ANGIE AND BRAD BATTLE OVER HOLIDAY TIME WITH THE KIDS
The kids are at the center of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s latest disagreement
Angelina Jolie has been spending a lot of time with her kids lately. On Oct. 20, she took daughters Shiloh and Zahara to the LA premiere of The Breadwinner, an animated movie she produced. Three days later she took daughter Vivienne to karate class. But her ex Brad Pitt has been busy, putting in long hours working on his new movie, the sci-fi thriller Ad Astra, and he was looking forward to taking a break and spending time with his six kids on Thanksgiving.
That plan is highly unlikely. Though Brad and Angelina have worked out shared custody of Maddox, 16, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 11, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 9, tension between them has run high since Angie blindsided Brad by filing for divorce in Sep- tember 2016. Now they’ve become embroiled in a battle over who gets to see the children during the holidays. Brad, says an insider, believes “Angie is using the kids as pawns against him.”
TURKEY DAY SHOWDOWN
The drama began with a simple invitation. Angie, 42, “initially invited Brad to come over to her house to spend [Thanksgiving] afternoon with the kids,” says the insider. Brad was wary. The actor, 53, doesn’t trust Angelina. He believes she smeared his name by claiming she filed for divorce for “the health of the family.” Brad was investigated by the Department of Children and Family Services and the FBI. He was cleared of any wrongdoing by both, but his team believes Angelina painted him in the most negative light possible. “He feels Angie isn’t ready to let go” of that hostility, says the insider.
Wanting to avoid a scene, Brad declined the Thanksgiving invite, instead asking if the kids could spend part of the day with him. The younger kids said they wanted to sleep at Brad’s, the insider says, “so Brad started to plan for it.” Then, out of the blue, Brad got a call from Angie’s assistant, who told him “none of the kids would be going to his house on Thanksgiving,” because they wanted to be at home with Angie.
The old Brad might have exploded in fury. Instead, he calmly thanked her for the call. When the surprised assistant asked if he had a message for Angie, the insider says, Brad replied, “Just wish her a happy Thanksgiving,” and hung up.
It wasn’t easy to stay calm. Through months of intense therapy, Brad has worked hard to disengage. “There are two choices for Brad,” notes the insider. “Fight back and get angry every time she pulls a stunt, which would only impact the kids, or handle it like a mature adult. If that means he won’t see the kids as much or at the holidays, he has made peace with it.”