Sources close to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt assume opposing stances following their long-awaited divorce settlement after the protracted 8-year battle.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s kids have often publicly (or in other ways) stood by their mom over the years as their warring parents wrestled to settle their divorce battle, which incidentally lasted longer than their marriage. Crossing paths as co-stars while filming Mr and Mrs Smith, Brangelina went on to get married in 2014.
Two years later, the Maleficent star filed for divorce following the infamous alleged private plane incident. The Fight Club actor, in an apparent drunken state, took on the alleged abusive father/husband’s role. Although Pitt was not charged at the time, and Jolie didn’t press charges, the incident has continued to impact their lives all these years.
How Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt’s kids have responded to their parents’ protracted, bitter divorce
The former couple share six children: Maddox (23), Pax (21), Zahara (19), Shiloh (18), and twins Vivienne and Knox (16). Of the six, at least three made it to the headlines for dropping their dad’s ‘Pitt’ from their full names.
A December report also established that the Jolie-Pitt sons Maddox and Pax demonstrably stuck it out with their mother while working behind the camera on her movie, Maria. Angelina herself admitted that even though the brothers had seen her go “through a lot of things… they hadn’t (previously) experienced me expressing a lot of the pain that usually a parent hides from a child.” As Maddox and Pax turned into her confidantes during these moments, “They were there to witness some of that.” Jolie added, “… then we would hug or they would bring me cups of tea.”
As the ex-couple heads into the New Year officially divorced, a source close to the Salt actress told PEOPLE that her kids “wanted her to speak up for herself, to defend herself over these years but she reminds them to focus on changing laws over telling public stories.”
The insider added that the 49-year-old Hollywood starlet has “been trying hard to be light after a dark time.” Meanwhile, the “kids have grown up seeing that some people have so much power and privilege that their voices don’t matter. Their pain doesn’t count.”
Brangelina’s legal war continues despite long-anticipated finalised divorce
According to a 2017 statement, Brangelina made sure to protect their children from the stormy public discourse that would inevitably break out after the divorce filing. As a result, they “signed agreements to preserve the privacy rights of their children and family by keeping all court documents confidential and engaging a private judge to make any necessary legal decisions.” All these years, the pair has publicly continued their legal back-and-forth debate over their kids’ custody rights.
Even though their divorce settlement was done and dusted on December 30, the ex-couple’s legal entanglement is still not a thing of the past. Their fight over the French winery continues to be a contentious issue worth millions. Hours after the Angelina source spoke up on behalf of the Jolie-Pitt kids, a Brad Pitt source launched the battle over Chateau Miraval back into focus. Highlighting the Maria star’s 2021 move to sell her share of the winery they initially co-owned, the insider accused her of causing “tremendous collateral damage to those in and around the family.”
Brad Pitt source on Angelina Jolie playing offence
They also maintained that it was Jolie’s way of “punishing” Pitt, saying, “Brad built an extraordinary, increasingly valuable business and she chose to deliberately disregard their agreement.” The source asserted that the Troy actor fully intended to complete negotiations of buying her out and “keeping Miraval fully in the family and ending the battles.” However, Jolie “chose to sell to a total stranger not aligned with the company’s vision so she could take the money for herself and punish him.”
In 2022, Brad, 61, filed a lawsuit against his ex, stating that she breached their prior agreement by selling her share of the winery. Months later, Jolie counter-sued him after securing a $67 million sale of 50% of the estate to Tenute del Mondo, the wine division of the Stoli Group. She insisted that the F1 star was “waging a vindictive war against” her, claiming that they never had a “secret, written, unspoken contract” that established one would require the consent of the other belling unloading their shares of the French property.
Their legal attacks against each other have since raged on, fanning the flames of their already messy divorce.
