Angelina Jolie filed a cross complaint against her ex-husband Brad Pitt on Tuesday, disclosing new details about what she described in court papers as abusive behavior by him on a private plane in 2016 that led to the dissolution of their marriage.
In a lawsuit over a French winery that the stars bought, Jolie says Pitt grabbed her by the head and attacked two of their children on the 2016 trip. She says Pitt also verbally abused and poured alcohol on his family during the flight from France to Los Angeles, which allegations Pitt denies.
Pitt argues that he had agreed with his former wife not to sell their stakes in the venue without the permission of the other.
Jolie’s cross complaint said she only sold her stake elsewhere after talks broke down over his demand for a nondisclosure agreement. Her filing states that the F.B.I. agent who investigated allegations that Mr. Pitt physically assaulted Ms. Jolie and their children on the plane in 2016 had “concluded that the government had probable cause to charge Pitt with a federal crime for his conduct that day.”
It is alleged in the court filing that “Pitt 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.”
After one child verbally intervened, Pitt “lunged at his own child“, says the the court filing. Jolie then “grabbed him from behind to stop him“, according to the court papers. “To get Jolie off his back, Pitt threw himself backwards into the airplane’s seats injuring Jolie’s back and elbow,” the legal filing continues. “The children rushed in and all bravely tried to protect each other. Before it was over, Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face. Pitt periodically emerged from the back of the plane to yell and swear at them. At one point, he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children,” says the filing.
Pitt sued Jolie, claiming that her decision to sell her stake in the estate to a Russian oligarch amounted to an attempt to “undermine” his investment and cause “gratuitous harm” to Pitt, who had “poured money and sweat equity into the wine business”.
