Patricia Grisafi
On Tuesday, Angelina Jolie filed a cross-complaint against ex-husband Brad Pitt. This complaint is filed as part of a legal battle over their once-shared winery and alleges that Pitt abused both her and their children on a private plane in 2016.
The rumors about the incident on the plane are not new, but the details keep emerging and paint a disturbing image of a woman trying to protect her children and herself from an intoxicated man in a space they could not escape.
In the court filing, lawyers for Jolie stated that negotiations to sell her share of the winery business to Pitt had stopped because Pitt demanded 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 details an incident of physical and verbal abuse in September of 2016 when Pitt, Jolie, and their six children flew from France to California: “Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face” and “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her.”
Additionally, Pitt “poured beer on Jolie” and then “poured beer and red wine on the children.” Days later, Jolie filed for divorce.
The filing states that the F.B.I. agent who investigated the allegations “concluded that the government had probable cause to charge Pitt with a federal crime for his conduct that day.” However, later, all parties agreed to not pursue charges.
According to Jolie’s account of the 2016 flight in the court papers, Pitt began the incident when he “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her, and then grabbed her shoulders and shook her again before pushing her into the bathroom wall.”
“Pitt then punched the ceiling of the plane numerous times, prompting Jolie to leave the bathroom.”
As one of the children came to their mother’s defense, Pitt lunged at the child. During the altercation, he “choked one of the children and struck another in the face.”
In 2019, Pitt told The New York Times that he spent time in Alcoholics Anonymous and was committed to sobriety. Jolie has been seen out and about with her children at various political and entertainment events.