Sheryl Crow has exploded the myth that Brad Pitt dumped then-wife Jennifer Aniston to romance Angelina Jolie, insisting her pal ditched the movie hunk – and not the other way around.

Despite the widely held belief the pair’s marriage ended in 2005 – after Pitt left Aniston – Crow insists she and Aniston bonded after the former Friends star dumped Pitt and she split from her fiance, cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Crow insists, “For both of us, the perceived idea is that, in our big relationships, we both got dumped. Believe me, this is not true. Neither one of us has ever gotten dumped. No one ever knows what goes on in relationships. Unfortunately, for some people like Jennifer and me, so much is written about things that you don’t say, and so many emotions are attributed to you that you haven’t had.”

Friends have backed up Crow’s claim – one pal telling the National Enquirer, “Once Jen saw the writing on the wall, she dumped Brad. “She took a cold, hard look at her marriage and realized it was irretrievably broken. She and Brad had vastly different personal agendas and feelings about love, career and having a family.”

WENN