There are a lot of people (Anistonloonies) who are still upset about Brad Pitt’s interview in this Sunday’s Parade Magazine. It seems that SEVEN YEARS LATER, Brad still isn’t allowed to talk about HIS issues in his marriage to Jennifer Aniston and why he’s so much happier and more fulfilled in his partnership with Angelina Jolie. I have many theories as to why Brad said what he said and why Aniston’s fan girls are screaming and yelling about his comments. But that’s a conversation for another time, and I think the 400+ comments on that post are evidence enough that The Unholy, Uncool, Bermuda Triangle of Tabloid Ridiculousness is still obscenely relevant. To review, these are the relevant quotes from Brad:

“I spent the ‘90s trying to hide out, trying to duck the full celebrity cacophony. I started to get sick of myself sitting on a couch, holding a joint, hiding out. It started feeling pathetic. It became very clear to me that I was intent on trying to find a movie about an interesting life, but I wasn’t living an interesting life myself,” he continues. “I think that my marriage had something to do with it. Trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn’t.”

“I put much more emphasis on being a satisfied man. I’m satisfied with making true choices and finding the woman I love, Angie, and building a family that I love so much. A family is a risky venture, because the greater the love, the greater the loss. … That’s the trade-off. But I’ll take it all.”

“One of the greatest, smartest things I ever did was give my kids Angie as their mom,” he tells Parade. “She is such a great mom. Oh, man, I’m so happy to have her.”

[From Parade]

I still don’t understand why people (Anistonloonies) think Brad was making this all about Jennifer. His words were chosen with surprising care, and talk about his own “pathetic” feelings. However, Brad must have figured out that his comments were creating a backlash amongst *some* people. So he issued a carefully-worded back-track:

“It grieves me that this was interpreted this way. Jen is an incredibly giving, loving, and hilarious woman who remains my friend. It is an important relationship I value greatly. The point I was trying to make is not that Jen was dull, but that I was becoming dull to myself — and that, I am responsible for,” Pitt said in the statement.

[From Reuters]

…And now I respect Brad less because he defended Aniston’s “not dull” honor. He should have just let the comments stay out there, without any hedging. Granted, I think he’s just clarifying something that I already felt – it wasn’t an attack on Aniston, but just his description of where HE was emotionally at a certain point in time.

…Or is Brad’s hedge so carefully worded that it’s just going to add more fuel to the Anistonloonie flame-war? If you really parse it, “The point I was trying to make is not that Jen was dull, but that I was becoming dull to myself — and that, I am responsible for” – that’s not really a denial that Aniston is dull and uninteresting (and vapid and superficial, IMO), Brad is just saying that calling Aniston dull was not his original intention. It’s not a specific denial that she is, in fact, dull. Of course, the whole “Jen is an incredibly giving, loving, and hilarious woman who remains my friend” part is sure to appease the Anistonloonies somewhat.

Go ahead and yell at me. Just know that personally, I wish Brad would shop giving a crap about his ex-wife and her fanbase. I wish he would just step up and really voice a passionate defense of Angelina, beyond the fact that she‘s the mother of his six children. Even though the Parade comments were from Brad, talking about HIS issues, so many people dragged Angelina into their scorching insults like she was the one who made the remarks – and that always happens. I’d like to see Brad step in just once and act as a human shield for all of the crap that’s thrown on Angelina. I thought that the Parade interview was a step in the right direction, but with this new hedge, I’m kind of pissed at Brad.

Photos courtesy of Parade, WENN.