'He didn't like kids': Billy Bob Thornton's ex dishes on Jolie split

Angelina Jolie left Billy Bob Thornton because he didn't like kids, Thornton's ex claims.

Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton's marriage ended because he didn't want kids, according to one of his ex-wives.

Melissa deBin-Parish - who was married to the 56-year-old Bad Santa actor from 1978 to 1980 - claims it was Thornton's lack of desire for children that drove them apart.

She said: "I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he did not want to be around children back then. Look at the timeline: she adopted Maddox and then, [Billy] was gone."

The pair - who met in 1999 on the set of Pushing Tin and married after just two months of dating in 2000 - split just three months after adopting Maddox, now 10 - who has since been adopted by Jolie's current partner Brad Pitt.

But deBin-Parish admits she doesn't know why they were together in the first place.

She told Star magazine: "I always wondered why they were attracted to each other. Here she is, this stunning woman. The two of them are total opposites. I thought it was baffling.

"Maybe it was their creative minds or intelligence. He is very charismatic.

"I heard through the family that Angelina was a very kind person and a wonderful humanitarian.

"The family never said anything negative about her. I think the biggest bond in his life is theirs."

With Jolie, 36, set to pen the foreword for Billy Bob's autobiography, deBin-Parish admits her own relationship with her former husband isn't quite so friendly.

She claims he refuses to communicate with their 32-year-old daughter Amanda Brumfield, who is serving 20 years in a Florida prison for aggravated manslaughter of a child.

- Bang! Showbiz