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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Danielle Kate Wroe

Brad Pitt's major confession to Jennifer Aniston before leaving her for Angelina Jolie

Jennifer Aniston was the final guest on the Ellen DeGeneres show, which came to an emotional end on Thursday night.

Adorably, 19 years ago, Jennifer was Ellen’s first guest, and she gifted her a ‘hello’ welcome mat. Little did they both know how much of a success the chat show would become.

With the final Ellen show airing, it's a good time to reminisce about some of the more dramatic things which have littered Jennifer Aniston’s love life over the years.

One is the shocking confession Brad Pitt made ahead of their split a few months later.

When Jennifer Aand Brad announced their separation in January 2005, much to the distress of people across the globe, both refuted claims that his head had been turned by Angelina Jolie.

"For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media," they said in a joint statement, referencing rumours that Brad had grown close to his co-star.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston at the premiere of 'The Mexican' in 2001 (Getty Images)

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Allegedly, the pair were struggling for a year, and according to friends, the real reason for the separation was that Brad and Jen’s incredibly busy work schedules had made it almost impossible to ‘maintain intimacy.’

Also, the pressure to be the perfect couple, when in reality, they were an average husband and wife, navigating their own lives and experiencing ups and downs.

An insider told People magazine: "They gradually lost sight of themselves as individuals. And despite their nice lifestyle and having everything they might want, they weren’t happy. They lost a sense of self.”

A mutual friend of the former Hollywood power couple also claimed it was Brad who stalled on having children and not Jen - as was cruelly circulated at the time.

And when Jen struggled emotionally with the end of Friends in 2004, she said Brad - who by that point was filming Mr and Mrs Smith - "just wasn't there for me."

In the end though, the final call was apparently made by Brad, who "wanted to figure out who he was" as a single man, away from the marriage, despite Jen's plea to stay married.

Jennifer will be Ellen's last guest (Mike Rozman/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Admitting she'd wanted Brad to stay and work through their problems, Jen told Vanity Fair: “It’s just complicated... You’re two people continually evolving, and there will be times when those changes clash. There are all these levels of growth - and when you stop growing together, that’s when the problems happen.”

However, Jennifer's best friend and Friends co-star Courteney Cox revealed there was yet another layer to their separation.

Despite Brad's denials of an affair with Angelina, according to Courteney he'd warned his wife about his intense feelings for the Lara Croft star.

"I don’t think he started an affair physically, but I think he was attracted to her,” she told Vanity Fair after joining Brad and Jen on one final holiday to Anguilla.

She continued: “There was a connection, and he was honest about that with Jen. Most of the time, when people are attracted to other people, they don’t tell. At least he was honest about it. It was an attraction that he fought for a period of time.”

It wasn't long after Brad and Jen parted ways that he was pictured playing happy families on a beach in Kenya with Angelina and her then-toddler son Maddox, confirming Jen's worst fears.

Just months later, Jen was heartbroken when it emerged Angelina was expecting their first baby - not nice at all.

We’re excited to see what Jennifer Anniston will have to say on the final episode of the Ellen DeGeneres Show- we wonder whether she’ll gift Ellen a ‘goodbye’ mat?

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