Angelina Jolie Urges Brad Pitt to End Fighting and Drop Winery Lawsuit

The long and arduous battle over Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s French vineyard continues as lawyers for the actress are asking Pitt to “end the fighting” and withdraw his lawsuit.

The former couple has been locked in an extended legal battle over the Château Miraval property and winemaking ventures they purchased in 2008. They were 50-50 partners until 2021 when Jolie made the decision to sell her share. Pitt later sued over the sale, arguing that it violated an agreement they’d previously come to, in which Pitt would buy out her shares.

In April 2024, Jolie’s lawyers filed a motion arguing that Pitt had refused to buy Jolie’s shares in the winery unless she agreed to sign a more expansive non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Jolie’s team claimed the NDA was an attempt by Pitt to “cover up” his alleged abuse of her and their children. Pitt’s lawyers vehemently denied these allegations.

Jolie’s lawyer, Paul Murphy, released a statement claiming that Pitt “tried to punish and control Angelina by demanding a newly expanded NDA to cover his personal misconduct and abuse.”

“Those actions are central to these proceedings. We are not at all surprised Mr. Pitt is afraid to turn over the documents demonstrating these facts,” Murphy continued. “While Angelina again asks Mr. Pitt to end the fighting and finally put their family on a clear path toward healing, unless Mr. Pitt withdraws his lawsuit, Angelina has no choice but to obtain the evidence necessary to prove his allegations wrong.”

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in September 2016 after two years of marriage. They share six children: 22-year-old Maddox, 20-year-old Pax, 19-year-old Zahara, 18-year-old Shiloh, and 15-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

In April, 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’s lawyers alleged in the 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 documents 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.”

In contrast, documents filed by Pitt’s legal team in June 2023 claim that it was actually Jolie’s team who requested a “broader” NDA, not him.

Additionally, a close friend of Pitt who is familiar with the litigation told ET at the time that the latest claims of abuse are part of “a pattern of behavior” for Jolie and her legal team. The source claimed, “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.”

With regard to why Jolie opted to never press criminal charges against Pitt, the documents 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.”

For more on the contentious and lengthy legal battle, see the video below.

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Source: ET, Getty Images, FilmMagic