[from Elle, 2000]

What a year already. 'You've got to pinch yourself once in while', says Jennifer. It's January, barely a week into the new millennium, and ELLE's audience with Jennifer is a riot of babies, girlfriends, sparkly trousers and belly laughs. Fresh from her Mexican holiday with Brad, Jennifer spends the following day posing like some gorgeous goddess in the fountains of the Playboy mansion… like the girl says, life seems almost too sparkly to be true.

She only spends the rest of the year shooting Metal God with Mark Wahlberg ('I've always had a secret, underlying love for heavy metal'), at the same time quadrupling her Friends' salary. Then she marries her true love on July 29, by the light of a Malibu sunset, looking like a beautiful mermaid in a dress by designer Lawrence Steele that's dripping with tiny pearls.

It is now late September and ELLE grabs a chance to catch up with our Cover Girl Of The Year (as voted at the ELLE Style Awards) while she takes a break from rehearsing Friends. 'It's been a pretty fun year', she smiles. 'Definitely, deliriously fun'.

Mrs. Brad Pitt is as funny, emotional, glowing and sweetly grounded as she ever was before, dressed in flip-flops, sweatpants and a tiny T-shirt.

'ELLE Style Awards?' she squeals. 'If the readers could see what I'm wearing today, they would just sit back and say, "Oh my God! What have we done?"'

What a year, Jennifer. Had you any idea the last time we met you'd be a married woman by the end of 2000?

Not by the end of the year. I knew it was comin', but I wasn't sure when. We kind of did it all in a three-month period. It just came to us one day that it was going to happen and we just jumped in and did it.

And how does it feel?

It feels…. Hmmm. It feels almost the same. There's just some sort of deeper level of love and safety and commitment. It's wonderful. We keep saying to each other that it's like you get to play with your best friend for ever.

It's been a vintage year all around. Tell us about making Metal God?

That was such a trip. It was absolutely an experience. I said to myself afterwards, 'If I ever felt that I missed out on the wild side of life, I've done it now." Whoa. Heavy metal people - they live hard and they play hard, too.

And how was playing Mark Wahlberg's girlfriend?

Just totally fun. He's just wonderful in it. He's such a good actor. I felt I was a better actor because of him. And he's so sweet, with his crazy long locks. Mark's so sweet, so it wasn't too hard to pretend.

What's this we read about an orgy scene?

It's not an orgy scene! (Genuinely affronted). It's a dance. You see how rumors spread? All of a sudden there's an orgy scene and I'm making love to a woman and… Oh my God! No. It's a scene on the dance floor. No writhing bodies. Where, there are some writhing bodies (laughs), but they're clothed.

And do you kiss a girl? Just for the record…

I'm not going to say. I'll leave that to be a surprise. Why not let that one fester?

Speaking of movies, have you seen Snatch yet?

No. I'm going to pay my $7.50 and see it at a movie theater when it opens over here. I can't wait. Brad's supposed to be just wonderful and the movie's supposed to be great.

You haven't had a preview of Brad's Irish accent?

Oh, I heard it the whole time he was shooting it! I could barely understand what he was saying. He said, 'Can you understand me?' I said, 'No'. And he said, 'Good'

The last time we met, you were with your best friends Andrea Bendewald and Kristin Hahn. How are they?

They're wonderful. I'm actually going up to Seattle to visit Kristin and her husband next week. We're going to take a road trip and visit them in their little cabin in the woods.

What was it like for you three girls on your wedding day?

Well, we've never been people who are really big on talking about our wedding before it's actually a reality. But it was an amazing rite of passage for us, with those two being my bridesmaids, my maids of honor. They are my girls and I just love them, and it was sort of profound and beautiful. All those horror stories you hear about weddings - the stress and the craziness - the whole thing was just free of that. And it wasn't just like a bride thing. Brad and I were both so involved. It was a team effort and I loved it. Of course, there were the normal freakouts that you have before and after.

Freakouts?

You know, just the 'Wow, we're doing this for the rest of our lives!' freakouts.

When Brad was in London, he said the joys of marriage were being able to fart and eat ice cream in bed...

(Outraged squeal!) He told me he never said that! He doesn't remember ever saying that. (Laughs). I was just like, 'Why would you even tell people that?'

I do have to ask you the same question…

The joys of marriage? (Thoughtful pause) I would just say this amazing, overwhelming sense of calm and peace. It's like, OK, we've got that handled, we've got the love thing handled and now we can embark on life and the bigger issues in hand: how we can both better ourselves, better the world, spread love…

Do you feel more powerful now that you're together?

Yes, although we've felt pretty much like a force from the beginning. Brad said this the other day. It's weird, but we feel from our first date as it we just didn't separate. It feels like there's been some underlying force between us, and now its just even more solid.

You seemed pretty broody when we last met. How's your maternal urge?

Oh gosh. We have time, so much time. Brad has said to me, 'Listen, I'm ready now. But I'll wait. Two years.' I'm like, 'You're giving me a two year window?' (Laughs) If everything falls as it has done in the past, when the time's right, it will just present itself. We're not jumping in and trying to get any eggs fertilized as of yet.

What's the last thing that inspired you?

People. Friends. Our dear friend gave birth just the other week to a beautiful baby girl. Brad and I actually went right from the Emmys to see them. We jumped into the car, looked at each other said, 'Let's go to Cedars-Sinai. Let's go to the hospital before we go to the party, just to get a burst of reality.' Those awards shows are so surreal - fun but surreal.

And real life for Jennifer and Brad is currently?

Right now it's just about moving homes and furnishing up our new place, very homey. We've been living in my house for the last two years, while Brad's been building his. So we're trying to make the shift now, the transition to his new place.

Any clashes over interior décor to report?

Not yet. It's amazing to be with a man who actually loves that kind of thing. He has a talent for architecture and interiors that is mind-blowing. That's inspiring… he inspires me.

I don't mean to sound like a hairdresser, but any holidays planned?

Yeah! I don't know when, though; we're both working hard. At the moment, it's just road trips, like our one to Seattle. I love road trips.