On 'Edge'

While Angelina Jolie has been all over the media this summer, talking about her life after her divorce from Billy Bob Thornton while promoting her ''Lara Croft'' sequel, Thornton has largely kept mum since the couple split more than a year ago. Now, however, as he tours to promote his new roots-rock CD, ''The Edge of the World,'' Thornton is finally talking about his former wife, as well as the tattoo and song she inspired, which are gone now as well.

''I don't think either one of us knows why we split up,'' he told the Associated Press this week. ''It was like, say you're going to a nightclub one night with your friends and you're in line and the next thing you know there are guys with helicopters and there's machine-gun fire and you don't know what happened. And that's kind of like what our breakup was like.''

Thornton said that, out of sensitivity to his ex-wife's fans, he's no longer singing the song ''Angelina,'' which contains the line, ''They said we would never make it.'' Noting the irony, he said, ''It doesn't hurt me because that relationship served a purpose in her life and it served a purpose in my life.''

Also expunged is the left-forearm tattoo that once bore Jolie's name. All that's left are the letter A and four drops of blood representing the couple and Thornton's two sons by previous wife Pietra Cherniak. ''I had it covered up with an angel and it says 'Peace' right here. It's like, basically, my way of saying, 'No hard feelings.'''

The divorce, which became final in May was Thornton's fifth and Jolie's second. Speaking to Time Out New York magazine, Thornton advised first-time brides and grooms on marriage, saying they should ''go into it with the idea that you want it to last, but don't put pressure on yourself to try to achieve perfection every day, because I think that's when you get into trouble.'' Marching down the aisle, couples should think, ''Like, yeah, I'm doing this forever, but don't let it freak you out.''

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