Brad Pitt pushes back on Angelina Jolie's 'oppressive and harassing' request to disclose messages in legal battle over French winery
In the latest round in Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's ongoing litigation over the former couple's French winery Château Miravel, the two are fighting over Jolie's request for Pitt to turn over third-party communications related to a 2016 plane incident.
"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,'" reads a court document obtained by CNN and filed by Pitt's attorneys.
"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," the document continues.
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Brad Pitt's legal team has pushed back against what they say is an 'oppressive and harassing' request by Angelina Jolie's legal team. Variety via Getty Images
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Pitt's attorneys, in a separate filing, called the request "oppressive and harassing" and claim in their initial opposition motion that he "voluntarily offered to produce documents sufficient to show everything that occurred on the flight that precipitated the ex-couple's divorce."
"Jolie, however, rejected Pitt's compromise and moved to compel his communications with third parties – including his most trusted advisors – about such 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.
When reached for comment on the filing, Paul Murphy, Jolie's attorney, described potential evidence around Pitt's 2021 request for a non-disclosure agreement in his failed proposal to buy her share of the winery as "central to these proceedings."
"We are not at all surprised Mr. Pitt is afraid to turn over the documents demonstrating these facts. 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," Murphy told CNN in a statement on Wednesday (Thursday in Australia).
Pitt and Jolie have been locked in a fraught web of legal proceedings since 2016. While the two were declared legally single in 2019, their divorce is not yet finalised.
Details surrounding the circumstances of the private plane incident emerged in August 2022, when a heavily redacted FBI report, provided to CNN by a source at the time, revealed that Jolie had accused Pitt of physically assaulting her and verbally abusing their children while they were aboard the private jet, traveling to the US from France.
Pitt became the centre of a probe related to the incident but was never arrested or charged, according to an FBI probe at the time.
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Jolie, pictured here with daughter Vivienne, has been embroiled in a legal battle against Pitt over their winery since 2022. Getty
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Their fight over the Miravel property began in February 2022, when Pitt sued Jolie and her former company, Nouvel LLC, over what he claimed was the "unlawful" sale of her stake in Miraval, acquired by the couple in 2008.
Pitt's lawsuit alleged that he and Jolie had agreed when they purchased the winery that neither would sell without the other's consent.
According to a subsequent 2023 court filing, attorneys for Pitt called Jolie's sale "vindictive" after an "adverse custody ruling."
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The former couple, pictured here in 2008, split in 2016. Dan MacMedan/WireImage
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A countersuit filed by Nouvel LLC in September 2022 accused Pitt of "waging a vindictive war against" Jolie and claimed that there was never any such agreement.
The countersuit alleges that Jolie attempted to sell her share of the winery to Pitt but the deal fell apart over a provision in a non-disclosure agreement "designed to prohibit Jolie from publicly speaking about the events that had led to the breakdown of their marriage."
Jolie sold Nouvel LLC and its stake in the winery to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of Stoli Group, controlled by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler, in October 2021.
If you need someone to talk to about domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT or visit White Ribbon Australia at whiteribbon.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
If you or someone you know is in need of support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the National Drug and Alcohol Helpline on 1800 250 015.
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