Although Brad Pitt has "Moneyball," one of his most-buzzed about films in recent memory set to release, comments he made to Parade magazine involving his ex Jennifer Aniston remain top of mind. 
 
 Pitt spoke to Matt Lauer in an interview to air Thursday on TODAY, and clarified some of those remarks, saying that his point was lost in the controversy. "I don't know what was pieced together or put together. All I know is that my point was, the best thing I'd done as a father is be sure that my kids have a good mother," Pitt said. "That's all I was, or am, trying to say. It has no reference to the past. And I think it's a shame that I can't say something nice about Angie without Jen being drug in. You know, she doesn't deserve it." 
 
 Pitt told Lauer that although he chooses to "live outside all that," i.e., the rumors that constantly swirl around his relationships with current partner Angelina Jolie or Aniston, he had to attempt to clarify what he meant to say. "I don't want them to say anything bad like that about Jen. She's a dear friend of mine," he said, adding that Aniston did not reach out to him after the Parade quotes were published. 
 
 But back to the driving force behind Pitt's interview: "Moneyball." Although there's already Oscar talk surrounding the baseball pic, Pitt says he's distancing himself from that for now. "It remains a great piece of material for me that I got to take on. And, we're all -- it's too early to talk about all that other stuff," Pitt told Lauer. "It's all good fun if your number comes up, and it's even more fun when your friend's number comes up." 
 
 Tune in Thursday for the complete interview on TODAY. 
 
 Related content: ||||| Cover Story: Jen Aniston's Team "Went Ballistic" After Brad Pitt Insult 
 
 Brad Pitt made a big-time boo-boo. 
 
 He's garnering Oscar buzz for his role in Moneyball, but Angelina Jolie's man sparked a public relations catastrophe last week -- all for a Parade interview in which he casually slammed his five-year marriage to Jennifer Aniston, which ended in 2005. 
 
 PHOTOS: Brad and Jen, the way they were 
 
 (In the interview released Sept. 15, Pitt, 47, sniffed that he "wasn't living an interesting life" before Jolie, and that he was "trying to pretend my marriage was something that it wasn't.") 
 
 And, yes, his 42-year-old ex-wife got wind of the catty comment. "She was annoyed," a pal close to the Horrible Bosses actress tells the new Us Weekly, out now. "She thought it was rude and inappropriate." 
 
 Team Aniston -- her agent and publicists -- "went ballistic," a Pitt insider reveals, and angrily reached out to Pitt's camp. 
 
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 "They got his team involved and Brad was read the riot act -- the only way you can read the riot act to Brad Pitt," the source says. 
 
 Within 24 hours, Pitt had surprisingly released a statement lamenting that his words were misinterpreted, and that his former love "is an incredibly giving, loving and hilarious woman." 
 
 PHOTOS: Justin Theroux, Angelina Jolie -- separated at birth? 
 
 Still, the Pitt source says, "no one believes his words were taken out of context -- he said what he said. I do hear that he's remorseful." 
 
 And although Pitt is clearly blissed out with Jolie, 36, and their six kids, "We think he's jealous she's in love," the source says. 
 
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 Indeed, Aniston hasn't let her ex's harsh words get in the way of her hot romance with Justin Theroux, with whom she's now spending time with in NYC. "Justin's The One!" an Aniston pal says. 
 
 For much more on Pitt and Aniston's unexpected new war -- and how Pitt and Jolie "make fun of" her -- pick up the new Us Weekly, out now! ||||| Whatddya know? The Brad Pitt/Jennifer Aniston bash-fest plot thickens. The latest piece of succulent gossip to drip from the ripe, fruit-bearing tree? It's two-fold, actually. One part says that Jennifer Aniston's team "went ballistic" when they got wind of Pitt's asinine comments; the other part says that Pitt's asinine comments actually came from a place of jealousy. As in Brad, although blissfully in love with Angelina Jolie, is actually jealous that Jennifer's so in love. 
 
 Hmm ... did Jennifer's team actually go ballistic? And are they the savviest people in the whole wide world, spinning the jealousy angle? Or is it true, Brad really is jealous? 
 
 Of course, no one will ever know for sure, as, well, everything in Hollywood needs to be taken with a heaping spoonful of salt, but it does make for an interesting discussion. Shall we? 
 
