Angelina Jolie Reveals How She Secretly Wed in the U.S. Before French Wedding

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Despite a lavish wedding in France, the couple made it official in California.

In what turns out to be one of Hollywood’s best-kept secrets, Angelina Jolie reveals that she and Brad Pitt were married ahead of the couple’s lavish August wedding at their estate Chateau Miraval in France.

In an interview with Italian magazine, IO DONNA, the 39-year-old actress-turned-director of Unbroken explains that, as Americans, Jolie and Pitt had to make it official in the U.S.

“One day when I was working on Unbroken, I said to Brad: ‘Honey, why don't we meet at 4:30?’” Jolie explains when prompted to reveal a secret about her marriage. “I take a break for an hour, I call a justice of the peace. I run home, we sign the documents, we look and we say: ‘We did it!’

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Afterward, she went right back to work. “We kept it a secret. I went back to work without a ring on my finger."

Despite the technicality of getting married in the States, Jolie says “the real wedding was the one with the boys,” Maddox, 13, Pax, 11, and Knox, 6. And of course, the couple’s daughters, Zahara, 10, Shiloh, 8, and Vivienne, 6, who were all at the ceremony and contributed to the design of Jolie’s wedding dress.

PHOTO: See Angelina Jolie's Wedding Dress

The marriage news comes as Jolie has been on an endless press tour in support of Unbroken, which was not only the number one film in theaters over Christmas but has picked up nominations for Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.

Most recently Jolie revealed that directing her husband in By the Sea, their new film together, has created more stress than expected. "Yes, we spent our honeymoon playing two people in a terrible marriage," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "I'm sure a therapist would have a field day analyzing the films I choose to do."

WATCH: The Story Behind Angelina Jolie's Passion Project, 'Unbroken'

Despite the working honeymoon, the couple has been seen happy together on the red carpet with their kids as they promote Unbroken.