Angelina Jolie’s ex-husband makes rare comments about his ill-fated marriage to her as he reveals he once jumped out of a plane to impress her
Some of us choose flowers or chocolates, perhaps even an expensive meal, but Jonny Lee Miller admits he went several steps further while trying to impress a girlfriend on Valentine’s Day.
Not without reason, given the girl in question was Angelina Jolie and Miller was an up-and-coming star who would find fame as Scottish junkie Sick Boy in Danny Boyle‘s Trainspotting when they decided to ditch the romantic dinner and go parachuting.
Recalling the episode during an appearance on Johnny Vaughan’s Radio X drivetime show, Miller, 51, admitted Jolie – his first wife – was behind their surprise visit to a southern Californian parachute school.
‘I was dating a young lady called Angelina and she said “let’s do something exciting this weekend” and “why don’t we go to Hemet, it’s just outside of LA, and jump out of an airplane?” I thought, “yeah of course sounds great!”
‘She was cool as a cucumber, fearless that woman. And so, we did tandem jumps and I’m not going to lie, I found it terrifying but I did it anyway.
Jonny Lee Miller recalled his parachuting lesson with ex-wife Angelina Jolie during an appearance on Johnny Vaughan’s Radio X Drivetime show on Thursday
Miller exchanged vows with Jolie, now 48, in 1996, but the marriage was short-lived and the couple separated 18-months later . Their divorce was finalised in 2000 (pictured in 1995)
Asked if he would do it again, he added: ‘No! I mean we actually did it three times, we did this programme where you do a bit more technical stuff each jump, and then we trained for a solo jump and then thank goodness it was too windy so we didn’t do the solo jump.’
Miller exchanged vows with Jolie, now 48, in 1996, but the marriage was short-lived and the couple separated 18-months later. Their divorce was finalised in 2000.
The rare anecdote prompted Vaughan, who was presenting a regular drivetime item called The Things You Do For Love, to recall his own memory of Jolie and Miller’s outlandish habits during a past trip to Central America.
He said: ‘I remember when we were in Costa Rica together, I never told you how alarmed I was at this, for some reason the knife that cuts the cocktail things was left on the counter.
‘You chucked the knife and it went “boiinnnggg” and I said to you, “how come you throw knives?” and you said the same girl, “Me and Angelina we were in a hotel room when we were doing a Western or something and we used to spend the evening just knife throwing together.
‘And I was like “what?!” And you were like, “we used to just shove the duvet in a cardboard box put the box down the end of the room and just chuck knives.”
‘We were all nodding, cool girl. I thought that’s a night in. You’d say “we just used to love doing tequila and throwing knives.” I was thinking, what could possibly go wrong!’
Miller and West End co-star Tanya Reynolds recently reprised their respective roles for the transfer of theatre hit A Mirror.
Miller has maintained a close friendship with Jolie, despite their abrupt separation (pictured together in 2005)
‘I was dating a young lady called Angelina and she said “why don’t we go to Hemet, it’s just outside of LA, and jump out of an airplane?”‘ he recalled
Miller recently reprised his role in West End stage play A Mirror (pictured) after it transferred to a different venue
British playwright Sam Holcroft’s critically acclaimed production has moved to the Trafalgar Theatre for a 13-week run, starting with a press night on February 1.
Trainspotting star Miller and Sex Education actress Reynolds performed in the original production as Celik and Mei respectively, alongside Anatomy Of A Scandal star Geoffrey Streatfeild as Bax at the Almeida Theatre in 2023.
The play, which interrogates censorship, authorship and free speech, also features BAFTA-nominated actor Samuel Adewunmi in his West End debut as Adem.
Speaking after the switch was announced in November, director Jeremy Herrin said: ‘I’m overjoyed that we get to share Sam Holcroft’s A Mirror with even more people at the Trafalgar Theatre next year, following our initial sold-out run at the Almeida Theatre.
‘Sam’s timely and darkly comedic play, boasts big ideas, live music and terrific performances, and I’m delighted to be working with Jonny Lee Miller, Tanya Reynolds, Geoff Streatfeild and our new cast member Samuel Adewunmi to bring this hugely entertaining and thought-provoking play to life in the West End.
‘It’s a wild ride that’s not to be missed.’
