When Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie announced this week she is divorcing husband Brad Pitt, fans of the Brangelina couple were shocked. Her Tuesday announcement became trending on social media, and the news even overshadowed coverage of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Although China is 8,000 miles away from the event, because American TV shows and movies have been allowed to be seen in the Asian giant, the couple had a lot of Chinese fans who also were saddened by the divorce. The Brangelina split also became trending on Weibo, China’s most popular microblogging site and in entertainment news sites as netizens posted their sentiments about the separation, reported Foreign Policy.
The divorce was used as an opener to tackle China’s escalating divorce rate, highlighted recently by the separation of a Chinese game developer which involved a $1.1 billion settlement and the high-profile divorce of actor Wang Baoqiang and wife Ma Rong.
Jolie was even portrayed by some Chinese as a mistress because Pitt was first married to actress Jennifer Aniston whom many Chinese TV viewers are familiar with because of her popular sitcom “Friends” which they grew up with. Among Chinese millennials, Aniston’s divorce with Pitt in 2005 was a major topic of discussion too.
Many saw the divorce as a karma to Jolie whom a lot of Chinese fans blame for Pitt’s separation from Aniston, although Jolie has her share of Chinese fans too. Even Pitt’s portrayal of the young Dalai Lama – a perceived enemy of China – has been factored in since the actor starred in the 1977 movie “Seven Years in Tibet.”
In preparation for a contentious divorce, Pitt has enlisted Lance Spiegel, a Beverly Hills family law attorney, to represent him. Besides Spiegel, Pitt also gets legal advice from Hollywood lawyer Alan Hergott and manager Cynthia Pett, according to The Hollywood Reporter.