Sexy telephone conversations between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were the final nail in the coffin of the Hollywood hunk's marriage to Jennifer Aniston, it's reported.

The former Friends star heard their "intimate love chat" when she picked up a phone extension at her Hollywood home, says the News of the World.

"Jennifer went ballistic. Brad realised it was over," a source close to the couple is quoted as saying.

The paper says the phone call was just the latest in an intense relationship with Jolie that had been going on for nearly a year.

The marriage hit the rocks when Brad and Angelina played a married couple in the film Mr & Mrs Smith last February, it says.

Sources told the paper that they were acting as though it was the real thing and were always speaking on the phone in hushed tones.

"It has never been easy being married to the man who is held up as the sexiest, most desirable man in the world," they added.

The break-up comes amid rumours that the marriage was already falling apart over starting a family.

The paper was told: "Brad never made any secret of the fact he wanted a family, but Jennifer refused, preferring to concentrate on building her movie career."

Source: Press Release