Talking at the premiere of his new film Jayne Mansfield's Car at the Berlin Film Festival he said that he considered Jolie, 36, to be one of his closest confidantes following their three-year marriage, during which they famously wore vials of each other's blood around their neck.

Asked whether he would be catching up with his ex-wife at the festival, who was there with current partner Brad Pitt for her directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey, Thorton said he is always asked about their past relationship.

"Here's the fact of the matter: any time you're in a high-profile relationship, you know that that question is going to come up forever, and so if you want the honest-to-God truth, here's the truth: Angelina's a wonderful woman and one of my best friends in the world," he said.

"When people split up, people like to make up stories about how they are against each other. Well, this was never true, it never has been and never will be, and I'll love her until the end of my life and she'll love me — as friends."

Thornton, added that he was also close to Jolie's partner Brad Pitt and their six children.

"Brad is a friend of mine, he's a great guy. I love them both, I love their children and they love mine," he said.

"And in terms of meeting her at the festival, she's been very busy, I've been very busy. We were both excited when we heard that we were going to be here and then we were even more excited when we found out that one of us was in the competition and one was a special premiere.

"We haven't seen each other so far, but I'm sure we will this afternoon."

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