n court papers related to a legal battle over a French winery
they once owned together, she claims that he was abusive to
her and their children during a 2016 plane ride.
Angelina Jolie filed a cross complaint against her ex-husband Brad Pitt on Tuesday, disclosing new details
about what she described in court papers as abusive behavior by him on a private plane in 2016 that led
to the dissolution of their marriage.
In a court filing in Los Angeles, filed as part of a legal battle over a winery the prominent Hollywood
actors once owned together, lawyers for Ms. Jolie stated that negotiations to sell her share of the
business to Mr. Pitt had broken down over his demand that she sign “a nondisclosure agreement that
would have contractually prohibited her from speaking outside of court about Pitt’s physical and
emotional abuse of her and their children.”
Her filing goes on to describe an extended physical and verbal outburst in September 2016 as Mr. Pitt,
Ms. Jolie and their six children flew from France to California. “Pitt choked one of the children and struck
another in the face” and “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her,” the filing states, adding that at one
point “he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children.” Federal
authorities, who have jurisdiction over flights, investigated the incident but declined to bring criminal
charges. Days after the plane trip, Ms. Jolie filed for divorce.
A divorce lawyer for Mr. Pitt, Anne Kiley, said that Mr. Pitt had accepted responsibility for some things in
his past but that he would not accept responsibility for things he did not do.
Ms. Kiley also said that during divorce settlement negotiations this year — which were
separate from the negotiations over the winery — a lawyer for Ms. Jolie had sent Mr.
Pitt’s lawyers a proposal to try to settle the case, and that one of the preliminary
proposals had been a stipulation that neither party could make a derogatory comment
about the other in public, except in court. Ms. Kiley said Mr. Pitt’s side agreed to discuss
the term, but when Ms. Jolie’s side responded, she did not bring up the
nondisparagement proposal again.
The decoupling of Ms. Jolie and Mr. Pitt has stretched on for years, drawn out by a court
battle for custody of their children and, more recently, a lawsuit instigated by Mr. Pitt
over the French winery, Château Miraval, that the couple bought more than a decade
ago. Mr. Pitt’s lawsuit, filed this year, accused his ex-wife of violating his “contractual
rights” when she sold her half of the company to a subsidiary of Stoli Group without his
approval.
