In February, Brad Pitt sued Angelina Jolie over her sale of Nouvel, her 50% stake in Chateau Miraval, the home and winery they bought together in 2008. Pitt accused her of going behind his back and selling Nouvel, claiming that they had some kind of understanding or agreement that she would only sell Nouvel to him. Last week, Angelina’s lawyers filed her cross-complaint, laying out the extensive timeline, pointing out Jolie’s lengthy receipts for her many attempts to sell Nouvel to Pitt, and documenting his attempt to tie the sale to a gag order about how he terrorized and abused her and their children in 2016. Ever since Jolie’s cross-complaint went public, Pitt’s team has been scrambling. “Sources close to Brad” cried about parental alienation to TMZ, Pitt’s rep cried about how Jolie’s cross-complaint was “completely untrue” and Pitt’s lawyer basically huffed “I’ll see you in court!” On Friday, Angelina’s attorney spoke on Jolie’s behalf.
A lawyer for Brad Pitt has responded to abuse allegations that were detailed at length this week in a legal document filed by ex-wife Angelina Jolie, saying Pitt isn’t about to cop to any false accusations. On Friday, Jolie’s attorney added his own comments to the dispute.
“Brad has owned everything he’s responsible for from day one — unlike the other side — but he’s not going to own anything he didn’t do,” Pitt attorney Anne Kiley said Thursday in a statement to The Times. Kiley said in Thursday’s statement, Pitt “has been on the receiving end of every type of personal attack and misrepresentation. … Brad will continue to respond in court as he has consistently done.” A representative for Pitt declined to comment further.
However, Paul Murphy, a Jolie attorney, took issue late Friday with the Pitt camp’s statement.
“The carefully worded statement from Brad Pitt’s divorce attorney, Ms. Kiley, clearly did not address any of the very serious accusations in our Cross-Complaint. Mr. Pitt has been accused of harming his children and he has not denied any of his specific abhorrent behavior,” he said. “Instead, he is continuing his attempts to misinform and deflect, just like he has done for the last six years.”
Eve Sheedy, former executive director of the L.A. County Domestic Violence Council and former director of domestic violence policy at the L.A. City Attorney’s office, noted Friday that in situations similar to that of Pitt and Jolie, it wasn’t unusual for an abusive partner to “seek to exercise power and control” through means other than physical force, including controlling finances and decision-making.
“It takes courage for any survivor, especially those like Ms. Jolie who is subject to intensive public scrutiny, to come forward to reveal acts of abuse that were both terrifying and dangerous,” Sheedy said in a statement. “[I]n cases where specific conduct is at issue, general nonspecific denials of responsibility and efforts to lay blame on others reflect another tactic that can be used to further manipulate survivors.”
[From The LA Times]
Angelina was focused on the welfare of the children; Brad was focused on his professional reputation. Angelina wanted the children to have therapy and to process what had happened to them; Brad wanted to manipulate and financially abuse Angelina to get her to shut up. What I kept coming back to in Jolie’s cross-complaint was how many other people were involved at every stage too – clearly, Jolie has people she trusts, people who help her keep her documentation and receipts. The business side of this seems extremely clear-cut from her side, backed up with extensive communication between lawyers and business managers, etc. All Brad has is rage and lies – he’s clearly in over his head and what kills me is that… he brought this entirely on himself. Did he think he was just going to vibe his way through a huge lawsuit when Angelina clearly has everything documented?
Also: Jolie’s lawyers added another document to her cross-complaint. This is the letter she sent Brad informing him on January 21, 2021 (the day after Joe Biden’s inauguration!) that she wanted to sell Nouvel to either him or the Perrin family. This letter is heartbreaking – you can really feel her pain at coming to the realization that Pitt is not going to change, that he’s a conniving, cruel, abusive a–hole about every single part of their relationship. This letter also blows up Pitt’s entire case.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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