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Angelina Jolie has asked her ex husband Brad Pitt to drop his lawsuit against her via her lawyer.
The Maleficent actor, 49, and the Babylon star, 60, who were in a relationship for twelve years and share six children, became embroiled in legal drama in 2021 when Pitt sued Jolie for “secretly” selling her shares of their French winery, Château Miraval, which they purchased together when they were a couple.
Jolie’s legal team have said the Girl, Interrupted star wants Pitt to withdraw his lawsuit so the years-long dispute can be brought to a close, adding she will be forced to continue to defend herself in court unless he does so.
“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,” Paul Murphy said in a statement.
In May, a Los Angeles judge ruled Jolie would have to submit eight years’ worth of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) as part of the ongoing legal battle.
Murphy commented: “Mr. Pitt has control of all the properties the couple shared as well as control of the business, but still he demands more, and is suing Angelina for $67 million plus punitive damages. In doing so, Pitt placed squarely at issue why he tried to punish and control Angelina by demanding a newly expanded NDA.”
The Independent has contacted Pitt’s representatives for comment.
The winery dispute comes amid Jolie’s ongoing abuse allegations against Pitt, who is said to have filed for divorce after an incident on a September 2016 private flight from France to Los Angeles. The court filings, which were obtained by The New York Times, claimed that Pitt “choked one of the children and struck another in the face” and “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her”.
The filing also states that, at one point, “he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children”.
Earlier this year, Jolie’s lawyers claimed that “Pitt’s history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family’s September 2016 plane trip”, but noted that the flight “marked the first time he turned his physical abuse on the children as well”, causing the Salt star to leave the relationship immediately.
Pitt vehemently denied the claims at the time, and he was never charged following an investigation into allegations of abuse on the 2016 flight.
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When Pitt’s team first requested Jolie’s NDAs as part of the Château Miraval, Murphy told The Daily Mail at the time that they were “more than happy” to turn the NDAs over because they “open the door” to discussion around Pitt’s conduct.
“Common NDAs are simply not comparable to Mr Pitt’s last-second demand to try and cover up his personal misconduct,” Murphy said, adding Jolie’s team is “gratified that the Court acknowledged that the only potential relevance is to the unconscionability of Mr Pitt’s conduct, a now confirmed key issue in this case”.
Meanwhile, Pitt’s team have claimed the winery related NDAs were standard business NDAs and designed to protect the reputation of the business.
Murphy claimed the ruling “opens the door to discovery on all issues related to Pitt’s abuse” and “we welcome that transparency in all parties’ discovery responses”.
He continued: “Angelina looks forward to the eventual end of this litigation with its false narratives that continue to hurt the family and interfere with their ability to heal.”
