Once Hollywood’s most glamorous couple, Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie has alleged Brad Pitt was physically abusive to her and their children during an inflight argument six years ago.
According to court papers filed on Wednesday (AEDT) in Los Angeles, Pitt, 58, allegedly grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her, then choked one of their children and struck another when they tried to defend her.
The abuse allegedly occurred on September 14, 2016, when Jolie, Pitt and their six children – now aged between 14 and 21 – were traveling from their French home and winery to Los Angeles on a private flight.
According to The New York Times, which first reported Jolie’s account in a court filing on October 4, the dispute began when Pitt accused Jolie of being “too deferential” to their children and then began yelling at her in the bathroom of the plane.
“Pitt grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her, and then grabbed her shoulders and shook her again before pushing her into the bathroom wall,” the filing read.
“Pitt then punched the ceiling of the plane numerous times, prompting Jolie to leave the bathroom”.
When one of the children came to her defence, the court papers said, “Pitt lunged at the child, prompting her to grab him from behind”.
During the alleged altercation, Pitt “choked one of the children and struck another in the face,” the suit said.
At one point, the filing states Pitt “poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children.”
Lawyers for Pitt did not immediately return calls and emails from NYT.
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The descriptions of abuse on the flight came in a cross-complaint Jolie filed in the couple’s ongoing battle over the sale of her share of Chateau Miraval to a subsidiary of Stoli Group without Pitt’s approval.
The NYT reported the filing was part of the legal battle over the winery, with lawyers for Jolie stating negotiations to sell her share of the business 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.”
The Hollywood A-listers were married at the French chateau in August 2014, and all six of their children, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Vivienne, Shiloh and Knox were involved in the ceremony.
Jolie, 47, filed for divorce days after the flight, and since then the former golden couple have been wrangling in legal proceedings in California largely shielded from public view.
The allegations of abuse on the plane first became public shortly after the flight, according to AP, but reports were initially vague and details were kept sealed in divorce documents and investigations by the FBI and Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, both of which found that no action against Pitt was necessary.
In a tentative ruling, a judge granted Pitt joint custody of the children after a closed-door trial in which the allegations were aired.
But an appeals court subsequently disqualified the private judge for not disclosing possible conflicts of interest after a motion from Jolie, nullifying the decision, AP reported.
In September last year, Jolie claimed she feared for the safety of her children during her marriage to Pitt.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian to promote her new book, Know Your Rights And Claim Them, she was asked whether she feared for the safety of her own children.
“Yes, for my family. My whole family.”
Jolie described the divorce and custody proceedings as “horrific”.
“It doesn’t start with the violation [the plane incident]. It’s so much more complicated than that,” she said.
Jolie said she couldn’t talk in more detail because of her “legal situation” but the newspaper reported she nodded to confirm she was referencing the divorce and allegations she made against her Pitt.
“I’m not the kind of person who makes decisions, like the decisions I had to make, lightly.
“It took a lot for me to be in a position where I felt I had to separate from the father of my children.”
-with AAP
