People Magazine (March 8, 1999)
Brad and Friend
A couple of hard-bodied homebodies, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston
delight in their not-so-secret love
Brad Pitt's people want to make one thing perfectly clear: Their client
-- that blond Adonis -- and TV's favorite Friend Jennifer Aniston are
so not engaged. "Ridiculous," says one representative. Some family
members profess to be in the dark ("I wouldn't have any idea," says
Pitt's brother Doug, 32), while a close friend of Aniston's family's
says, "Jennifer and Brad are very serious, but the rumors about them
getting married anytime soon are not even close." Still, a leading L.A.
wedding planner got a call months ago from one of the couple's handlers
and was told to be ready for an interview with the pair. (The planner
is still waiting by the phone.)
Of course, these are the same people who, until recently, denied that
Pitt, 35, and Aniston, 30, were even seeing each other. They must not
have noticed them cooing over dinners, puckering at parties and clubs
and hunkering down in hotels for romantic getaways. Or maybe they
weren't listening when Pitt said recently that "nothing is more
important than love." Or when Aniston told Rolling Stone that "marriage
is wonderful."
Lacking any on-the-job experience herself, could that be wishful
thinking? Despite Pitt's and Aniston's aversion to premarital publicity
-- they go out of their way not to be photographed together --
something distinctly premarital has been building since they began
dating late last spring. Their caution is understandable: Both stars
are coming off painful (and very public) breakups. Pitt and
fianc?Gwyneth Paltrow parted in June 1997 after 2 1/2 years together,
and Aniston broke up with actor Tate Donovan last March after they also
dated for 2 1/2 years. But the couple of the moment have lately seemed
more willing to let the truth trickle out.
Things came to a head in February when their romance set off fireworks
-- literally. Some nine months into their relationship, as if to
proclaim their own personal Interdependence Day, Pitt and the woman he
calls "my girl" chartered a private jet with nine or so friends and
threw themselves an Acapulco weekend beach party to celebrate both
Valentine's Day weekend and (isn't it too perfect?) Aniston's Feb. 11,
30th birthday -- following another birthday blowout on Feb. 6 at L.A.'s
trendy Barfly restaurant. As Valentine's Day wound down that Sunday
night, fireworks set off for the occasion exploded over the Pacific
coast. Pitt and Aniston danced and snuggled until 5 a.m.
The setting was the spectacular 49-room Villa Alejandra residence,
borrowed from Mexico's prominent Alem?family. Three cooks kept buffet
tables groaning with mountains of oysters, shrimp and tropical fruit,
washed down with beer, wine, champagne and pi??oladas. The secluded
property, including three thatched-roof bungalows, is set against a
towering cliffside and opens onto a private beach scattered with
coconut shells and palm branches. During the day, Pitt and his pals
played touch football in the surf, while Aniston, her hair pulled back
and wearing cutoff blue jeans and a bikini top, chatted with the other
women. Neither Pitt nor Aniston left the property all weekend. Why
bother? "Whatever they asked for they could get," says gardener Enrique
Martinez. "They were kissing everywhere."
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