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- October 5, 2022
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Angelina Jolie has filed a new countersuit in the ongoing legal battle over the Château Miraval winery she once owned with her ex-husband Brad Pitt, The New York Times reports. The cross-complaint, which was filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, contains additional details about Pitt’s allegedly abusive behavior toward Jolie and their children on a private plane in September 2016.
Jolie filed for divorce days after the alleged altercation on a flight from France to California on which their six children, who now range in age from 14 to 21, were reportedly present. According to the Times, Jolie said in the court papers that an argument began when Pitt accused her of being “too deferential” to their children and then began yelling at her in the airplane bathroom. “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 reportedly states. “Pitt then punched the ceiling of the plane numerous times, prompting Jolie to leave the bathroom.”
When one of their children defended Jolie, Pitt allegedly lunged at the child, and she grabbed him from behind in defense. During the incident, Pitt “choked one of the children and struck another in the face,” the countersuit reportedly states, and at one point, Pitt “poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children.”
Per the Times, the filing goes on to state that the FBI agent who investigated the altercation in 2016 had “concluded that the government had probable cause to charge Pitt with a federal crime for his conduct that day.” In November 2016, the FBI said it would not pursue further investigation and declined to press charges against Pitt for alleged child abuse. A representative for Pitt denied the allegations to the Associated Press on Tuesday, calling them “another rehash that only harms the family.” Vanity Fair has reached out to Pitt’s attorney for comment.
The countersuit comes amid Pitt and Jolie’s legal battle over ownership of the French winery. Pitt filed a lawsuit in the matter earlier this year, accusing Jolie of violating his “contractual rights” by selling her share of the business to Tenute del Mondo, the wine division of the Stoli Group. Jolie’s attorneys reportedly said in Tuesday’s cross-complaint that she wanted to sell her stake partially because of discomfort in being involved with a liquor brand, given Pitt’s “acknowledged problem of alcohol abuse.” Pitt has spoken openly about getting sober since the split.
Negotiations between Jolie and Pitt’s teams to sell her share fell apart 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 filing reportedly alleges. “She has gone to great lengths to try to shield their children from reliving the pain Pitt inflicted on the family that day,” the cross-complaint continues, “But when Pitt filed this lawsuit seeking to reassert control over Jolie’s financial life and compel her to rejoin her ex-husband as a frozen-out business partner, Pitt forced Jolie to publicly defend herself on these issues for the first time.”
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