Brad Pitt Backtracks on ‘Moneyball’ Press Gaffe About Jennifer Aniston

Brad Pitt is backtracking from recent comments he made about his ex-wife, Jennifer Aniston, and their marriage.

In an interview with Parade magazine, Pitt — who next stars in Moneyball, which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival — seemed to criticize Aniston, to whom he was married from 2000-05.

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“I spent the ‘90s trying to hide out, trying to duck the full celebrity cacophony,” he said. “I started to get sick of myself sitting on a couch, holding a joint, hiding out. It started feeling pathetic. It became very clear to me that I was intent on trying to find a movie about an interesting life, but I wasn’t living an interesting life myself. I think that my marriage [to Aniston] had something to do with it. Trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn’t.”

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The quotes received a great deal of media attention after they were posted on Parade’s website Thursday. Later in the day, Pitt issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter through his reps at CAA in which he clarified what he was trying to say and praised Aniston.

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“It grieves me that this was interpreted this way,” he said. “Jen is an incredibly giving, loving and hilarious woman who remains my friend. It is an important relationship I value greatly. The point I was trying to make is not that Jen was dull, but that I was becoming dull to myself — and that, I am responsible for.”

Pitt has largely remained silent about Aniston and their marriage since they got divorced six years ago. However, he did raise eyebrows when he posed with Jolie for a family-themed shoot in the July 2005 issue of W magazine, not long after his split with Aniston.

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After the magazine came out, Aniston remarked that he was missing a “sensitivity chip.”

Pitt — who has six children with Angelina Jolie — is on the promotional tour for Moneyball, which opens Sept. 23.  In the movie, which Steven Zaillian adapted from Michael Lewis’ best-selling book, Pitt plays Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, a role that is earning him Oscar buzz.

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Aniston is currently dating Justin Theroux, who co-stars with her in the upcoming movie Wanderlust.