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First Brad & Jen, Now Bradley & Irina? 2020 Is All About Breakup Goals

Since the beginning of time, well-adjusted women have gone to great lengths to avoid their exes after a breakup. (Shout-out to all the ladies hiding behind canned food displays at grocery stores to narrowly miss a run-in with Jeff from Tinder.) But it’s a brand-new decade and now more than ever couples are going for—wait for it—amicable breakups. Take, for example, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt or, most recently, Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk.

In the case of Brad and Jen, they consciously uncoupled (before it was really a thing) in 2005. Sure, there was the whole Angelina Jolie aspect, but for the most part neither spoke ill of the other publicly. Once Pitt, 56, and Jolie parted ways in 2016, the collective culture kinda-sorta started hoping he and Aniston, 50, might patch things up. Although that may not be the case, the formerly married couple reminded us what a healthy breakup looks like when they had a genuinely friendly reunion at the 2019 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Imagine that.

This past weekend, Cooper and Shayk, who dated for four years and share a 3-year-old daughter together, had a similarly iconic reunion at a post-BAFTAs (British Academy of Television and Film Arts awards) party. The 34-year-old model co-hosted the Fashion and Film Party along with British Vogue and Tiffany & Co. and, surprisingly, her 45-year-old former beau was right there cheering her on. They even posed for a photo together alongside British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful. Talk about progress.

Shayk, who’s the magazine’s March cover star, opened up about their breakup in an interview, saying, “Two great people don’t have to make a good couple. I think we’ve been very lucky to experience what we had with each other. Life without B is new ground.”

So, are amicable breakups the new thing? If Hollywood’s any indication, friendship after heartbreak might just be possible.



lex

Cat mom, yogi, brunch enthusiast

Lex is an LA native who's deeply obsessed with picnics, Slim Aarons, rosé, Hollywood history and Joan Didion. She joined PureWow in early 2017.