Angelina Jolie asked a court to shut down her ex-husband Brad Pitt in his plea not to be forced to turn over his private communications with his inner circle, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Angelina, 49, asked a judge to force Brad, 60, to turn over additional records in their ongoing legal battle.
Brad sued Angelina after she sold her stake in a French winery named Château Miraval. He said they purchased Miraval while together with the goal of passing it down to their children.
The actor said he spent a substantial amount of time and effort into building Miraval into a successful business.
Brad said Angelina came to him to 2021 telling him she wanted out of the family business.
The exes split in 2016 after Angelina accused Brad of getting physical with her and their children on a private jet.
He denied her version of events. The incident was investigated by the FBI and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
No charges were ever brought against Brad. Angelina had kept her stake in Miraval for years after the split. Brad said he agreed to buy out her stake in the company for over $50 million.
However, the talks fell apart after a development in their divorce case.
Brad said Angelina sold her stake to a third party named Stoli, run by an alleged Russian oligarch. Angelina’s stake was held in a company named Nouvel. He said Stoli attempted a hostile takeover of Miraval.
He said she broke her promise not to sell her stake to another party without his consent.
He sued, demanding her sale be undone. Angelina denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Nouvel, the company Angelina sold to Stoli that held her stake in Miraval, filed a $350 million countersuit against Brad for alleged misuse of company assets. He denied the accusations.
The exes have been going back and forth for over a year. Recently, the actress claimed the talks to sell to Brad fell apart after he demanded she sign a non-disclosure agreement, enforceable by an $8.5 million holdback specifically “designed to force her silence about his abuse and cover-up.”
She said the request came after it leaked that she accused him of domestic violence in their ongoing custody battle.
As In Touch first reported, Angelina and Brad are currently fighting over documents she wants him to produce.
He said she demanded he turn over communications with third parties about sensitive issues “as the therapy he voluntarily undertook after the flight incident in an effort to better himself, ‘drug and alcohol testing’ he has allegedly undergone, his alleged ‘overuse or abuse of alcohol,’ and other actions taken in the aftermath of the flight.”
His lawyer argued, “These private, third-party communications are far removed from the issues and allegations in this case, and in many cases, they have nothing but the most tenuous relationship to ‘what happened on that plane.’ Jolie, however, wants them anyway as part of her efforts to turn this business dispute into a re-litigation of the former couple’s divorce case.”
Brad asked the judge to not force him to produce the records.
Now, in Angelina’s newly filed motion, she fires back at his plea. Angelina said the records she requested are relevant to the case, despite Brad’s assertion.
Her lawyer said, “Jolie was not acting with malice and the intent to hurt Pitt in response to any custody ruling; instead, it was Pitt that refused to buy her interest unless he received his newly expanded NDA, enforceable by an $8.5 million holdback specifically designed to force her silence about his abuse and cover-up.”
“Because the documents are clearly relevant, Pitt next tries to circumvent [the requests] on the ground that he has a privacy interest in his abusive and controlling conduct toward Jolie and their children,” her lawyer added.
“While Pitt cites to case law regarding general privacy interests, such as the marital relationship, he does not explain why those cases apply here. Unlike those cases, Jolie and Pitt are no longer married; Pitt sued Jolie, making them litigation adversaries; and Jolie and their children were victims of Pitt’s purportedly ‘private’ abuse and cover-up.”
Angelina’s attorney continued, “Jolie has no desire to litigate these issues and for years never publicly discussed any of it. Rather than appreciate her discretion, Pitt sought to contractually mandate and enforce it. Because she refused, he seeks to punish her, demanding $67 million plus punitive damages. In so doing, Pitt placed his conduct squarely at issue. While Jolie sincerely wishes Pitt would end this litigation and finally put their family on a clear path toward healing, that cannot happen while Pitt relentlessly pursues her. Until he stops, Jolie has no choice but to prove his allegations wrong.”
Her attorney continued, “Jolie needs to prove the real reason Pitt rejected the very deal he now says he wanted: Because Miraval was the last bit of leverage and control Pitt held over Jolie, he was not going to release that leverage unless Jolie first agreed to contractually bury his misconduct on threat of an $8.5 million holdback.”
“That’s the reason the sale did not go through, and why the Court should compel Pitt to produce the evidence demonstrating exactly why burying this misconduct was so important to him,” her attorney said.
A judge has yet to rule on Angelina’s motion.
