In 1996, Billy Bob ThorntonInternational acclaim and an Academy Award were awarded to him for writing, directing and starring in the smash indie film. Sling BladeSince then, the 66 year-old actor has become a household star, well-known for both his many roles in movies and his reputation for being a Hollywood bad boy. In fact, the actor is actually the Armageddon star has been married a total of six times—that’s a lot of ex-spouses! Here’s a rundown of all of Billy Bob Thornton’s wives, from well-known women like Angelina Jolie to lesser-known, non-famous names.
Billy Bob Thornton’s Early Marriages
Billy Bob Thornton was already co-writing and starring in 1992’s crime thriller. One False MoveThe Arkansas-born actor had already been married three times. From 1978 to 1980, he married Melissa Lee Gatlin. We don’t know much about Gatlin or Thornton’s relationship, but we do know that the couple had a child, Amanda. Back in 2011, Amanda—who is apparently estranged from her famous father—was sentenced to 20 years in prisonAfter being convicted of aggravated child murder.
Thornton was married to Toni Lawrence in 1986. According to her IMDB profile, she’s best known for appearing on various ’70s ’80s-era TV shows like Emergency!, McCloud, and Marcus Welby M.D. She also starred in recurring roles on the soap opera. Days of Our Lives appeared in early ‘80s movies like Sole Survivor and Beyond Reason.After two years of marriage Lawrence and Thornton were divorced in 1988.
The Bad Santa star’s third wife, Cynda Williams, was also an actress. She made her debut in Spike Lee’s 1990 film, Mo’ Better Blues,Thornton was also in the 1992 movie. One False Move. Since then, she’s worked steadily in TV and film, appearing in more than two dozen TV shows and movies. Her most recent credits include Life Ain’t Like the Movies, The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater, Why Me, Every Day Other Than ChristmasThornton and She were married between 1990 and 1992. It was a second two year marriage for the couple. Bandits star. We’re starting to see a pattern here!
His marriage to Pietra Dawn Cherniak was a tragic end
Thornton got married again one year after splitting from Williams. This time it was to his ex-Playboy Playmate Pietra dawn Cherniak. While this union lasted longer than his other three—and produced two sons, William and Harry James—it was clearly troubled. According to a 1997 article in People magazineCherniak sought a restraining orders when she filed for divorce. This was to prevent Thornton from accusing Cherniak of domestic abuse.
“Over the past year, at least once or twice per month, [Thornton] has hit me, pushed me, punched me, bit me, or otherwise physically attacked me, sometimes in front of the children,” she wrote in court papers. In the same filing, Cherniak alleged that Thornton “lifted me off the ground by my neck and said, ‘I’m going to kill you, and then I’m going to go to prison and the children will be orphans.’”
Thornton vehemently denied the accusations and released a statement saying, “I’m sorry that Pietra’s advisers have convinced her to take this malicious and untruthful course of action by making these false accusations of physical and mental abuse. Our marriage was not perfect, but I never exhibited the behavior she’s accusing me of. Our concerns right now should be about our sons, who will suffer the most as a result of her advisers’ conduct.”
Thornton’s Most Famous Ex-Wife Is Angelina Jolie
After his dramatic divorce from Cherniak Thornton began dating actress Laura Dern. They dated for over two years and lived together until they got engaged in 1999. Dern was surprised that they didn’t get engaged. According to Dern Jurassic Park Thornton was film star and she left Thornton for another woman when she was out of town. “I left our home to work on a movie, and while I was away, my boyfriend got married, and I’ve never heard from him again,” Dern said in a 2000 interview.
Thornton’s wife was actress Angelina Jolie. Jolie was 20 years older than Thornton. Monster’s Ball star. The couple met while they were playing husband and wife in the 1999 movie. Pushing Tin They were married in May 2000 in Las Vegas.
The couple were often criticized for their outrageous behavior over the three-year marriage. One of their most famous antics was wearing vials of each other’s blood around their necks, though Thornton has since insisted that the idea really wasn’t that crazy.
“The necklaces were a very simple thing: ‘Hey, let’s poke our fingers with a pen and smear a little blood on there, and when we’re away from each other we’ll wear the necklace,’” the Friday Night Lights star explained in a 2018 podcast interview with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). “It was that easy. But by the time it came out in the press, it sounded like we were wearing a bucket of blood around our necks.”
While Thornton’s marriage to Jolie was his most high-profile union, it was not his longest. They announced their separation in June 2002, and they divorced in 2003. Thornton has said that the pressures of being a high-profile couple—as well as his own doubts and insecurities—were what ultimately led to the breakup.
“When Angie and I got married, during that time, I was more famous than she was to start with, and then when she becomes this big thing, it’s hard in these relationships,” he admitted in a 2012 interview on ABC’s Nightline. “And I blew it because I didn’t think I was good enough for her. She has one way she wanted to live her life and I had another way to live mine and I was just too insecure.”
The pair have remained close friends despite their split. “Angie is still a friend of mine and she’s a great person and she’s done so much,” Thornton said in his interview with the HFPA. “And I remember our time together has really been great. We just had different lifestyles. Hers is a global lifestyle, mine is more agoraphobic. So that’s really, that’s the only reason we’re probably not still together.”
He is currently married to Connie Angland
When it comes to married bliss, it seems that Billy Bob Thornton thinks the sixth time is the charm After his divorce from Jolie, he began dating Connie Angland in 2003. She was 39 and had worked on many high-profile Hollywood films including “The Interview.” Men in Black, Big Momma’s House, Planet of the Apes, Men in Black II. According to IMBD, Angland met Thornton while working on the film, Bad Santa.
The couple had a child together in 2004—a daughter named Bella—but waited ten more years to finally tie the knot. “I didn’t want her to be called number six. You know?” the actor joked in a 2016 interview with GQWhen asked why he waited so many years to make Angland wife, Angland said that he was not sure. Thornton and Angland have been together for 18 years. They clearly have what it takes.
