Love rivals
Blindsided Jen’s fury over Brad’s new woman
When it comes to romance, Brad Pitt has a definite type, jumping from one beautiful leading lady to the next. There’s been Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie to just name a few.
But the actor’s new love interest couldn’t be more different if she tried. Neri Oxman is an architect, designer and a professor at a leading US university, and on top of those brains, she’s also blessed with smouldering beauty.
“Brad’s head has been well and truly turned by Neri over the past few weeks,” a close source tells Woman’s Day. “He’s told pals that not only is she beautiful and intelligent, but she’s also one of the most inspiring and captivating women he’s ever met.
“They’ve grown close while working on an architectural project together and though things are still new, Brad’s admitted he feels strongly about Neri and says the spark between them is electric.”
And that chemistry would be perfect if Brad, 54, hadn’t spent the best part of 2018 wooing his ex-wife Jennifer, who has only just forgiven him for his 2005 misdemeanours with Angelina, 42.
“Neri isn’t interested in the fame or glamour of Brad’s public profile, which draws him im to her even more,” reveals our ur source. “And while he’s still enjoying spending time with Jen, he’s smitten with Neri, who is one of the sexiest ladies he’s ever known.”
Unsurprisingly, Jennifer, 49, is upset history seems to be repeating itself and that, t, shockingly, it’s happening with an Angelina lookalike.
Another insider reports, “Jen has been dreaming of a happy-ever-after with Brad. Now she feels like her whole world is falling apart again – and worse still, Neri looks just like Ange. It’s giving Jen terrible flashbacks to what happened before.”
It was last September, a year on from his split with Angelina, that Brad reconnected with Jennifer. And when the former
Friends star called time on her marriage to Justin Theroux, things started turning romantic.
They’ve been taking it slow, but Jennifer believed their second attempt at love was for keeps. And Brad had felt the same – until he befriended bewitching brunette Neri, 42.
“He’s only ever dated A-list actresses, but part of him is craving being with a woman who is out of the public eye,” explains our source. “It’s a difficult situation for Brad. He never intended to fall for Neri,
but he finds her mind a real turn-on. She has a way of making you feel as if you’re the only person in a crowded room. Brad glows around her.”
The actor got in touch with the design professor when he became enamoured with a line of 3D-printed couches she’d created. There was an instant spark and suddenly Brad was reminded of all the reasons his five-year marriage to Jennifer struggled.
“Everything is a lot less complicated with Neri than it is with Jen, who can get very clingy,” says the insider.
Beyond her down-to-earth nature, Israeli-born Neri carries impressive credentials as an award-winning architect with a PhD in design computation. She also recently separated from her husband, Grammy Award-winning composer Osvaldo Golijov.
Distance has slowed the new romance, with Neri based in Boston, about 5000km away from Brad’s bachelor pad in Los Angeles. But he’s said to have made several trips to her Massachusetts hometown over the past few weeks and Neri recently visited him in LA, where the actor showed off his cooking skills, as well as ordering in food from his fave fine-dining restaurants.
The duo have travelled together to South Africa, where Neri spoke at a conference, and she’s given Brad a key to her apartment, although she’d forgotten that fact when Brad made a recent trip to Boston and let himself in.
A friend of hers reports, “She screamed because she thought Brad was an intruder. They had a good laugh about that once she’d calmed down.”
However, Brad is reportedly scared the bright lights of Hollywood will be a turn-off for intellectual Neri, so he’s asked good pal George Clooney, 56, for advice on how he wooed high-flying human rights lawyer Amal, 40.
Our source explains, “Brad’s been calling for tips on how to romance a woman out of the spotlight, without scaring her off, which is what he’s afraid of doing,” explains our source.
Meanwhile, the big question is whether Jennifer – who is already fragile from her recent marriage breakdown – will fight or take flight when it comes to taking on another Brad love rival.
“Jen has some stiff competition and is going to have to pull out all the stops if she wants to maintain Brad’s attention,” tells our insider.
“The simple truth is that Brad is torn between two women. And he knows he is going to have to make a very difficult choice.”