Angelina Jolie’s Lawyers Claim Brad Pitt’s Alleged ‘Physical Abuse’ Toward Her Began Before 2016 Jet Incident

Angelina Jolie’s lawyers are claiming that her ex, Brad Pitt, was “physically abusive” toward her before the alleged 2016 incident on a plane, which she has said was the impetus for her filing for divorce.

The motion filed by Jolie’s legal team on Thursday largely revolved around the former flames’ acrimonious legal dispute over their shares of ownership of their French winery, Château Miraval. Pitt was never charged with a crime after an investigation by authorities into the allegations of physical abuse on the 2016 flight. ET has reached out to Pitt’s lawyers for comment.  

According to the documents, obtained by ET, Jolie’s lawyers argued that Pitt was refusing to buy Jolie’s shares in the winery unless she agreed to sign a more expansive non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

Jolie’s lawyers filed the motion asking a court to compel Pitt and his legal team to provide “responses” and “documents” explaining why the Oscar-winning actor “suddenly conditioned his purchase of Jolie’s share of Miraval on her agreeing to a greatly expanded NDA now covering Pitt’s personal misconduct, whether related to Miraval or not.”

Jolie claims in the documents that Pitt’s demand for this NDA was his attempt to “cover up” his abuse of her and their children.

Conversely, a close friend of Pitt — who is familiar with the litigation over the years — tells ET that the latest claims of abuse are part of “a pattern of behavior” for Jolie and her legal team.

“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,” the friend said. “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.”

And In contrast to the claims made by Jolie’s lawyers, docs filed by Pitt’s legal team in June 2023 claim that it was actually Jolie’s team who requested a “broader” NDA, not him.

“Jolie, through divorce counsel, proposed an even broader nondisparagement clause that would have provided that ‘[o]ther than in court pleadings or testimony, neither party shall directly or through a party’s representatives make in a public forum any derogatory remark about the other party,'” Pitt’s lawyers claimed in the docs filed last year. “The mutual and standard clause proposed by counsel for Pitt… was narrower; it was intended to protect the business. The clause also made clear that there would be no limitation on Jolie’s ability to speak in connection with Pitt and Jolie’s divorce or custody proceedings.”

Meanwhile, Jolie’s lawyers allege in the new motion that “Pitt’s history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family’s September 2016 plane trip from France to Los Angeles.” However, the docs claim that “this flight marked the first time he turned his physical abuse on the children as well,” and that “Jolie then immediately left him.”

“The conduct is egregious and caused significant and ongoing post-traumatic stress,” the documents allege. “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. Some of that evidence is currently under Pitt’s control. This is the evidence Jolie seeks by this motion.”

With regard to why Jolie opted to never press criminal charges against Pitt, the docs claim, “Jolie never pressed charges as she believed the best course was for Pitt to accept responsibility and help the family recover from the post-traumatic stress he caused.”

With regards to their bitter dispute over the winery, Jolie’s lawyers claimed that, in February 2021, after “extensive negotiations,” the exes “reached an agreement where Pitt would purchase Jolie’s interest for $54.5 million… The agreement included a simple nondisparagement clause ‘relating to the wine business.'”

The motion claims that two months later, “Pitt responded by sending a revised offer to purchase Jolie’s share in Miraval that contained a new expansive NDA.” According to the docs, this new NDA “required Jolie to make ‘a commitment not to publicly denigrate Miraval Provence and its direct and indirect shareholders,” and it “removed the previously agreed-upon limitation that the NDA cover only Miraval’s business.”

Getting to the heart of the motion, Jolie’s lawyers argued that the court should compel Pitt to provide answers regarding the demand for a new and wider ranging NDA.

“Pitt has refused to produce any documents that relate to or explain why he so badly needed a new personal NDA from Jolie as a condition to purchasing her interest in Miraval, and why that request was so harmful to Jolie,” the docs state. “Jolie fully expects the evidence to show that Pitt demanded the new personal NDA to cover up his abuse of Jolie and their children, and to cover up his use of power and privilege — including false statements to authorities — to squash the parallel abuse investigations.”

The motion concludes, “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.”

Paul Murphy, counsel for Jolie, released a statement to ET addressing the claims made in Thursday’s motion, stating, “Mr. Pitt refused to purchase Ms. Jolie’s interest when she would not be silenced by his NDA. By refusing to buy her interest but then suing her, Mr. Pitt put directly at issue why that NDA was so important to him and what he hoped it would bury: his abuse of Ms. Jolie and their family. After eight months of delays, this motion asks the Court to force Mr. Pitt to finally produce that evidence.”

A source close to the matter tells ET that Jolie “does not want to be here, she does not want to be raising any of these facts, and she is doing it only because Pitt’s lawsuit against her is forcing her to defend herself.”

“It’s incredibly sad and she just wishes he could move on and let her be,” the source adds. “Angelina’s lawyers have emails, photos, and testimony that was presented under seal in the custody case that would help her in this matter, but she doesn’t want to use these here either. However, if this does go to trial, she will be forced to use that evidence in the trial whether she wants to or not.”

For more on Jolie and Pitt’s years-long divorce and as-yet-unsettled custody battle, see the video below.

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