Brad Pitt W Magazine February 2009

In the February issue of W magazine, Brad Pitt addresses the issue of his rumored affair with his babymama Angelina Jolie while still married to Jennifer Aniston and insists that Jolie was not the reason that his and Jen's marriage hit the rocks. Check out some highlights of Brad's interview:  

On falling in love with Angelina: “What people don’t understand is that we filmed [Mr. & Mrs. Smith] for a year. We were still filming after Jen and I split up. Even then it doesn’t mean that there was some kind of dastardly affair. There wasn’t. I’m very proud of the way that it was handled. It was respectful. [The film] will mean something to our kids. It will, that’s all.”  

On Jennifer Aniston’s comment that it was “uncool” for Angie to say she and Pitt fell in love on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith: “Listen, man, Jen is a sweetheart. I think she got dragged into that one, and then there’s a second round to all of that Angie versus Jen. It’s so created.”

On his relationship with Aniston now: “We still check in with each other. She was a big part of my life, and me hers. I don’t see how there cannot be [that]. That’s life, man. That’s life.”

Why did he request that the photographer shoot him with a technique that captures every line and flaw? Because he didn’t want to be “the guy coming out of the ocean water with his T-shirt wet, even though I’ve done that, too, but have always walked away feeling a little crap about it.”

On photographing Jolie for W magazine’s November 2008 photo spread: “We have fun working together; these things bring you closer. And let me tell you, it’s really sexy to see your loved one through the lens. I went much further [than the cover shot of Jolie breast-feeding]. I didn’t show those.”

On how he went from being a slacker in the late 90’s to having a strong interest in philanthropy: “[I was] spending too much time smoking things I shouldn’t be. I was asking, What’s it about? It couldn’t just be wanting a successful movie or something. Then I got more engaged, started studying more and [my] interests blossomed.”

On how family life has changed him: “I quit smoking. That was the only thing that got me to quit. That was it. Done.”

On being in Chicago’s Grant Park on election night for President-elect Obama’s acceptance speech: “It was just total jubilation. It was the best rock concert that I’ve ever been to. Really. I could just feel it in the air. All the boulevards were closed afterward, and so we walked a half hour to the hotel. Everyone was just on a high.”

On how he was able to walk undisturbed through the crowded streets of Chicago: “Man, nobody cared about us at that moment. By nature, I keep moving, man. My theory is, be the shark. You’ve just got to keep moving. You can’t stop.”

On gay marriage rights: “People who are against gay marriage do not understand the very freedoms that they themselves are enjoying. What if someone said, ‘Sorry, no Christianity here? No Judaism. Certainly no Mormons.’ No one would stand for that, and I wouldn’t allow anyone to say that either. I’d fight them in the same way.”