Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are ''very good friends''.

The pair were married from 2000 to 2005 and although both have moved on - Brad has six children with his fiancee Angelina Jolie while Jennifer is engaged to Justin Theroux - they are still close.

Brad's make-up artist Jean Black told Esquire magazine: ''I think Brad was ready to soar when he met Angie. This is not to say anything negative about Jennifer. I was part of that and I know that he and Jennifer are very good friends and he cared deeply for her

''But in Angie, he saw a very adventurous person who was grabbing on to life and taking it to its nth degree. It was intriguing because I felt Brad had that in him and wanted to unleash it.''

While they are close now, Brad, 49, recently hinted he was unhappy during his marriage to Jennifer, 43, because of his drug use.

He said: ''For a long time I thought I did too much damage - drug damage. I was a bit of a drifter.

''A guy who felt he grew up in something of a vacuum and wanted to see things, wanted to be inspired. I followed that other thing.

''I spent years f**king off. But then I got burnt out and felt that I was wasting my opportunity.

''About a decade ago [I made a] a conscious change... It was an epiphany - a decision not to squander my opportunities.

''It was a feeling of, 'Get up.' Because otherwise, what's the point?''