Angelina Jolie was allegedly abused by Brad Pitt prior to an infamous 2016 incident that led to the humanitarian filing for divorce, according to a new court filing amid a winery share legal battle and a restrictive non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
Angelina’s legal team filed a motion seeking to release communications they say would prove the actor would not let his former spouse sell her share of the French winery Château Miraval they owned together to him unless she agreed to a more onerous and expansive NDA.
Moreover, the actress’ legal team alleged that Brad would not resolve a decade-long ownership dispute unless Angelina agreed to stop disclosing her domestic abuse allegations to the public.
Back in October 2022, Angelina’s lawyers alleged in a lawsuit that her ex-husband grabbed her by the head and shook her, and then grabbed her shoulders and shook her again before pushing her into the bathroom wall during a flight from the couple’s Château Miraval winery in France to California.
The suit further claimed that Brad started deriding Angelina with insults and, when one of the kids defended their mom, the actor lunged at his own child and Angelina grabbed him from behind to stop him. Brad then threw himself backward into the airplane’s seats injuring Angelina’s back and elbow, the suit added.
The actors, who were declared legally single by a judge back in 2019, share six kids: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Vivienne and Knox.
Angelina’s attorney said in a statement that Brad refused to purchase her interest when she would not be silenced by his NDA. By refusing to buy her interest but then suing her, Brad put directly at issue why that NDA was so important to him and what he hoped it would bury: his abuse of Angelina and their family.
Brad and Angelina’s lawyers have battled each other through a set of corporate proxies over control of the Château Miraval winery in the south of France, where the pair married in 2014, and which is estimated to be worth some $162 million.
The future of the Southern French winery estate, best known for its rosé, has been playing out in Luxembourg courts. The pair have traded a range of accusations over the past few years, with Brad accusing Angelina of failing to contribute to the estate since 2013.
As a result of the spate of unresolved business quarrels, in 2021, Angelina sold her stake in the winery to a subsidiary of Luxembourg-based vodka and drinks company, Stoli Group, which is owned by Russia’s Yuri Shefler.
According to new claims made by Angelina’s side, the winery lawsuit would not have happened if Brad had purchased his ex-wife’s shares when she made a reported offer before selling them to the Russian oligarch.
In June of 2021, the last remaining director from the holding company resigned, rendering the new owners unable to make any decisions under Luxembourgish law. The court battle for control of the holding company was put to rest in February 2023.
