Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt to divorce: Why the spotlight remains on Jennifer Aniston after all this time

The public is delighting in imagining how Aniston will be reacting to the news Jolie is filing for divorce from Pitt

But while Aniston has long felt the brunt of a Hollywood divorce played out on the public stage, it will be interesting to see whether it will now be Jolie's turn (Getty Images)

After a decade together, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have parted ways. Jolie has filed for divorce from Pitt after just two years of marriage and Brangelina has been relegated to the annals of history.

According to TMZ, who broke the news, Jolie is filing for physical custody of their children and for Pitt to have visitation and joint legal custody.

Two months since Jennifer Aniston penned a scathing essay condemning tabloid culture surrounding divorce, the Friends actress has somehow inadvertently found herself thrust back into the middle of the Jolie and Pitt’s divorce despite the fact she has nothing to do with it.

Aniston is trending on Twitter, with eager onlookers sharing memes of her in various states of delight about the news and relishing in hypothetically speculating about how she will be reacting. In one particularly popular graphic, Aniston is saying: “And that, my friend, is what they call closure”.

“Somewhere, in a distant sun-drenched room, Jennifer Aniston takes a sip of smartwater and laughs,” quipped another user.

It seems that even after year upon year of being painted as a lonely pariah who was destined for a loveless existence by tabloids and gossip magazines, people still cannot let go of the idea that she will, in someway, be happy about this news.

After Aniston and Pitt announced they were deciding to split in January 2005, fans were thrust into full-blown meltdown mode. Within two months, Aniston had filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, with the divorce being finalised on 2 October 2005. Since then Aniston’s public image has been haunted by the breakup. Gossip about her so-called “feud” with Jolie raged, with tabloids never tiring of referring to it. As recently as January 2015, gossip magazines claimed that Aniston and Jolie avoided each other on the Critics Choice Awards red carpet.

But while Aniston has long felt the brunt of a Hollywood divorce played out on the public stage, it will be interesting to see whether it will now be Jolie's turn and how the harsh gaze of the spotlight will cast her.