Angelina Jolie on physical abuse: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s struggle for the French vineyard they once owned together is heating up and reigniting old feuds, as fresh court filings suggest Pitt had a “history of physical abuse of Jolie” prior to their deadly aircraft journey in 2016.
On Thursday, Jolie filed a motion with the Los Angeles Superior Court, a copy of which CNN obtained, in which she claims that she attempted to sell Pitt her stake in the Miraval winery and that their negotiations eventually broke down after Pitt conditioned the sale on Jolie signing an NDA that “prohibited Jolie from speaking (other than in court) about Pitt’s abuse of Jolie and their children by attempting to tie Pitt’s personal reputation to Miraval’s business.”
This week’s latest filing originates from Pitt’s 2022 complaint, in which he claimed that he and Jolie agreed not to sell their part in the vineyard without the other’s approval. In a June 2023 filing, he claimed that Jolie’s sale of her ownership in the winery was “vindictive” after a “adverse custody ruling.”
Jolie also alleges in Thursday’s petition that Pitt’s “history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family’s September 2016 plane trip from France to Los Angeles,” but she does not go into detail about the alleged earlier abuse.
“At trial, Jolie will prove through testimony, emails, photographs, and other evidence why Pitt was so concerned about his own misconduct that he blew up his own deal to purchase Jolie’s interest in Miraval because she refused to agree to his new, expansive NDA,” according to the court filing.
Jolie claimed in the lawsuit on Thursday that she agreed to sign an NDA “limited to not disparaging Miraval’s wine business” as part of her first contract to sell Pitt her ownership in the winery, which they were nearing completion at the time.
Pitt had previously claimed in his June 2023 amended complaint that after Jolie refused to sign his NDA, she proposed an even broader NDA that “would have provided that, other than in court pleadings or testimony, neither party shall directly or through a party’s representatives make any derogatory remark about the other party in a public forum.”
CNN has reached out to a Pitt spokesperson for comment on the additional charges included in Thursday’s petition.
“Mr. Pitt declined to buy Ms. Jolie’s interest because she would not be silenced by his NDA. By refusing to purchase her interest but then suing her, Mr. Pitt exposed why that NDA was so essential to him and what he believed it would cover up: his mistreatment of Ms. Jolie and their family,” Jolie’s attorney, Paul Murphy, told CNN on Thursday. “After eight months of delays, this motion asks the Court to force Mr. Pitt to finally produce that evidence.”
According to the complaint, Jolie did not seek charges against Pitt for the 2016 confrontation because she decided “the best course was for Pitt to accept responsibility and help the family recover from the post-traumatic stress he caused.”
CNN previously reported that Pitt was not detained or prosecuted in connection with the 2016 incident when the FBI concluded its investigation, and a counsel for Pitt contested Jolie’s version of the event in an October 2022 filing. Pitt’s agent told CNN at the time that “Brad has accepted responsibility for what he did but will not for what he did not do.”
Jolie sold her portion of the winery to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of the Stoli Group, which is owned by Russian businessman Yuri Shefler.
The continuous court battles, as well as “Pitt’s unyielding attempts to control and punish Jolie, continue to take a huge emotional and financial toll on her and their family,” according to the petition. “Jolie longs for their family to be able to heal and their children to be spared further pain and trauma, and truly wishes Pitt would want the same too.”
Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt in 2016. They were declared legally single in 2019, and a shared custody agreement was formed in 2021.
Legal processes related to the Miraval issue are also underway. In 2008, the former couple acquired a rural home and vineyard in southern France.
