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Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt went from 'Domestic Bliss' to divorce: Inside their ongoing multi-year legal feud

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival in France. (Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource) Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival in France. (Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
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It was a seemingly perfect family in a picture-perfect magazine feature.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie sat in their sunlit glory, playing with their pretend children in their pretend backyard in a now-legendary 60-page photo spread titled 鈥淒omestic Bliss鈥 in the July 2005  of W Magazine.

The scenes of make-believe family depicted in the pages of the fashion magazine, published nearly 19 years ago, foreshadowed what went on to become a reality for the 鈥淢r. and Mrs. Smith鈥 co-stars: Six children between them and a loving relationship that saw the pair experience professional successes and weather personal hardships in seemingly equal measure.

Once Hollywood鈥檚 most glamorous power couple, Pitt and Jolie have been locked in a fraught web of legal proceedings since 2016. The divorce of the couple once dubbed Brangelina is not yet finalized and a painful family rift remains.

A source close to Pitt told CNN that the actor 鈥渓oves his family鈥 and 鈥漺ants what鈥檚 best鈥 for them. 鈥淎nd so he鈥檚 stayed silent on discussing anything about his kids even though it鈥檚 obviously very upsetting,鈥 the individual said.

The length of their ongoing divorce can be attributed to a number of factors, including a contentious custody trial, fallout from a 2016 incident on a plane and a complicated legal dispute relating to Jolie鈥檚 sale of her stake in Ch芒teau Miraval, the French winery that the former couple once co-owned and the property on which they were married in 2014.

All Jolie has ever wanted, a source close to Jolie told CNN, 鈥渋s peace for her family and she hopes [Pitt] will eventually want that too.鈥

CNN has reached to representatives for both Pitt and Jolie for comment.

Their Hollywood love story may have been photogenic, but their split has been nothing less than a legal drama with no end yet written. Here鈥檚 a look back at their legal feud so far:

The 2016 plane incident

What could be considered the end of Brangelina allegedly took place on a private plane in September 2016.

Details surrounding the circumstances of the incident emerged in August 2022, when a heavily redacted FBI report, provided to CNN by a source at the time, revealed that Jolie had accused Pitt of physically assaulting her and verbally abusing their children while they were aboard the private jet, traveling to the U.S. from France.

Pitt became the centre of a probe related to the incident but was never arrested or charged, according to an FBI statement at the time.

Jolie alleged that Pitt 鈥済rabbed her by her head,鈥 鈥済rabbed her by the shoulders,鈥 shook her, pushed her into the plane鈥檚 bathroom wall and was yelling profanities at her, according to the FBI report, which also stated Pitt allegedly lunged toward one of their children, resulting in Jolie suffering a physical injury after she tried to intervene.

In an October 2022 countersuit in a legal case involving their winery (more on that in a bit), Jolie alleged that Pitt 鈥渃hoked one of the children and struck another in the face鈥 during the incident. In response, a representative for Pitt told CNN in a statement at the time that, 鈥淏rad has accepted responsibility for what he did but will not for things he didn鈥檛 do.鈥

In April, Jolie claimed in another legal filing from the winery case that Pitt鈥檚 鈥渉istory of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family鈥檚 September 2016 plane trip.鈥 The filing did not go into further detail about the alleged prior abuse.

According to that filing, Jolie chose not to press charges against Pitt in relation to the plane incident at the time because she believed 鈥渢he best course was for Pitt to accept responsibility and help the family recover from the post-traumatic stress he caused.鈥

Jolie files for divorce

In September 2016, just days after the incident on the private jet, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, citing irreconcilable differences. According to the petition, Jolie asked the court to grant her sole physical custody of the couple鈥檚 then-minor children 鈥 Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne, who were between the ages of 8 and 15 at the time 鈥 with visitation rights for Pitt, who would retain joint legal custody.

In a 2020  with Vogue India, Jolie said that she 鈥渟eparated鈥 from Pitt for the 鈥渨ell-being鈥 of her family.

鈥淚t was the right decision. I continue to focus on their healing,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hey are six very brave, very strong young people.鈥

Custody battle

Four of Jolie and Pitt鈥檚 six children have turned 18 during the course of their ongoing divorce proceedings and their custody arrangement today pertains only to their twins Vivienne and Knox, who are now 15.

According to a 2016 court order obtained by CNN at the time, their initial custody arrangement awarded Jolie physical custody of the children. Pitt would, according to the order, have 鈥渁greed upon therapeutic visitation鈥 with the minor children and was ordered to undergo random drug and alcohol testing.

