When Jennifer Aniston confessed her 'picture-perfect' marriage with Brad Pitt 'wasn't real'

It came as a shock to many when Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, regarded as the 'golden couple' of Hollywood, decided to split in 2005. In a later interview, the actress dismissed the public's perception of their "picture-perfect" marriage and said that the image was far from reality.

In an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2008, Jennifer Aniston said that the reality of her and Brad Pitt's marital life was far from what everyone was led to believe. The "Friends" alum confessed that the hype surrounding their marriage had pressured her and her then-husband into trying hard to live up to the expectations of the golden couple and paint a glamorous life for the public, reports Mirror.

Aniston tied the knot with Pitt in 2000 but filed for divorce in 2005 citing "irreconcilable differences" after the actor was rumoured to have fallen in love with his "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" co-star Angelina Jolie. Opening up to Oprah Winfrey about the pressures of living in a perfect marriage for five years, Aniston had said that she and the "Ad Astra" actor were desperately trying to keep their relationship private while living up to the demands of their fans who felt they wanted to know every detail of their lives.

At the show, Winfrey asked Aniston: "People were obsessed about your marriage and then the divorce (with Brad Pitt). I think it's because you guys represented the picture on the wedding cake. And so, if this doesn't work out, then you're thinking, 'Oh Lord, I'm in trouble.' I think it's that kind of association. What do you think it is?"

"The Morning Show" actress replied: "It is that, and it is created so totally by the media. Because all you see is the red carpet, and you don't see people in their lives, living their lives, doing the things that people do."

The actress insisted that she and Pitt were just "normal" and not the "ideal" pairing that was seen in the media. She said: "It's not real. It's just not real. You're human beings having a human experience and there's nothing different except that you're exposed to the world as a public person."

"But your personal life, your personal feelings, your heart, your success, your pain, your everything, is the same as anybody else's," she added.