Oops. In a media-saturated universe full of gossips ready to pounce, Aniston's slipup became the omission heard round the world. Could it be that the 21/2-year-old marriage of Pitt, 39, and Aniston, 33, was in trouble? Aniston tried to douse the speculation by bathing her husband in thanks in subsequent interviews. "Can I just say that I love Brad Pitt? I love you!" she gushed to Entertainment Tonight. The sentiment is sincere, say friends. The rumors? "Utterly ridiculous," says a pal. "The story is a joke and everyone knows it."
So what happened at the podium? It seems to have been nothing more than a Rachel Green moment. The night of the Globes, says a Friends insider, "you have to remember she was a total wreck. She was so emotional and overwhelmed about winning. The minute—no, the second!—she walked backstage, the first thing she said was 'Oh no! I didn't thank my husband.' " A source close to the couple points out that she spent "almost an hour making up for it. It's not a big deal. She's not the first person to do that." (See box.)
The Globes gaffe, however, came in the wake of other indicators that the marriage may be experiencing typical growing pains. Though Pitt and Aniston are frequently spotted hanging out together in L.A. and are known for their playfulness (she gave him a stack of the racy Girls Gone Wild DVDs for their second anniversary), he's reportedly more eager than his wife to become a parent. "We've been having disagreements about starting our family for years now," Pitt recently told the British edition of Glamour. "I love my wife, but waiting to start our family is driving me nuts." Aniston's camp insists they both want children. "They've only been married two years," says a source. "It'll happen when it happens." Shortly before the Globes, Aniston was asked by a W magazine reporter if Pitt was the love of her life. "Is he the love of my life?" she said. "I think you're always sort of wondering, 'Are you the love of my life?' I mean, I don't know, I've never been someone who says, 'He's the love of my life.' He's certainly a big love in my life."
A friend of Aniston's says the quote is accurate, but "she said it in the context of her whole life, which she hasn't lived. They love each other. Everything's fine." For now, Pitt, who will star in the epic Troy, set for release next year, and Aniston, who stars with Jim Carrey in the May comedy Bruce Almighty, are busy renovating the $14 million French provincial-style Beverly Hills house they bought in 2001 (they also have a beach house in Santa Barbara). As the couple head toward their third anniversary on June 29, "there's no trouble that anyone could possibly imagine," says a source from the Friends set. "She has been in such a great mood, and he still comes by to visit and hang out—just as he has done from the start of their relationship."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
