FRANTIC ANGIE ANGLES FOR LAST-DITCH DEAL
Brad beats bum rap in joint custody ruling
DESPERATE Angelina Jolie has seen her efforts to portray Brad Pitt as a drunken, abusive dad go up in smoke — as a judge awarded him joint custody of the estranged couple’s five youngest kids, sources spilled.
Now, insiders dished the “Maleficent” movie witch is begging her lawyers to work their magic on a deal with her A-list ex!
Sources snitched Angie,
46, was deflated by the decision — and Judge
John Ouderkirk’s equally devastating ruling that prohibited their youngest teens from testifying on her behalf after her recent allegations of domestic abuse by the “Fight Club” hunk!
The judge agreed with a filing from Brad’s attorney that Angie’s charges “lacked credibility.”
Spilled a source, “Angie knows she’s lost her leverage, and she’s hit the panic button. Her plan all along was to get full custody and paint him as a bad dad — but no one is buying her story!”
The bickering exes have been at odds over custody and other matters since September 2016 when Angie claimed boozy Brad abused their oldest son, Maddox — now 19 — in an unhinged incident on a private jet.
After an investigation by L.A.’s Department of Children and Family Services and federal officials, no charges were filed against the actor. Brad, 57, has denied all allegations of abuse and has reportedly been sober for years. His rep also said Brad doesn’t comment on the kids. “The opinion in Brad’s camp is that she encouraged Maddox to do this — and it was shameless. His lawyers were confident the judge would see her efforts to get the other kids to do the same was just another tactic to paint him as a bad dad,” a source squealed. During the duo’s lengthy battle, Angie steadfastly demanded full custody of their five youngest kids: Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 15, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 12. However, the recent custody ruling was just the latest setback for Angie, who didn’t respond to a request for comment. In October, she launched a failed bid to have Judge Ouderkirk removed from the case, based on claims he’d done business with Brad’s lawyers. Now she’s trying to oust him again and appealing his custody ruling.
But Angie’s admission in a recent interview that she’s “lacking in all the skills to be a traditional stay-at-home mom” did her no favors in the courtroom, sources spilled. Now, according to a tipster, Angie is angling to have her legal eagles cut “the best deal possible … But Brad’s team feels like they have all the momentum.
“He’s happy with the joint custody ruling. But after all she’s put him through, he doesn’t want to make things easy for Angie!”