Jennifer Aniston files for divorce from Pitt

LOS ANGELES - Jennifer Aniston has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, some two and a half months after Hollywood's golden couple announced they were separating, court papers in Los Angeles showed.

Pitt, 41, one of Hollywood's most sought-after leading men, and Aniston, who became a household name on the beloved television comedy "Friends," met on a dinner date in 1998.

They were married in a lavish, celebrity-studded wedding capped by fireworks in the seaside California enclave of Malibu on July 29, 2000.

The two remain partners in film production company, Plan B, whose first movie, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," is due out later this year from Warner Bros.

In a statement issued on Jan. 7, the superstar couple announced their separation but said they remained "committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another."

Apart from that statement, neither star has spoken publicly about their decision to split up.

Representatives for Pitt and Aniston could not be immediately reached for comment.

Aniston's next movie is called "The Breakup," but in an televised interview earlier this week, her first since her own much-publicised break-up, she gave no details about her personal life.

"There is always going to be the tough and the nasty," Aniston told syndicated TV show "Access Hollywood," referring to rumours and tabloid reports surrounding the Hollywood couple's surprise separation. "You just tune out to that."

- REUTERS