Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston announced their breakup months ago. Now the courts are chiming in.
A private judge has signed off on divorce papers, dissolving the marriage of the former golden couple.
"Judgment of dissolution is entered," the brief document reads. "Marital or domestic partnership status is terminated and the parties are restored to the status of single persons."
The paperwork was signed by Pitt, Aniston and their lawyers and approved by retired Judge Jill S. Robbins. The couple went to Robbins to help keep the proceedings private. The judgment was entered Friday and becomes final Oct. 2--exactly six months after Aniston filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court. Neither actor can remarry before that date.
Neither Pitt, 41, nor Aniston, 36, sought alimony and their sole remaining shared asset--the renovated Beverly Hills mansion they once called home--is already on the market.
In June, Pitt assumed sole control of the production company Plan B, originally formed in 2002 by the then happy couple and manager Brad Grey, who has since become studio boss at Paramount and relinquished his share. Aniston will no longer be a principal in the company, but plans to stay on board for projects developed before the split.
Pitt and Aniston first hooked up in the spring of 1998 and instantly became one of Tinseltown's premiere power couples. They married two years later in a lavish, star-studded ceremony in Malibu attended by 200 of their closest pals, including Courteney Cox and hubby David Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Cameron Diaz, Edward Norton and Salma Hayek. It was the first marriage for both.
The divorce judgment comes three weeks after the publication of Aniston's interview with Vanity Fair, her first since she and Pitt split in January.
The Emmy-winning former Friend waxed philosophical on the end of her marriage, rumored costar dalliances (Pitt with Mr. & Mrs. Smith partner Angelina Jolie and Aniston with The Break Up's Vince Vaughn), career versus kids (both, thank you) and her "shock" over tabloid photos showing Pitt and Jolie traipsing across African beaches and the English countryside.
"He makes his choices," Aniston told the magazine. "He can do--whatever. We're [about to be] divorced and you can see why."
For his part, Pitt has long denied reports of a romance with Jolie, claiming instead that they are just very good friends, who happen to vacation together. (Pitt also accompanied Jolie on her trip to Ethiopia to adopt new daughter Zahara.)
With their divorce a done deal, both actors can focus on their work. Aniston has been filming nonstop since her split, most recently on The Break Up, with three more films in the works, including the just announced drama Wanted with Meryl Streep.
Pitt, meanwhile, appeared in a Primetime Live special to increase awareness on Africa's AIDS epidemic and has helped to spearhead the antipoverty One Campaign. His next film, the drama Babel opposite Cate Blanchett, is due out next year.