Angelina Jolie claimed in a new court document that her ex-boyfriend Brad Pitt was violent toward her prior to the 2016 aircraft incident that prompted her to file for divorce.
On April 4, as part of the former couple’s ongoing legal battle over their French winery Château Miraval, the actress’s legal team filed a motion seeking to release communications that they claim would prove Pitt, 60, would not let Jolie, 48, sell her share of the winery to him unless she agreed to a “more onerous” and “expansive” NDA.
Angelina Jolie’s attorneys argue in the latest filing that Pitt’s history of physical abuse of Jolie began long before the family’s September 2016 flight from France to Los Angeles, but this flight marked the first time he turned his physical violence on the children as well. Jolie then abruptly left him.
A representative for Pitt declined to comment to people.
“This is a pattern of behavior—whenever there is a decision that goes against the other side, they consistently choose to introduce misleading, inaccurate, and/or irrelevant information as a distraction,” says a friend of Pitt who has been involved in the case for many years.
“There was a lengthy custody trial that involved the entire history of their relationship and a judge who heard all the evidence still granted him 50/50 custody.” (Later, the judge who ordered 50/50 custody was removed from the case, and the exes now share custody.)
According to Angelina Jolie’s side, the winery litigation would not have occurred if Pitt had acquired her part when she made the offer. However, Angelina Jolie’s attorneys allege Pitt denied the settlement unless it contained the NDA, citing concerns that sealed records from their separate, years-long custody dispute might be made public without it.
“Angelina Jolie’s sealed filing, which included emails, summaries of the family’s expected testimony, and other evidence, caused Pitt to fear that the information could eventually become public,” her attorneys wrote, adding that she wanted Jolie to “contractually bind herself to that silence” in regard to his alleged “personal misconduct, whether related to Miraval or not.”
According to a June 2023 filing from Pitt’s legal team, Jolie requested an “even broader non-disparagement clause” as part of the arrangement, while Pitt’s team proposed a “narrower” one “intended to protect the business.”
“The condition also said that Angelina Jolie’s freedom to speak about Pitt and Jolie’s divorce or custody procedures would be unrestricted. It explicitly provides:
This agreement, however, shall not affect any party’s right to file claims, provide testimony, or participate in any legal action.
Last year, the NDA was discussed back and forth in court.
In June 2023, a Pitt source stated that “the non-disparagement clause in the contract” was a “totally standard” business transaction, while a Jolie source claimed Pitt “refused to complete the Miraval sale with Jolie unless she agreed to being silenced about the abuse.”
In a statement received by people on April 4, Angelina Jolie attorney, Paul Murphy, stated that “Mr. Pitt refused to purchase Ms. Angelina Jolie interest when she refused to be silenced by his NDA.” By refusing to purchase her interest and then suing her, Mr. Pitt exposed why the NDA was so essential to him and what he believed it would conceal: his mistreatment of Ms. Angelina Jolie and their family. After eight months of delays, this request seeks the Court to compel Mr. Pitt to deliver that evidence.”
Another insider tells people that Angelina Jolie “does not want to be raising any of these facts, and she is only doing so because Pitt’s lawsuit against her is forcing her to defend herself.”
The insider goes on to say that “if this does go to trial, [Angelina Jolie] will be forced to use that evidence in the trial whether she wants to or not.”
Pitt sued Angelina Jolie and her former firm Nouvel in 2022 for selling her share of the winery and violating an agreement he claimed they had signed not to sell without each other’s assent. Pitt has accused Jolie of purposely keeping him in the dark about her sale to Tenute del Mondo, the parent business of alcohol maker Stoli Group, which is controlled by Russian tycoon Yuri Shefler.
The transaction, he argued, “jeopardizes the reputation of the business that Pitt so carefully built.”
When Angelina Jolie legal team mentioned the 2016 plane allegations in a response filed in October 2022 for the winery case, a source close to Pitt said, “It’s incredibly sad that she continues to rehash, revise, and reimagine her description of an event that happened six years ago, adding completely untrue information to try to get additional attention for herself at the expense of their family.”
An inquiry into complaints of abuse on the Sept. 14, 2016, flight resulted in no charges against Pitt.
In the most recent petition, Angelina Jolie attorneys state that the actress “never pressed charges because she believed the best course was for Pitt to accept responsibility and help the family recover from the post-traumatic stress he caused.”
Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who were pronounced legally single by a judge in 2019, have six children: Maddox (22), Pax (20), Zahara (19), Shiloh (17), and twins Vivienne and Knox (15).