 First, let's start with the deets. Apparently after the rude comments Pitt made to Parade magazine -- and Team Aniston's going ballistic -- they reached out to Brad's camp and "read him the riot act." Then, a short while later, Brad gave his jank explanation, saying that what he said was taken out of context, Jennifer's a wonderful woman, blah blah blah yawn lies. Now here comes the interesting part. That same source who leaked this information to the press is saying that the real reason for Pitt's comments is because he's jealous of Justin Theroux. Hmph. 
 
 Here's what I believe. Well, a little of all of it, actually. I don't doubt for a second that Jen's team went bonkers after getting wind of the news -- and that's natural; their job is to protect her. I also believe that they "read him the riot act," which, in turn, made him apologize, which, in turn, makes him an even bigger jerk since everything he said after the fact was disingenuous poppycock. I also kind of believe that he is, in fact, a little bit jealous that Jen's really happy with Justin. That's natural, too. They were married, after all, and human beings will be human beings. Where this whole "jealousy" thing is coming from, though? Eh, not really going to chalk that one up as a fact. In other words, I certainly don't think Brad ever overtly expressed anything like that. I think it's just something Jennifer Aniston's "people" are saying to make him look bad. 
 
 And it's kind of genius. 'Cause it's totally working. 
 
 What do you believe? 
 
 Image via chris_natt/Flickr ||||| "It grieves me that this was interpreted this way," he says of recent comments about his ex-wife. 
 
 Brad Pitt is backtracking from recent comments he made about his ex-wife, Jennifer Aniston, and their marriage. 
 
 In an interview with Parade magazine, Pitt -- who next stars in Moneyball, which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival -- seemed to criticize Aniston, to whom he was married from 2000-05. 
 
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 “I spent the ‘90s trying to hide out, trying to duck the full celebrity cacophony," he said. "I started to get sick of myself sitting on a couch, holding a joint, hiding out. It started feeling pathetic. It became very clear to me that I was intent on trying to find a movie about an interesting life, but I wasn’t living an interesting life myself. I think that my marriage [to Aniston] had something to do with it. Trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn’t." 
 
 FILM REVIEW: 'Moneyball' 
 
 The quotes received a great deal of media attention after they were posted on Parade's website Thursday. Later in the day, Pitt issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter through his reps at CAA in which he clarified what he was trying to say and praised Aniston. 
 
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 "It grieves me that this was interpreted this way," he said. "Jen is an incredibly giving, loving and hilarious woman who remains my friend. It is an important relationship I value greatly. The point I was trying to make is not that Jen was dull, but that I was becoming dull to myself -- and that, I am responsible for." 
 
 Pitt has largely remained silent about Aniston and their marriage since they got divorced six years ago. However, he did raise eyebrows when he posed with Jolie for a family-themed shoot in the July 2005 issue of W magazine, not long after his split with Aniston. 
 
 STORY: Angelina Jolie Wears $15,000 Handcuff Bag to 'Moneyball' Premiere 
 
 After the magazine came out, Aniston remarked that he was missing a "sensitivity chip." 
 
 Pitt -- who has six children with Angelina Jolie -- is on the promotional tour for Moneyball, which opens Sept. 23. In the movie, which Steven Zaillian adapted from Michael Lewis' best-selling book, Pitt plays Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, a role that is earning him Oscar buzz. 
 
 ANALYSIS: Why Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt Are the Frontrunners in Oscar's Best Actor Race 
 
 Aniston is currently dating Justin Theroux, who co-stars with her in the upcoming movie Wanderlust.
– Brad Pitt is trying to promote Moneyball, his film coming out tomorrow, but everyone keeps insisting on asking him about his Jennifer Aniston non-slam from last week. The whole thing was made into something it wasn’t by the tabloid press, Pitt tells Matt Lauer in a Today interview this morning (watch at left). “My point was, the best thing I'd done as a father is be sure that my kids have a good mother,” he says. “That's all I was, or am, trying to say. It has no reference to the past. And I think it's a shame that I can't say something nice about Angie without Jen being drug in. You know, she doesn't deserve it.” He also calls Aniston “good people,” a “valuable person,” and a “dear friend." Earlier this week, he had already clarified his comments to People, saying it “was never my intention for it to be spun” as a diss. “People read things into it that just weren't there." An Aniston friend tells Us that Jen was “annoyed” by Pitt’s comments and found them “rude and inappropriate,” and a Pitt source says her team “went ballistic” and called Pitt to “read [him] the riot act” before he released his first clarification. But another Jen source tells E! that story “is complete crap,” and that “Jennifer does not want to continue any of this nonsense." Click for more on Pitt’s Today interview, or check out one take on why Pitt’s apology is “totally bogus.”