Jennifer Aniston's 40th Birthday Present to Brad Pitt Revealed
Aug. 1 2024, Published 8:37 a.m. ET
Jennifer Aniston pulled out all the stops for her ex-husband Brad Pitt on his 40th birthday!
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver revealed the Friends actress, 55, recruited him to make a delicious surprise meal for her then-husband in 2003.
“I actually was Brad Pitt’s 40th birthday present from Jen,” Oliver, 49, revealed on the radio show “Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie” on Wednesday, July 31. “She phoned up, and we put the phone down on her three times because we didn’t believe it was her. We thought it was someone trying it on. So she had to go through her agent to my agent, but I didn’t really have an agent, so it took a bit of a while. But basically, we got flown. I just did it.”
“She said, ‘Would you cook for Brad?’” Oliver, who became famous after appearing on the British cooking show The Naked Chef, which aired from 1999 to 2001. “He’s well into The Naked Chef and all that business, like he watches it on TV and all that. I said, ‘Absolutely, and I’ll do it for love, because I love you guys.’”
Oliver noted it was rare he would do something like that, but he was happy to oblige and help out the former couple, who were married from 2000 to 2005.
“I don’t purposefully cook for celebrities though, [I] only do it if I’m working in the restaurant and they’re in, or if I’m asked by someone I love or admire which was the case with Jen and Brad,” he said. “It was Brad’s 40th, so I’ve known him for 20 years now. They’re both beautiful people. I saw Jen a couple of weeks ago, and she’s everything you would want her to be, and more.”
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Oliver's wife, Jools, previously dished about the dinner during an interview with Red magazine back in 2014.
Jools recalled how she felt like a fish out a water while talking to with Aniston, Pitt and Courteney Cox.
“Jamie was doing the dinner, so I had to sit and socialize with Brad and Rachel and Monica,” Jools, 49, shared, referring to the actresses’ Friends characters.
“I was so embarrassed, I didn’t know what to say. Brad had just done Troy and was taking his top off to show me his abs,” she added. “From that moment on I just kind of took a step back from it all, it was all too much.”
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As OK! previously reported, Aniston and Pitt reunited at the SAG Awards in 2020 and still remain on good terms despite going their separate ways. (Aniston later married Justin Theroux, while Pitt moved on with Angelina Jolie.)
"Brad and Jen are still friends," an insider confirmed to Entertainment Tonight. "They talk and have a nice, friendly, cordial relationship."