BAD DAD BRAD
The actor’s son, Pax, has accused his famous father of conducting a ‘reign of terror’ over the Jolie-Pitt brood
ONCE upon a time in Hollywood, there was a beautiful woman who fell for a heartthrob of a man, and things seemed about as fairytale-ish as they could possibly be. The red carpet had never sizzled as much; pictures had never told a more swoon-worthy story. These two were hotter than hot, whispering into each other’s ears, giggling, touching . . . The chemistry was off the charts.
Angelina Jolie, once so wild with her blood-filled vials, penchant for knives and string of strange lovers, had come into her own. Brad Pitt had captured the heart of Tinseltown’s edgiest princess and the fact they were raising half a dozen charming children only made them more compelling.
But fairytales don’t exist. If they did, we’d still have Brangelina gadding around the globe, trailing kids through airports, holidaying in their French château and making us all believe in true love.
Instead, what do we have? Bitterness, court dates, divorce drama with no apparent end – and every now and then a shocking revelation that hints at deep unhappiness and even hatred.
It happened last year, when Angie filed court papers that laid bare what she claimed happened on the 2016 plane ride from France to Los Angeles that led to the break-up.
A drunk Brad had grabbed her by the head and shaken her, punched the plane, choked one of the children and poured beer and red wine over the kids as they cowered and cried.
It was shocking stuff – a terrible picture painted of an out-of-control man attacking the people he supposedly held most dear.
And now an Instagram post has surfaced that shows the depth of the feelings at least one of the children had about his dad.
The post, released by the Daily Mail, is from 2020, and it’s not clear how the publication got it or why it was released now. But it appears the message is from the account their son Pax used to communicate with his friends.
It was released on Father’s Day and features a tuxedoed Brad at the 2020 Academy Awards, holding aloft the Oscar he won for Once Upon a Time in . . . Hollywood.
Pax (now 19) calls Brad a “world-class a ***** e” who conducted a reign of terror over his children.
“You time and time again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person,” he said. “You have no consideration or empathy towards your four youngest children, who tremble in fear when in your presence. You will never understand the damage you’ve done to my family because you’re incapable of doing so.
“You’ve made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell. You may tell the world whatever you want but the truth will come to light someday. So Happy Father’s Day, you f ***** g awful human being.”
Of course, this was more than three years ago and some sources say Pax and his father are “on speaking terms”.
But the fact remains: Brad hasn’t been pictured once with his children since the 2016 bombshell break-up.
It’s Angie who’s with the children, attending movie premieres, going shopping, including them in work gigs and
‘YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THE DAMAGE YOU’VE DONE TO MY FAMILY’
accompanying her on humanitarian missions.
Brad, if he is indeed working on restoring some kind of relationship with his children, is somehow managing to keep it under the radar.
PAX was three when Angelina adopted him from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in 2007. He was dropped off by his mother, who had addiction issues, when he was two days old after apparently discovering he had liver issues.
Brad formally adopted him a year later and Pax’s life underwent a 360-degree change.
“He spent three-and-a-half years of his life in one place, in one room, in this one little iron bed with 20 other kids and having no choice for himself to do things, having no freedom,” Angelina told People.
“And suddenly here he is in a very free situation with new brothers and sisters and a mom and dad. He’s learning English and he’s so loving and he’s wild and free because he suddenly has freedom, so he’s a little crazy.”
But Pax also seemed shy and hesitant during the family’s frequent airport appearances, clutching his favourite purple plush toy and hiding behind it when photographers got too close.
Although he voiced a character in the 2016 animated movie Kung Fu Panda 3 and was a still photographer during the filming of his mom’s 2017 movie First They Killed My Father, he shuns the limelight.
He didn’t attend his own high school graduation ceremony two years ago because he didn’t want to “bring a circus to the event”, a source said at the time. Pax is now believed to be “working towards becoming an artist” and is “keeping a low profile”.
Pax is close to his mother, as is his older brother, Maddox (22), who has steadfastly refused to have anything more to do with Brad. Maddox is believed to have leapt to his mother’s defence during that tumultuous plane journey.
His sister, Zahara (18), has also shown signs of distancing herself from her father. When she was recently initiated into the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, she announced herself as “Zahara Marley Jolie” – dropping the Pitt part of her name.
The three oldest kids are all legal adults now and can pretty much do what they want when it comes to their dad. But as minors Shiloh (17) and twins Knox and Vivienne (15) are bound by the court order, which allows Brad custodial visits only with his kids.
AFTER Pax’s extraordinary rant exploded into the public domain, a source close to Brad came forward to defend him. “He finds it depressing to see this dragged up. It’s frustrating to see Brad painted as some ‘bad person’ when it’s far from the truth,” the insider told The Sun. “He has great respect for each of his children and it speaks volumes that he chooses to keep a dignified silence about the situation.”
The source adds Brad sees very little of his three older children, although he does see the younger three “whenever he can”.
“But it’s not as often as he’d like. He has to see the children under supervision and he has to book time with them in advance.”
Brad, who turns 60 on 18 December, once shared a huge family compound with Angie and the kids with its own skateboard track but now lives in a three-bedroom home in Los Angeles.
He has been in a relationship with Inés de Ramon, who’s vice president of luxury jewellery brand Anita Ko, for a year, but she has apparently never been introduced to any of the children.
As for Brad and Angie, the love story that once enchanted the world is well and truly dead in the water.
“Angelina will never forgive Brad’s behaviour during their marriage,” an insider says. “She believes he’s lucky people don’t know the full truth in terms of the hell the family went through.”