Brad Pitt On Jen Aniston's Angelina Comments: 'I Think She Got Dragged Into That One'

Brad Pitt on the February cover of W magazine, 2009W MagazineAccess Hollywood

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Jennifer Aniston made headlines the world over last November, when she finally broke her silence about ex-husband Brad Pitt's ladylove, Angelina Jolie. But Brad bares no ill will.

"Listen, man, Jen is a sweetheart," Brad told the February issue of W magazine. "I think she got dragged into that one, and then there's a second round to all of that Angie versus Jen. It's so created."

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It was in Vogue's November 2008 issue that the "Marley & Me" star called year-old comments from Angelina about the brunette star's eagerness to get to the set of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," which she filmed with Brad during his marriage to Jen, "uncool."

And, in December, GQ ran a cover story where Jen referenced more recent remarks by Angelina - to the New York Times - where the brunette actress said she couldn't wait to show the Brangelina children "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" because it was the movie "where their parents fell in love."

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Jen called Angelina's Times comments "definitely a confirmation for me of something that wasn't quite confirmed at the time." While many speculated that Jen was referring to Angie and Brad beginning their relationship before he and Jen were over, Brad told W's February issue, nothing could be further from the truth.

"What people don't understand is that we filmed ['Mr. & Mrs. Smith'] for a year," he told the publication. "We were still filming after Jen and I split up. Even then it doesn't mean that there was some kind of dastardly affair. There wasn't. I'm very proud of the way that it was handled. It was respectful. [The film] will mean something to our kids. It will, that's all."

And those children - Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne - have made "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" star more appreciative of life.

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"I'm scared to death of death," he admitted, before acknowledging fatherhood has forced him to give up lighting up. "I quit smoking...That was the only thing that got me to quit. That was it. Done."

Though Brad has moved on to his hectic life with six children, he told W that he does still keep in touch with Jen.

"We still check in with each other," Brad said. "She was a big part of my life, and me hers. I don't see how there cannot be [that]. That's life, man. That's life."

Currently, Brad has no plans to get married again, but he explained why he was the first celebrity to donate to the fight in California against Proposition 8 on the November 2008 ballot, which banned the right of same sex couples to tie the knot.

"People who are against gay marriage do not understand the very freedoms that they themselves are enjoying," he said. "What if someone said, 'Sorry, no Christianity here? No Judaism. Certainly no Mormons.' No one would stand for that, and I wouldn't allow anyone to say that either. I'd fight them in the same way."

And another thing Brad is fighting? The need of the movie world to keep him a pretty boy.

For the W cover, Brad requested Chuck Close shoot the pictures, a photographer known for his earthy style.

Brad himself is a W cover-snapping alumni, having shot Angelina breastfeeding one of the couple's twins, last year.

"We have fun working together; these things bring you closer," he said of the shoot. "And let me tell you, it's really sexy to see your loved one through the lens. I went much further [than the shot of Jolie breast-feeding]. I didn't show those."

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