The fight between actors Angelina Jolie and her ex-husband Brad Pitt is coming to a head with her lawyers filing a petition in a Los Angeles court and alleging that he was physically abusive to her. The latest development comes amid a legal fight between the two over a French winery they once owned together. CNN said that the documents were filed on Thursday. Ms Jolie has said in the document that she tried to sell the Miraval winery but the negotiations broke down after Mr Pitt influenced her into signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that "prohibited Jolie from speaking (other than in court) about Pitt's abuse".
The new legal document is in response to Mr Pitt's 2022 lawsuit, in which the actor claimed that he and Ms Jolie had an agreement that neither would sell their stake in the winery without the other's consent.
In June 2023, he alleged that Ms Jolie's sale of her stake in the winery was "vindictive" after an "adverse court ruling".
In Thursday's document, Ms Jolie has claimed that Mr Pitt's history of physical abuse started before the family's infamous 2016 plane trip from France to Los Angeles, said the CNN report. The two officially divorced in 2019.
"At trial, Jolie will prove through testimony, emails, photographs, and other evidence why Pitt was so concerned about his own misconduct that he blew up his own deal to purchase Jolie's interest in Miraval because she refused to agree to his new, expansive NDA," the filing says, according to CNN.
Mr Pitt has denied all the allegations of physical abuse, and was not charged by the FBI, which was probing the 2016 incident. He has so far not reacted to the latest filings.
Ms Jolie's attorney, Paul Murphy, was quoted as saying by Los Angeles Times about Mr Pitt's "unrelenting efforts to control and financially drain" her, as well as "attempting to hide his history of abuse, control, and cover-up".
The controversy around the winery sale
Mr Pitt has accused Ms Jolie and her company, Nouvel, of secretly selling her share of their winery to "seize profits she had not earned and returns on an investment she did not make". He has also accused Ms Jolie of reneging on the buyout negotiations they had agreed on in 2021.
Mr Pitt has been seeking a jury trial and the undoing of Ms Jolie's October 2021 sale to the Tenute del Mondo wine group, a subsidiary of the Stoli Group.
