Angelina Jolie claimed Brad Pitt ’emotionally and physically’ abused her and their children, new court filings show
Angelina Jolie accused Brad Pitt of being “emotionally and physically abusive” towards the actress and her children, according to new court filings.
Jolie claimed a series of violent incidents took place during a plane journey in September 2016, which ultimately led to her filing for a divorce.
The allegations, which Pitt strongly denied at the time, were originally made during a custody battle but have now emerged in a cross-complaint by Jolie as part of the former couple’s ongoing legal dispute over the sale of their co-owned vineyard in the south of France.
While the claims were made at the time of the divorce, they were contained in a redacted FBI report.
A representative for Pitt, who was not authorised to speak publicly, strongly denied Jolie’s allegations and called them “another rehash that only harms the family”.
In the new documents, filed on Wednesday, the 47-year-old said Pitt “verbally attacked” her and “lunged” at one of his six children.
“Throughout the long, overnight flight, Pitt was physically and emotionally abusive to Jolie and their children, who were then between the ages of eight and 15,” the documents state.
“After that flight, for her family’s wellbeing, Jolie decided to file for divorce.”
Pitt ‘choked’ one of his children before ‘pouring beer and red wine’ on them
They allege that Pitt’s “aggressive behaviour” began before the flight, but once he boarded the plane he “choked” one of his children, and “struck another in the face” when they intervened to protect each other.
“Some of the children pleaded with Pitt to stop. They were all frightened. Many were crying,” the filing states.
The documents go on to claim that Pitt continued aggressively, swearing at the family and at one point “pouring beer and red wine on the children”.
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After landing, the actor allegedly stopped the family from leaving the plane and physically abused one of his children again.
Just five days after the alleged incident, Jolie filed for divorce and an FBI investigation was launched, but it was determined that no action needed to be taken against Pitt.
The ongoing Chateau Miraval dispute
A judge gave Pitt 50-50 custody of the children after a closed-door trial in which the allegations were aired.
But an appeals court subsequently disqualified the private judge for not disclosing possible conflicts of interest after a motion from Jolie, nullifying the decision.
The Oscar-winning actors were among Hollywood’s most prominent couples for 12 years, and had been romantic partners for a decade when they married in 2014.
An aerial view of the 17th-century Chateau Miraval, bought by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, in 2012
They were declared single by a judge in 2019 but a dispute over the sale of the couple’s stakes in Chateau Miraval SA, a French company comprising of a home and vineyard in the south of France, continued.
Pitt previously accused Jolie of orchestrating a “hostile” takeover of the wine business that he had “carefully built” and forcing him into partnership with “a stranger with poisonous associations and intentions”.
The Miraval estate is located in the village of Correns in southeastern France and was bought by the couple for around €25m (£20.8m) in 2008.
According to the legal documents, Pitt contributed 60% of the purchase price, with Jolie paying the remaining 40%.
The divorce case has not been finalised and custody and financial issues remain unresolved.
Davina McCall has said her short-term memory is “a bit remiss” as she recovers from brain tumour surgery.
Speaking from her bed, the visibly emotional TV presenter posted a short video updating her Instagram followers on her condition, saying it had been a “mad” time.
She expressed an “enormous heartfelt thank you” to people who had messaged her after she revealed this month she had a benign brain tumour, a colloid cyst, which she described as “very rare”.
Looking bright, but with a visibly bruised left eye, McCall said: “My short-term memory is a bit remiss.
“But that is something I can work on, so I’m really happy about that. I’m writing everything down, to keep myself feeling safe.”
She added: “It’s been mad, and it’s just really nice to be back home, I’m on the other side.”
In a message posted with the video, she reiterated her thanks for all the support she has received, adding: “Had a great night’s sleep in my own bed. Have a couple of sleeps during the day which keeps my brain clear… Slowly, slowly…”
When she first shared her diagnosis, she said chances of having it were “three in a million” and that she had discovered it several months previously after a company offered her a health scan in return for giving a menopause talk.
The 57-year-old star said support from her fans had “meant the world”.
She said she was being “brilliantly looked after” by her partner, hairdresser Michael Douglas, and her stepmother, Gabby, who she calls mum.
Becoming tearful, the presenter said: “I’d quickly like to say big up the stepmums. I don’t really say thank you to Gabby enough. She’s been an amazing rock my whole life.”
McCall was estranged from her birth mother, Florence McCall, who died in 2008.
McCall with 2002 Big Brother winner Kate Lawler. Pic: Rex Features
With a catch in her voice, McCall went on: “I’ve got a massive dose of vitamin G – I’m just really grateful. I’ve always been really lucky in my life, but I feel unbelievably grateful right now. So, thanks for everything, all of you.
“I’m on the mend, I’m resting and sleeping loads and I feel really good. I’m just very lucky.”
Stars including presenter Alison Hammond, singer Craig David and radio host Zoe Ball quickly shared their delight at the positive update.
McCall rose to fame presenting on MTV in the mid-1990s, and later on Channel 4’s Streetmate, before becoming a household name as the host of Big Brother from 2000 to 2010.
McCall with her MBE, alongside her partner Michael Douglas and her daughter Holly Robertson. Pic: PA
She’s gone on to present programmes across the networks, the most recent being ITV dating show My Mum, Your Dad.
Last year, McCall was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.
Married twice, McCall has three children, two daughters and a son, with her second husband, presenter Matthew Robertson.
She has lived with Douglas since 2022, and they present a weekly lifestyle podcast together, Making The Cut.
Barbara Taylor Bradford, the bestselling novelist who wrote A Woman Of Substance, has died at the age of 91.
The Leeds-born author, who sold more than 90 million books, died peacefully at her home on Sunday after a short illness and was “surrounded by loved ones to the very end”, a spokeswoman said.
Taylor Bradford, who was often labelled “the grand dame of blockbusters”, hit the big time when A Woman Of Substance was published in 1979, making her an overnight success.
The story sold millions of copies and traced the journey of Emma Harte from life as a servant in rural Yorkshire to heading a business empire.
The rags to riches story was followed by many other successful books with the author’s works being published in more than 40 languages across 90 countries.
Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA
The author on her 21st birthday. Pic: Bradford Enterprises/PA
Charlie Redmayne, chief executive of publisher HarperCollins, said the author was a “natural storyteller”, adding: “Barbara Taylor Bradford was a truly exceptional writer whose first book, the international bestseller A Woman Of Substance, changed the lives of so many who read it – and still does to this day.”
Taylor Bradford, who was made an OBE in 2007 for services to literature, wrote a total of 40 novels during her career – her most recent was The Wonder Of It All, published last year.
Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA
Taylor Bradford with her husband Robert in 1993. Pic: PA
Born in May 1933 as the only child of Winston and Freda Taylor, she worked as a typist for the Yorkshire Evening Post before becoming a reporter and then the paper’s first woman’s editor.
At the age of 20, she moved to London and worked in Fleet Street for Woman’s Own and the London Evening News.
She met her husband, American film producer Robert Bradford, in 1961 and they married in London on Christmas Eve in 1963 before moving to New York the following year.
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The couple were married for 55 years until he died from a stroke in 2019.
Following a private funeral in New York, the author will be buried alongside her late husband at the city’s Westchester Hills Cemetery.
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