Angelina Jolie’s brother James Haven secretly wed partner Romi Imbelli over the summer amid his superstar sister’s messy divorce from Brad Pitt.
Haven, 51, who famously kissed Angelina on the red carpet at the 2000 Academy Awards, wed The Real L Word star in an August 12 ceremony in Laguna Beach, California, with close family members, including the father, Jon Voight, in attendance, per Just Jared.
Jolie, who settled her eight year divorce from Pitt this week, was said to not be in attendance.
Romi shared loved-up snaps of the big day to Instagram writing: ‘In 2024, I married my best friend of 23 years.
‘The details of our story are too personal and complicated to share now, but I am writing it all in my book. Our wedding day was intimate, just us and our parents while exchanging vows, with plans to have a larger celebration later
‘After 5 months of much crying, healing, and reflection, we decided to work through our issues and are now planning a special day with my daughter.
Angelina Jolie ‘s brother James Haven secretly wed partner Romi Imbelli over the summer amid his superstar sister’s messy divorce from Brad Pitt
Haven is pictured with Angelina in 2000
Jolie settled her divorce from Brad Pitt this week – pictured Jolie and Pitt in 2009
‘I feel liberated and ready to return to my husband and our home in LA. Everything that has happened in the last few months was all part of a greater plan, and I trust in God’s timing. I will always hold 2024 deeply in my heart. Life is too short. Go out and live it.
‘Tomorrow is the day my dad was born. He met Jamie 23 years ago. I believe he is watching over us from heaven and smiling down on us. Jamie proposed to me at my dad’s grave. There is no guarantee of tomorrow, so give your all today.’
Romi also paid tribute to James and Angelina’s late mother Marcheline Bertrand, writing: ‘Today, Jamie’s mom is singing for us as they celebrate in heaven together.
“We are both learning to accept love from someone, this was a special and private day in these pics. I look forward to celebrating with loved ones in the coming year. Happy New Year.
Romi starred on the reality show – which followed a group of lesbian friends in Los Angeles – from 2010-2012. She is credited as Romi Klinger.
In January 2024Haven made extremely rare remarks about his relationship with the Oscar-winning actress.
He appeared on an episode of the 90who10 podcast in which he delved into how he had focused on caring for Angelina’s children in the wake of her split and years-long divorce from Pitt.
James — who was most recently pictured in public with his father Jon Voight in October 2022 — admitted that he saw it as his duty to ‘protect’ his sister’s six children amid the tumultuous divorce and the resulting negative publicity for the sparring exes.
James is seen sharing a controversial kiss with his sister in 2000
The conversation turned to James’ connection to Angelina in recent years and questions about how he had responded to the very public split.
‘That’s where it all started, it started with the protection of her and then of her children, my nieces and nephews,’ James said via Too Fab, indicating that he and his sister began a new phase of their relationship after her split.
‘There are those are massively formative years, they’re becoming young adults in their early 20s,’ he continued, referencing her children.
‘That’s so crazy thinking that, but yeah, I think it’s just very natural [to feel protective] and I just want to be there,’ James continued. ‘Very much like my mom. Anytime I’m blessed to be in their presence, I want to be in their presence.’
He attributed that feeling to a lesson he learned from his late mother Marcheline Bertrand.
‘[It’s] a quality I got from my mom, even though cell phones were not as prevalent as they are now, but back to that idea of her always being like, “You are the focus,”‘ he shared. ‘I set my life up so I can be present with whatever the situation. The formative years, the young adults they’re going to become, I want to be there for them — or for her — whatever she’s going through.’
Although James has had small parts on film and television throughout the years, it was his connecting to his younger sister that first increased his public profile.
He often accompanied her on the awards season trail leading up to her Oscar win for Beset Supporting Actress for 1999’s Girl, Interrupted.
But the two were beset by rumors inspired by their overly close bond and their public affections, including their habit of kissing on the mouth on the red carpet.
Angelina and James stirred up controversy back in 2000, when they shared a kiss on the lips just after she won her Oscar.
While accepting her award, Jolie confessed, ‘I’m in shock, and I’m so in love with my brother right now.
‘He just held me and said he loved me, and I know he’s so happy for me. And, um, thank you for that.’
James later said the event was ‘misconstrued’ amid the breathless coverage of it.
Angelina also tried to brush off criticism of their public displays, calling the kisses just an example of ‘brotherly love.’
They two later attributed the stress of having their mother in the hospital around the time of the awards season campaign on the provocative displays.
Bertrand had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1999, and despite her initial hospitalization, she live several more years with the disease.
The actress died in 2007 at the age of 56.
James seemed happy to speak about his connection to his sister, although he mostly spoke in vague terms.
However, he indicated that they two hoped to collaborate on some kind of projects in the future, though it wasn’t clear if they were film projects or something else.
‘We have very mutual interests, especially if it’s focuses on how to help kids or stuff like that,’ James explained. ‘And I know there’s going to be many things in the future that we’ll probably be working on, which we’ve never done publicly, like together, but I think there’s many things in the future that I think we’ll do together.’
James had a steady string of small film and television roles beginning in the late 1990s, though many of them were in films starring his sister or second husband Billy Bob Thornton, whom she was married to from 2000 to 2003.
He has mostly stayed out of the public eye in recent years, and his last on-screen role was in Easy Silence, a short film from 2013.
His sister Angelina has continued to have a varied career as an actor and occasional director, while also working as a human rights activist and a Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
