we do plan,' she insisted.

'We make sure one is absorbed completely into the family before we add another.

'There are moments when we look at everyone around the dinner table, and it's just crazy, but our family is the greatest thing we've done in our lives.'

So great, in fact, Jolie may put her blossoming Hollywood career on hold.

She says she plans to stay home for another full year, and she expects acting to play a diminishing role in her life as time goes by. Since the twins were born almost four months ago, the older children have been home-schooled: 'and they've had Mummy and Daddy every day for every meal, and they've been very close to us,' Jolie said.

It makes the decision to take a new role 'really hard,' she said.

'Who's in school at that time? How can I be sure I don't do too many long hours? Can the three youngest be on the set every day?'

'As long as I can still be with my family, it's fun,' she added. 'But I only want to do that, and I'm not looking for anything else.'

Being such a devoted mum may also play a part in what roles she takes - with her taking great pride in Kung Fu Panda, the kids cartoon movie in which she provided the voice of Tigress.

It is the only one of her movies that of her children have seen, and she proudly says: 'It's a big hit in the house. Jack Black is like De Niro to the kids.'