During the ongoing legal battle over their French winery and vineyard estate, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s court battle has finally hit breaking point. In a countersuit, Jolie has detailed what she described in court papers as “abusive behavior” by Pitt on a private plane in 2016 that led to the dissolution of their marriage.
At the time, the private plane incident was reported on by the media, but no details were released other than that Pitt was being investigated by child services after an alleged altercation with his eldest child, Maddox. Now, lawyers for Jolie have stated that negotiations to sell her share of the French winery Château Miraval to 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.”
Jolie’s filing describes in detail the alleged events that took place on the plane in September 2016 as Pitt, Jolie and their six children flew from France to California. She filed for divorce days later. “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.”
Jolie allegedly tried to intervene at one point and “grabbed” her then-husband from behind to try to stop him, per the countersuit.
“To get Jolie off his back, Pitt threw himself backwards into the airplane’s seats, injuring Jolie’s back and elbow,” the documents allege. Jolie later provided proof of her bruises to authorities. “The children rushed in and all bravely tried to protect each other,” the document reads. “Before it was over, Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face. Some of the children pleaded with Pitt to stop. They were all frightened. Many were crying.”
According to The New York Times, at the time, federal authorities, who have jurisdiction over flights, investigated the incident but declined to bring criminal charges. Page Six reports court records say this was due to “several factors.”
Pitt got sober in 2019 after spending a year and a half in AA. In response to the allegations, Pitt’s representative told CNN on Wednesday that the claims made are “completely untrue.”
