THE KIDS CHOOSE BRAD
ANGELINA LOSES! The custody battle between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie takes a shocking turn when the children ask to be with their dad
Brad Pitt finally struck back. Six weeks after Angelina Jolie shocked the world and filed for divorce, demanding sole physical custody of their six kids before cryptically claiming she was doing it “for the health of her family,” the actor finally filed his divorce response on Nov. 4. Brad asked a judge to grant him joint physical and legal custody. The simple but bold move came just as the Department of Children and Family Services investigation, which was extended in late October after fresh but vague abuse allegations were lodged against Brad, was wrapping up. Now, after nearly two months, “DCFS will be formally closing the investigation after finding absolutely no evidence to support the abuse claims,” a source close to the investigation tells In Touch exclusively. “Brad waited to file until he knew he’d be vindicated.”
It’s left Angelina seething. “She’s furious that Brad is going to be cleared,” says the source, especially because she knows if she wants to keep fighting for sole custody, the next stop is court, “where Brad will hold nothing back.” After weeks of intense questioning, lim- ited visitation with Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8, and a cruel public assault on his reputation, Brad is battling to get his kids back — and they want to be with him. In Touch has learned exclusively that Brad recently enjoyed a third monitored visit with his children and is now looking forward to many more, and once the investigation is closed, those visits won’t be monitored. “The kids have been telling social workers they miss their dad,” says the source. “They want him back in their lives.”
The younger children especially yearn to be with their father again.“Zahara, Shiloh and the twins [Knox and Vivienne] all told DCFS that they missed their dad,” says the source with knowledge of the investigation. “At their first meeting with Brad, Vivienne and Zahara both started crying, asking when they could go home [to Brad’s compound in LA’S Los Feliz neighborhood]. He said it would be soon.”
Brad is going to keep his word. “The battle is moving to court,” unless Angelina gives up, says the source. As In Touch previously reported, Brad, 52, will come armed with a file on Angelina’s “habits”
and mental health. Family court would be avoided only if Angelina, 41, backs down. But an insider tells In Touch, “Angelina is never going to back down. She’s concerned about the safety of her children. She’s not trying to keep Brad away from his children but she is trying to keep the kids safe and that’s why she wants all his visits monitored.”
Angelina’s coming unhinged. “She’s been stuck in Los Angeles for almost two months and is climbing the walls,” says the source. “She wants to take the kids to England for a few weeks but was told they can’t leave the country because of the investigation. This has made Angie even more unhappy. ”
Angelina never expected to lose. Five days after an anonymous source called LA County’s DCFS to claim Brad had gotten physical with his older boys on a flight from France to the States on Sept. 14, leaks began painting the actor as an alcoholic substance abuser with anger issues. “But the entire time, Brad cooperated with
DCFS,” says the source, adding that Brad passed multiple voluntary drug tests, submitted to every interview and agreed to every recommendation, including therapy. “He just kept asking when he would be able to have the kids back in his life.”
A last-ditch effort to destroy Brad only raised new questions. The probe was initially set to wind down around Oct. 20 until “there was a flurry of activity on Angie’s side, with a new round of allegations being made against Brad by her and the [older] boys. The events [they mentioned] allegedly happened almost two years ago, but they’d only suddenly remembered,” explains the source. “It involved pushing and shoving of the boys by Brad, and some instances with Angie.” In all, adds the source, three of Angelina and Brad’s six children alleged that their dad “was either physically or emotionally abusive with them. But the allegations are very vague and not very specific.”
DCFS, of course, still took the new claims very seriously, until they started to unravel. “After one of the boys had made another allegation involving abuse, in a follow-up interview he had trouble recalling what had happened and basically recanted the story,” says the source. “This was very concerning to social workers for obvious reasons.”
Brad’s long been worried that Angelina could use the children to hurt him. In cases like this, parents often accuse each other of “coaching” the children to say what the parent wants, a second insider says, adding that Brad has been concerned about that from the outset of the investigation. “Social workers are now circling back to those [earlier] conversations [with the kids] to determine if there is a pattern that needs to be looked at,” says the source. It’s important to note there is no evidence that Angie has coached the kids.
The probe has been exhaustive. “Social workers investigated this matter thoroughly, interviewing at least 20 witnesses, including half a dozen former nannies,” says the source. They all failed to back up claims that Brad is an unfit father. “Former and current nannies all have emphatically said they have never witnessed any physical abuse or anything inappropriate,” adds the source. One ex-childcare worker, who’s also a teacher, “became incensed during questioning because she thought social workers were accusing her of not reporting [abuse]. She pointed out that under California law, she is a mandatory reporter of any abuse, physical or emotional, because she is a teacher. But there was never anything to report. She didn’t agree with how the family was con-
Brad is completely on board with doing whatever DCFS recommends, while Angie isn’t”
— A SOURCE WITH KNOWLEDGE OF THE INVESTIGATION
stantly moving around the world but said no, there was never any abuse.”
But the expanded probe did expose other troubling information. “It came out during the investigation that the kids would themselves get into physical fights. Some information indicated Angie would do nothing to intervene,” says the source. “This was deeply upsetting to Brad when he would hear about it after the fact.”
The next steps will be important as the fractured clan figures out its new normal. “Though Brad has had another visit with four of the kids,” says the source, “Maddox and Pax didn’t want to go. But the kids have been in therapy and it does seem to be helping.” DCFS wants the family to keep that up. “DCFS will be making recommendations since the case isn’t being referred to child dependency court and instead will play out in family court,” explains the source. “The goal is to bring the family back together and move forward with a plan of healing. Counseling will definitely be among the recommendations, along with co-parenting classes for Brad and Angie.” Other recommendations, says the same source with knowledge of the investigation, are for Brad and Angelina “to maintain a team of nannies who aren’t fired after only several days. There is constant chaos in the kids’ lives, and having a rotating stream of nannies just adds to that.”
Angelina still thinks she deserves sole physical custody. But her chances of getting that permanently hinge on her proving that Brad is an unfit parent. “She would have to prove that [Brad] is an absentee father and really isn’t around and that she’s the one doing all the various daily grind and day-to-day stuff with the kids,” Goldie Schon, a family law attorney in LA who doesn’t represent the Jolie-pitts, tells In Touch. “She has to prove that when he is with the children, he’s placing them in danger or isn’t able to take care of them, or when he’s not with the children, that he’s placing himself in danger. And if she can’t prove that to a judge, whether it’s through a private investigator, videos, pictures or other people who are around him standing up and being a witness for her, her chances are slim.”
Angelina isn’t giving up. She’s prepared to spill all of Brad’s secrets in court, says the first insider. “When he tries to argue that he deserves joint custody, she’s going to oppose that,” the insider says. “And then all of the things he wants to keep out of the press are going to come out in court.” The source close to Brad and Angelina says she’s on edge . “It’s taking her army of advisers to keep her from losing it.” Brad also has had enough. “He hates that he’s not having day-to-day interaction with his children and is totally consumed with getting joint custody,” adds the source. “He’s counting the days until he can be with his kids again. They mean everything to him.” ◼