Though Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt split up in 2016, eight years later they are still not divorced (though they were declared legally single back in 2019). Now, as their divorce battle rages on, Jolie is calling for Pitt to “end the fighting” in their prolonged legal battle, E! News reports.
The battle is long and complicated, but let’s start here: the two became a couple in 2005 after meeting on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith; they finally married after nine years together (and six kids) in 2014. But just two years later, Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, and in addition to their divorce battle, the two have been embroiled in a heated civil suit after Jolie sold her stakes in their once-shared French estate and vineyard, Chateau Miraval. Jolie’s attorney said in a statement yesterday that it is Jolie’s wish to “end the fighting and finally put their family on a clear path toward healing,” adding that unless Pitt withdraws his lawsuit against her, Jolie will have “no choice but to obtain the evidence necessary to prove his allegations wrong,” which include a deeper look into the alleged 2016 plane incident that led to the end of their marriage.
Pitt’s attorney Anne Kiley said of those 2016 allegations that “Brad has owned everything he’s responsible for from day one—unlike the other side—but he’s not going to own anything he didn’t do. He has been on the receiving end of every type of personal attack and misrepresentation.”
Per People, Pitt sued Jolie after she sold her half of Chateau Miraval in October 2021 for $67 million. “He argued that the sale went against a verbal agreement they had,” People writes. “Jolie’s side has said she refused to let him buy her out of the business because she didn’t want to sign his NDA [non-disclosure agreement] as part of the deal.”
Jolie and Pitt purchased the winery in 2008 and were 50-50 partners until 2021, Entertainment Tonight reports. In addition to the lawsuit regarding Chateau Miraval, Jolie and Pitt have also been wrapped up in what Us Weekly calls “messy legal disputes” over the custody of the six children they share—Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne. The twins are the only two of the couple’s six kids to remain underage, as they just turned 16 earlier this month.
Back in May, on the occasion of her eighteenth birthday, Shiloh hired her own lawyer—and apparently paid for said lawyer herself—to file legal paperwork to drop “Pitt” from her surname (all of the kids carry the last name Jolie-Pitt). Though Shiloh is thought to be the only one of the six to make it legal, Maddox, Zahara, and Vivienne have also reportedly informally dropped “Pitt” from their surname as well—indicative of Pitt’s strained relationship with the kids.
When they split in 2016, Jolie, in addition to filing for divorce, also filed for sole physical custody of the kids. The custody agreement between Jolie and Pitt allows visitation rights to their minor children—with Knox and Vivienne being the only two of the six that remain minors. Jolie and Pitt often “clashed” over their “very different parenting styles” during their time as a couple, People reports, with a source telling the outlet that “During their marriage, they had very different parenting styles. Brad grew up with structure and wanted more rules for the kids. Angie had a different upbringing and wanted the kids to be more independent and responsible for their own schedules from a young age.”
They added that “Brad and Angie clashed over this. However, they did always have the same vision for their kids’ future. They wanted the kids to thrive by experiencing the world firsthand and not only learn from traditional schooling.”
A separate source told the outlet of Jolie and Pitt that “They still both really care,” they said. “They both care about the children.”
