Jonny Lee Miller with Angelina Jolie in 2005 (Getty)
Angelina Jolie is reportedly divorcing her husband Brad Pitt, but what many fans may not realize is that Jolie has been married not just once, but twice before — a total of three marriages. The now 41-year-old Jolie married first husband Jonny Lee Miller in March of 1996, three months before she turned 21. The British-born Miller, who went on to star as Sherlock Holmes in the CBS TV series Elementary, was 23.
Here’s what you need to know about Jonathan “Jonny” Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie’s first husband.
1. He Met Angelina Jolie On The Set Of The 1995 Movie “Hackers”
Three years before her compelling performance in the made-for-TV biopic Gia launched her on her way to superstardom, Jolie was a relatively unknown teenage actress who was part of an ensemble cast in the hokey technology thriller film Hackers. Heading the cast was Miller, a British up-and-comer who would make his mark in the following year’s indie hit Trainspotting. About six months after filming wrapped on Hackers, Jolie and Miller got married in a small, civil ceremony.
The bride wore rubber pants and a white T-shirt with the name “Jonny Lee Miller” written on the back of the shirt — in her own blood.
“It’s your husband. You’re about to marry him,” Jolie told The New York Times. “You can sacrifice a little to make it really special.”
2. They Divorced in 1999 But Remain “Great Friends”
Despite their relatively quick split, Miller said that he harbors no ill will toward his first wife, who went on to become one of the world’s most famous women.
“There are no regrets and no bitterness,” Miller said. “Marriage was something that didn’t work out, and I had to make the decision sooner or later. I decided to make it sooner.”
Miller remains in contact with Jolie and turned up to support her at the 2011 premiere of her first film as a director, In The Land of Blood and Honey.
In a 2014 interview with the site BuzzFeed, Jolie said she looks back fondly on the filming of Hackers and her short marriage to Miller.
“That’s where I met Jonny, who is still a great friend,” she said. “I think of him when I think of that. Although, I’m sure the movie looks so ancient now, but we had a lot of fun making that.”
3. Miller Comes From a Family of British Actors
Miller’s grandfather was the respected British character actor Bernard Lee, who remains best known for his portrayal of M, the head of the British Secret Service and James Bond’s boss in the first 11 Bond films, starting with Dr. No in 1962 through Moonraker in 1979.
But Miller’s mother, Ann Lee, was an active stage actress in the United Kingdom, and his father, Alan Miller worked behind the scenes as a stage manager at the BBC.
“My family has always been involved in theatre in one way or other,” Miller said in an interview. “I suppose I was encouraged by that and then went on to do school plays myself and enjoyed it.”
4. He Remarried In 2008, To Actress Michelle Hicks
Hicks and Miller in 2013 (Getty)
It took seven years after his divorce from Jolie for Miller to marry again, getting hitched to American TV actress Michelle Hicks in 2008. Though best known for her television roles in the acclaimed cop drama The Shield and, more recently, the USA Network’s critical darling psychological thriller Mr. Robot, Hicks also earned wide recognition for her turn in the bizarre, 2001 David Lynch movie, Mulholland Drive.
Now 43 years old, Hicks and Miller married in July of 2008 and in December of that same year, their first and, to date, only child, Buster Timothy Miller, was born.
5. Miller Has a Reported Net Worth of $10 Million
For his role as a modern, New York-based Sherlock Holmes on Elementary, Miller is reported to receive a salary of $100,000 per episode. According to the Celebrity Net Worth site, that and his other film and TV work have added up to an estimated net worth of $10 million for Angelina Jolie’s first husband.
That puts him well behind his former wife, who has amassed a fortune of about $200 million, according to the celebrity financial site The Richest.
Miller and Hicks recently plunked down $2.105 million in July of last year to purchase a trendy condominium in Manhattan’s once-run-down but now heavily upscale East Village, according to Realty Today. The condo overlooks New York’s Tompkins Square Park.
At least some of the money to buy that condo may have come from the sale of their Hollywood Hills home, however. Miller and Hicks listed the Spanish style villa for $1.7 million in 2013 after buying it for $1.56 million four years earlier. But Miller and his small family had not lived in the house since leasing it to tenants in 2012, according to a report in Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.