Billy Bob Thornton just unclogged one of Hollywood’s longest-running rumors, and it turns out the truth isn’t goth, spooky, or remotely close to the Dracula-core tabloid fantasy people have been recycling for decades. The actor, now 70, decided it was time to finally set the record straight about the story that he and ex-wife Angelina Jolie wore vials of each other’s blood.
Thornton told Rolling Stone that people have been hilariously wrong about what actually happened. He and Jolie didn’t clink glasses of hemoglobin by candlelight or wander around like basement vampires. Instead, they each wore “a little locket, literally with a drop of blood in them.” A tiny drop. One. It was tucked inside a small, clear pendant.
© Getty ImagesThornton described it as “a romantic little idea,” the kind of sentimental oddball gesture two people make privately, not something meant to spark global panic about their alleged undead lifestyle.
But once the story hit the tabloids, the whole thing spiraled. In Thornton’s words, “By the time it’s over, we’re vampires. We live in a dungeon, we drink each other’s blood.”
© PA Images via Getty ImagesWhat makes all this even more interesting is how lovingly and calmly Thornton talks about that chapter of his life. Despite the public frenzy, he explained that he and Jolie actually had an incredible time together. He said they’re still “very, very close friends,” which is impressive for a couple so publicly mythologized. According to him, they simply separated because their lifestyles didn’t match.
Their story began back in 1999 on the set of "Pushing Tin," where their chemistry ignited both on and off camera. They eloped in Las Vegas the following year. In 2002, they announced plans to adopt son Maddox from Cambodia, a turning point that shaped Jolie’s life and family in ways the world would later watch unfold. But by 2003, after two years of marriage, they divorced.
© Ron Galella Collection via GettyEven though they loved each other deeply, Thornton had spent years reminding people that their so-called “blood vials” weren’t the crimson goblets of legend. Back in 2014, during a talk at Loyola Marymount University, he clarified the story again.
Thornton, now married to Connie Angland since 2014, looks at the whole thing with gentle amusement. The guy seems unfazed that one of the most defining myths of early-2000s celebrity culture came from a locket the size of a thumbnail.
© WireImageThe real magic of his explanation is that it strips away decades of exaggeration and shows a relationship that was far more grounded and human than anyone assumed.
