The Way They Were: A Look Back at Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's Past PEOPLE Covers

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt‘s 12-year romance has come to a sad end.

The actress filed for divorce from Pitt on Monday after two years of marriage, multiple sources told PEOPLE. The couple later confirmed the split in separate statements.

With six shared children, high-profile health struggles and numerous glamorous outings, the pair have made headlines throughout most of their relationship.

The two met on the 2004 set of their 2005 action thriller Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Three months later, photos surfaced of Jolie and the now-52-year-old Pitt walking with her son Maddox on a beach in Africa.

He soon supported the actress’ adoption of daughter Zahara – featured on PEOPLE’s July 2005 cover.

When Jolie, now 41, became pregnant with daughter Shiloh the next year, the couple’s new clan was dubbed PEOPLE’s “World’s Most Beautiful Family.”

After Shiloh’s birth in a small African clinic in May 2006, a friend told PEOPLE that Pitt was “with Angelina in the operating room the entire time.”

Debuting Shiloh’s photos exclusively in PEOPLE that June, the couple “couldn’t be happier,” a source said at the time.

In 2007, Jolie adopted son Pax from a Vietnamese orphanage, just 10 months after Shiloh’s birth. The next year, twins Knox and Vivienne joined the Jolie-Pitt clan. Of being a new family of eight, Jolie told PEOPLE, “It is chaos, but we are managing it and having a wonderful time.”

“I couldn’t imagine my life without them,” Pitt told PEOPLE in 2009.

After seven years, Pitt and Jolie finally made it official, getting engaged in 2012. Pitt’s manager told PEOPLE, “It is a promise for the future and their kids are very happy.”

Before they could make it down the aisle, though, Jolie faced a health scare: She discovered she had the BRCA1 gene, putting her at a higher risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

After Jolie had a preventive double mastectomy – with Pitt by her side – life soon returned to normal for the actress-director, a source told PEOPLE in a May 2013 cover story.

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But after heartache, came joy: The couple finally wed at Chateau Miraval in France on August 23, 2014. Jolie wore a dress decorated in her children’s artwork, and the children took on large roles in the ceremony.

The children will be the pair’s continued focus after their split.

“What matters most now is the well-being of our kids,” Pitt said in a statement, Tuesday. “I kindly ask the press to give them the space they deserve during this challenging time.”