DOSSIER OF DESTRUCTION
20 SEPTEMBER 2016
Angie files for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences and seeking custody of the children.
Reports emerge that Brad is being investigated by the FBI for child abuse and the Los Angeles department of child and family services (DCFS) launches a probe too.
Brad and Angie come to a temporary custody arrangement and he’s granted supervised visitation rights. Both agree to go for counselling and Brad concedes to having drug and alcohol testing.
MAY 2021
Brad is granted joint custody of the kids but Angie challenges it. Private judge John Odenkirk finds her testimony “lacks credibility” and orders the existing order be modified in the interests of the children.
Two months later a California court disqualifies Odenkirk from the case and his rulings are declared null and void. Odenkirk is found to be biased towards Brad as he has a business relationship with him, resulting in an “ethical breach”.
OCTOBER 2022
Angelina files her court documents, which go into extraordinary detail of what allegedly happened on the plane and how Brad’s Chateau Miraval lawsuit triggered her to go public.
“She has gone to great lengths to try to shield their children from reliving the pain Pitt inflicted on them that day,” Angie’s lawyers say. “But when Pitt filed this lawsuit seeking to reassert control of 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.”
NOVEMBER 2016
The FBI releases a statement saying it had “conducted a review of the circumstances and will not pursue further investigation. No charges have been filed in this matter”. The DCFS clears Brad too. “Allegations were not substantiated after interviews with family members, including the children,” a source tells NBC News.
AUGUST 2018
Brad is accused of not paying meaningful child support for a year and a half, and Angie’s lawyers announce she’s planning to get a court order to force him to cough up. He claims he’s paid over $9 million since their split. As the second anniversary of their blow-up looms, however, they get together to try to thrash thing out. “Angelina wants to make things work going forward and Brad is happy to meet her halfway,” an insider says. “They want to get to a point where things are calmer for the kids.”
JUNE 2021
Angelina’s lawyers say three of her children want to testify against their father at a custody hearing.
“The children whose custody is at issue are old enough to understand what’s going on,” court papers read. The judge refuses to allow the kids to testify.
AUGUST 2022
FBI investigative documents are leaked to Rolling Stone magazine, in which Angie tells investigators how Brad yelled at her, grabbed her “by the head”, shook her, pushed her into the bathroom wall and repeatedly punched the ceiling of the plane in the first outburst 90 minutes into a flight that left France. When one of the kids called Brad a “prick”, he lunged at the child “like he was going to attack”. Angie grabbed Brad around the neck “like in a chokehold”. Brad threw himself back, pushing Angelina into the seats, injuring her elbow and back and bruising her hand. According to claims in the report, which was heavily redacted, Brad had “consumed multiple alcoholic beverages” and poured drinks over Angie and the children, resulting in damages worth $25 000 to the aircraft.
DECEMBER 2016
Brad files an emergency petition to seal all documents pertaining to his custody case, saying it is in the best interest of the children that details be kept out of the public eye.
The motion is denied but the following month the ice seems to have thawed somewhat. Brad and Angelina file their first joint statement agreeing to keep court documents out of the public domain.
JULY 2018
Angie is ordered by a judge to allow Brad more time with the kids and help repair his relationship with them.
He spends time over the summer with Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne, but Maddox (right), who’s 18, refuses to see his dad.
FEBRUARY 2022
Brad sues Angie for selling her share in Chateau Miraval to Yuri Shefler, a Russian oligarch. The pair leased the property in 2008 before buying it together in 2012. Brad wants monetary damages and for Angie’s sale to be set aside. He accuses her of “intentionally trying to inflict harm on him” and damage his involvement in the winery. “Pitt has built a highly successful family-owned business which has grown massively and is now worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” court papers read. “Jolie has not returned to Miraval since filing for divorce in 2016.”
APRIL 2022
An anonymous “Jane Doe” with “public status” files a lawsuit against the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act, calling on the bureau to turn over information relating to claims of physical and verbal abuse by Angie’s “thenhusband” against her and her kids.
COURT DOCUMENTS HAVE LIFTED THE LID ON THE RUIN OF A RELATIONSHIP