Angelina Jolie accuses Brad Pitt of choking & hitting their child

Angelina Jolie has accused Brad Pitt of physical abuse during a 2016 plane flight that led to the end of their marriage.

The actors are on a continuing legal battle regarding the French winery, Chateau Miraval, they once co-owned. The accusations are Jolie’s response to Pitt’s lawsuit. The information comes from a filing Angelina Jolie’s lawyers made. It reads:

“When one of the children verbally defended Jolie, Pitt lunged at his own child and Jolie grabbed him from behind to stop him. To get Jolie off his back, Pitt threw himself backwards into the airplane’s seats injuring Jolie’s back and elbow. 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. Some of the children pleaded with Pitt to stop. They were all frightened.”

During the course of the flight, Pitt “periodically emerged from the back of the plane to yell and swear at them” and “at one point, he poured beer on Jolie; at another he poured beer and red wine on the children.”

“Jolie has gone to great lengths to try to shield their children from reliving the pain Pitt inflicted on the family that day,” the filing continues. “But when Pitt filed this lawsuit seeking to reassert control over Jolie’s financial life and compel her to rejoin her ex-husband as a frozen-out business partner, Pitt forced Jolie to publicly defend herself on these issues for the first time.”

Is Angelina Jolie lying?

A source close to Brad Pitt told People that Angelina Jolie is using a fabricated incident to draw attention to herself.

“It’s incredibly sad that she continues to rehash, revise and reimagine her description of an event that happened 6 years ago, adding in completely untrue information to try to get additional attention for herself at the expense of the family,” the source said.

“She had the opportunity to share information with the law enforcement who made the decision not to press charges. She had the chance to share this during the lengthy custody trial, which resulted in the judge granting 50-50 custody to Pitt. She has resorted to trying to keep rehashing the same thing. Going back to the same thing month after month with new and still false information for purposes that only she can understand,” finished the source.

A representative for Pitt confirmed the stance in a statement for CNN:

“Jolie’s story continues to evolve each time she tells it with new, unsubstantiated claims. Brad has accepted responsibility for what he did but will not for the things he didn’t do. These new allegations are completely untrue.”

Where it all started

Jolie and Pitt were legally separated on September 15^th, just one day after the infamous plane ride. In her divorce filing, Jolie cited irreconcilable differences for their breakup. She asked for sole physical custody of their children, a process that hasn’t ended yet.

Days after the divorce news broke out, Pitt was under investigation for child abuse as he allegedly got “verbally abusive” and “physical” with one of the kids during the plane ride.

Pitt denied the allegations. A source close to him said that he was “taking the matter very seriously and says he did not commit any abuse of his children.”

Brad Pitt tells his side of the story

An insider with knowledge of the incident spoke to People about Pitt’s version of the events. The insider confirmed that the actor was drunk and had an argument with Angelina. There was also a “parent-child argument, which was not handled in the right way and escalated more than it should have.”

However, the insider denied that Pitt had “hit his child in the face in any way.”

Divorce was not easy for Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie spoke out about her divorce in an interview with The Guardian, in September 2021.

“I’m not the kind of person who makes decisions like the decisions I had to make lightly. It took a lot for me to be in a position where I felt I had to separate from the father of my children.”

The actress shared that there was a lot she couldn’t say and that she felt broken by her experiences.

Angelina Jolie and Château Miraval

Jolie tried repeatedly to sell her share of the French winery to Pitt and he was willing to buy it, but with a catch: only if she signed a broad non-disparagement clause that “would prohibit Jolie from discussing outside of the court any of Pitt’s personal conduct toward her of the family.” The clause included the allegations of abuse we are hearing about today.

Jolie refused to sign the clause and called it “an abusive and controlling deal-breaker.”

The reason she wanted to sell her stake in the venture was in part due to her “growing increasingly uncomfortable with continuing to participate in an alcohol-related business, given the impact of Pitt’s acknowledged problem of alcohol abuse in the family.”

Jolie sold her share in the vineyard to Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler without Pitt’s approval.

Brad Pitt opens up about getting sober

Pitt told GQ Style in May 2017 that he quit drinking because he “doesn’t want to live that way anymore.”

“I just ran it to the ground. I had to step away for a minute. And truthfully I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I as good,” he added.

He also shared his thoughts about putting his family first and how his public life affects his and his children’s personal lives.

“It was a drag to have certain things drug out in public and misconstrued. I worry about it more for my kids, being subjected to it, and their friends getting ideas from it. And of course it’s not done with any kind of delicacy of insight – it’s done to sell,” Pitt said. “and so you know the most sensational sells, and that’s what they’ll be subjected to, and that pains me. I worry more in my current situation about the slideshow my kids have. I want to make sure it’s well balanced.”

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s children

The former couple share five children: Maddox, 21, Pax, 18, Zahara, 17, Shiloh, 16, Vivienne and Knox, 14.

They tied the knot in 2014, after nine years of being together, and divorced in 2016.