As a child of divorce, all I can say is that’s terrible news for those children, and that’s all you can really say. It’s boring to sort of comment on anything else. People are having a bad time. That’s horrible”
reason, the ritual of having cut myself and feeling, like, pain — feeling pain maybe, feeling alive, feeling some kind of release … was somehow therapeutic to me.”
In 2010, Angelina spoke out again about feeling compelled to go to extremes as a young woman. “I used to cut myself or jump out of airplanes, trying to find something new to push up against, because sometimes everything else felt too easy,” she admitted. “I was searching for something deeper, something more. I tried everything. I always felt caged, closed in, like I was punching at things that weren’t there. I always had too much energy for the room I was in. … It might partly explain why I ended up doing certain extreme things in my life.” All of this could be fodder for Brad in his argument that she should not have sole physical custody.
Her latest extreme maneuver is to try to keep Brad from gain- ing physical custody of his kids, while using an army of top advisers to help her. Brad desperately wants the kids back in his life. “Last week, he attempted to call Maddox on his cellphone, to apologize [about the Sept. 14 plane incident that sparked the DCFS investigation] and tell his oldest son how much he loved him,” says the Brad insider. (As In Touch exclusively reported, Brad tried to discipline the kids during the private plane’s descent into Minnesota. Brad told Pax to sit down and Pax told his dad to “shut the f--- up,” causing Brad to get out of his seat and get in Pax’s face and tell him to “f---ing sit down now.” Maddox then got in the middle of it.) “But Maddox’s phone number had been changed. Brad called Angie’s assistant and asked her to put him on the phone. The assistant refused and promptly hung up on Brad.” Brad hates it, but he expected it: “He feels that Angie turned the older boys against him,” says the Brad insider, who previously told In Touch that the younger kids “all told DCFS they missed their dad.”
Mandatory family therapy could help. As part of the temporary custody agreement brokered by DCFS, Brad and Angelina agreed to both undergo individual therapy as well as family counseling with the kids. That means they will be in the same room. One source said that Angelina was refusing to do that, but Fields says that’s not true, and she absolutely will be in the same room as Brad during family therapy. That’s a good thing because if one spouse refused to be in the same room it could have dire consequences for the health of the family. “In a perfect world,” says Wendy O’connor, a licensed marriage and family therapist in LA who doesn’t counsel the stars, “it’s important for kids to see parents aligned as a united front and being cordial to
— HUSBAND JUSTIN THEROUX
each other. You want to be mindful of what is in the best interest of the children.” The former couple, she advises, “are going to have to be on the same page if they want a successful, communicative, loving family.”
But Angelina thinks she knows best. Besides hiring high-powered divorce attorney Laura Wasser, Angelina has also brought in legal professionals Fields and O’donnell (the latterwas named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by The National Law Journal). Angelina has already spent “over $2 million in retainer fees to her divorce lawyers,” adds the Brad insider. “She is planning on doing whatever it takes to get full custody of all six kids.”
On Oct. 1, Fields fired off a letter to numerous press outlets. It stated, “I represent Angelina Jolie Pitt. This is to address a very serious situation. What is at stake here is the health, welfare and safety of six minor children. Their protection is the only issue about which Angelina is concerned.” When questioned by In Touch about Brad’s drug and alcohol use, Fields said, “I’m not going to comment on that. I’m not going to comment on his behavior.”
Brad’s main concern is the welfare of his children, sources say. And he’s doing whatever DCFS asks in his effort to get his kids back. “He could fight the recommendations that he submit to random drug tests for the next several weeks, but will do it to prove to authorities that Angie was lying about a lot of the allegations involving child abuse that were made against him,” says the Brad insider. “He will do whatever DCFS wants, because Brad knows he will be vindicated.”
Has Angelina gone too far? “She overplayed her hand big-time, and it’s coming back to bite her,” says the Brad insider. “She made all of these allegations against Brad, but there has been nothing alarming that’s come up.” (However, a source close to Angelina insists Brad’s drinking and pot-smoking is a very real concern.) Angelina’s behavior is also being examined. When the kids were interviewed, her temper was discussed, says a source. “Without getting into specific incidents, she was portrayed as losing her cool at times.”
Some of the children are unhappy with the nomadic lifestyle their mother has given them, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. “At least two of the kids don’t like moving around all the time and just wanted to live at their house in Los Angeles,” says the source. “This is very significant because it’s a key area of the divorce. Angelina wants to continue to take her kids around the world whereas Brad wants the kids to have stability and a routine. This includes going to a traditional school.”
Once Brad and Angelina get through the DCFS investigation, the real battle will begin. “When they step into that courtroom, Angelina will be out for blood,” says the Brad and Angelina source. She won’t hesitate to use the mere existence of the DCFS investigation to her advantage. “She could say, ‘ Where there’s smoke, there’s fire — just because DCFS didn’t have enough to proceed, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.’ The sheer fact of the [investigative] process creates this doubt,” explains LA family law attorney Goldie Schon, who doesn’t represent the actors. Unfortunately for Angelina, so far Brad’s done everything right, adds Schon: “If I were representing Brad, I’d tell him to be fully cooperative because I’d want him to show how good he is and how [the allegations] are bogus. As long as everything is clean, I think at the end of the day, a judge will say they should both have joint physical and legal custody.”
That’s what Brad hopes will ultimately happen. “He just wants to get a custody agreement in place and move on from this mess that Angie created,” says the Brad insider. “But he’s still prepared to battle Angie for sole physical custody of all six kids if she doesn’t relent.” He’s fed up with all the manipulation and wants her to stop playing dirty. Fields tells In Touch that Angelina “would love to have a family settlement that makes sense.” So far, for Angelina that means sole physical custody. That’s not acceptable to Brad. “It’s going to get ugly between Brad and Angelina when they face off in family court,” says the Brad and Angelina source. “But Brad won’t be intimidated by her any longer.” ◼