Thornton was engaged to be married to actress Laura Dern, whom he dated from 1997 to 1999. Instead of marrying Dern, in 2000, he married actress Angelina Jolie. The marriage became known for the couple's strange shows of affection. These were said to include wearing vials of each other's blood around their necks. Thorton later said that the "vials" were actually two small lockets. Each had only a single drop of blood in it. Thornton and Jolie said they were adopting a child from Cambodia in March 2002. Later it was learned that Jolie had adopted the child as a single parent. They separated in June 2002 and divorced the following year.