Jennifer Aniston fans rally behind her amid calls for Brad Pitt reunion: 'He literally publicly dumped her for someone else'

The internet was officially breathless on Sunday as Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt reunited at the Screen Actors Guild Awards — 15 years after they announced their divorce.

Because the narrative about them continued in the tabloids all these years, the photos of them embracing had the internet freaking out.

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It was all about the way he held her hand as she walked away looking flawless in her vintage Dior dress.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19: Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston attend the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. 721313 (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Turner)
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's reunion at the 2020 SAG Awards on Jan. 19 has social media buzzing. (Photo: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Turner)

And the footage of Pitt, 56, watching her acceptance speech with eyes locked on the screen.

Social media took over the work of the tabs, writing a narrative about the way their night ended after Aniston, 50, shared a photo of her gown off and draped over a bathtub (“Hope Brad took that dress off!”). Some have even been dreaming of a second wedding — no doubt encouraged by Aniston’s Friends co-star and pal Courteney Cox, who liked a tweet saying the exes “still love each other.”

And while many, including celebrities, are so there for any type of romantic reunion, others who remember how their divorce shook out — as one of the biggest celebrity scandals of all time —were quick to call a halt to any reunion chatter.

Those who actually followed their saga professionally all this time can recall how four months after the so-called “golden couple” — whose adorable wedding vows included things like her promise to always make his “favorite banana milkshake” — released their January 2005 breakup statement after nearly five years of marriage, he was photographed enjoying family time with his Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie and her adopted son Maddox that April. Pitt and Jolie, who met the year before on the set, reportedly leaked the photos of their cozy beach day — as the La La Land paparazzi tend not to be found on remote beaches of Kenya.

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Pitt and Jolie’s movie, in which they played husband and wife assassins, came out that June and to promote it, they “played house” — showing an imagining of them as a family — in a 60-page portfolio titled “Domestic Bliss” for W magazine. And that July, Jolie adopted her second child, Zahara, with Pitt appearing to be a doting dad to both — and soon moving to officially adopt them and change their last name Jolie-Pitt.

Angelina Jolie (L), daughter Zahara (2L), then-husband Brad Pitt (R), and son Maddox take a stroll on the seafront promenade in Mumbai, 12 November 2006.  Jolie and Pitt are in Mumbai, India's financial hub, to shoot for her film "A Mighty Heart", based on the life of the slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in which Jolie portrays Marianne, the wife of Daniel Pearl.  AFP PHOTO/STR  (Photo credit should read STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Angelina Jolie (L), daughter Zahara (2L), then-husband Brad Pitt (R), and son Maddox take a stroll on the seafront promenade in Mumbai, 12 November 2006. (AFP PHOTO/STR via Getty Images)

Aniston gave her first post-split interview in August, infamously saying her estranged husband was missing a “sensitively chip.” Describing herself as “lonely,” “sad” and “confused” and crying during the interview, she said, “I just don’t know what happened... I feel as if I’m trying to scrounge around and pick up the pieces in the midst of this media circus.”

Aniston and Pitt’s divorce wasn’t final until that October, but their saga never really ended. That was because Jolie gushed that she “fell in love” with Pitt on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which shot in 2004 — when he was still very much married to Aniston. Pitt also said he “fell in love” with Jolie while making that movie, but maintained that they were chaste during production. And every time the Jolie-Pitts (dubbed Brangelina) added to their brood — next with Shiloh born just a year later in 2006 — they were painted as a globe-trotting family who were “citizens of the world” while Aniston was depicted as sad — a failure at relationships and as a woman because she didn’t have a child. And that was a narrative that went on for a very long time.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19:  (EDITORS NOTE: This image is a retransmission) Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston attend the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA)
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston at the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. (Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA)

Pitt and Aniston both ultimately remarried. He officially said “I do” to Jolie in 2014 before their marriage imploded in 2016 while Aniston gave marriage another shot with Justin Theroux in 2015 only to announce their split in early 2018. The fact that they are both single again after all these years — older, wiser and still as good-looking as ever — and are cordial has apparently led to people dreaming of Jen and Brad 2.0. And people forgetting their very complicated — and hurtful, especially for her — past.

But the internet never truly forgets — and maybe that’s a good thing sometimes.