Pitt said in a 2017  with GQ that he鈥檇 quit 鈥渂oozing,鈥 saying, 鈥淚t鈥檚 just become a problem. And I鈥檓 really happy it鈥檚 been half a year now, which is bittersweet, but I鈥檝e got my feelings in my fingertips again.鈥

In 2018, a court order obtained by CNN outlined a shared custody schedule for that summer, with Jolie maintaining primary physical custody and Pitt being granted unrestricted phone access to the children. The order also required Jolie to tell their children that the court determined they鈥檙e 鈥渟afe鈥 with their father and that having a healthy relationship with both parents is 鈥渃ritical.鈥

Following a privately arbitrated custody trial, Pitt was awarded temporary joint custody of the children in May 2021, two sources with knowledge of the case told CNN at the time. Jolie appealed the custody ruling, alleging the judge who had overseen the custody trial had a conflict of interest with Pitt鈥檚 legal team. Jolie won her appeal and a California appeals court disqualified the judge.

Jolie retains primary custody, and a distance between Pitt and their children has become more apparent in recent months. Vivienne  cited her name as 鈥淰ivienne Jolie鈥 in the playbill for 鈥淭he Outsiders,鈥 the Tony-winning musical she helped produce with Jolie. And Shiloh, 18, last month filed a petition to legally drop Pitt from her last name.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been very hard for him,鈥 said the source close to Pitt. 鈥淭his is a really hard period.鈥

They become legally single

Though their divorce proceedings are ongoing, through what is called a 鈥渂ifurcated judgment,鈥 Pitt and Jolie were declared legally single in 2019.

As part of the filing, Jolie officially dropped 鈥淧itt鈥 from her last name.

New York matrimonial and family law attorney Sophie Jacobi-Parisi, who is not affiliated with either Pitt or Jolie鈥檚 legal matters, told CNN a bifurcated divorce is 鈥渦nique鈥 to California divorces in that it allows former couples to 鈥渂reak the bonds of matrimony鈥 while other issues 鈥 be they financial or otherwise 鈥 remain outstanding. But it can sometimes have a detrimental effect on proceedings, she added, because it may remove 鈥渋ncentive to keep people rational,鈥 further prolonging the time it takes to finalize a divorce.

The slow pace of the divorce proceedings, even after the bifurcated judgement, is 鈥渦nusual,鈥 according to Jacobi-Parisi.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all of these unique little situational aspects of this that have completely exacerbated a super high-conflict divorce from the very beginning 鈥 and they both have the money to fight,鈥 she said.

The Ch芒teau Miraval winery lawsuit

Much of Pitt and Jolie鈥檚 legal saga has centred on the battle over their country estate in the south of France, Ch芒teau Miraval. The suits and filings relating to this matter have also been the vehicles through which many details about their split and ongoing issues have been made public.

Their fight over the property began in February 2022, when Pitt sued Jolie and her former company, Nouvel LLC, over what he claimed was the 鈥渦nlawful鈥 sale of her stake in Miraval, acquired by the couple in 2008.

Pitt鈥檚 lawsuit alleged that he and Jolie had agreed when they purchased the winery that neither would sell without the other鈥檚 consent. According to a subsequent 2023 court filing, attorneys for Pitt called Jolie鈥檚 sale 鈥渧indictive鈥 after an 鈥渁dverse custody ruling.鈥

A countersuit filed by Nouvel LLC in September 2022 accused Pitt of 鈥渨aging a vindictive war against鈥 Jolie and claimed that there was never any such agreement. The countersuit alleges that Jolie attempted to sell her share of the winery to Pitt but the deal fell apart over a provision in a non-disclosure agreement 鈥渄esigned to prohibit Jolie from publicly speaking about the events that had led to the breakdown of their marriage.鈥

Jolie sold Nouvel LLC and its stake in the winery to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of Stoli Group, controlled by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler, in October 2021.

Jolie notified Pitt in a January 2021 email about her intention to sell her share in the winery, stating that she no longer wanted to be involved with a business 鈥渂ased on alcohol, when alcoholic behaviour harmed our family so deeply.鈥 The email was an exhibit submitted to the court by Jolie鈥檚 attorneys in October 2022.

More details about the former couple鈥檚 home life may soon emerge.

In April, Pitt filed a motion requesting Jolie produce years' worth of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), according to a legal filing obtained by CNN. The court granted Pitt鈥檚 motion in May and set a deadline for Jolie to submit the NDAs by mid-July, according to the order, obtained by CNN.

These NDAs have become the centre of the Miraval case, which in itself has felt like 鈥渁n extension of their divorce,鈥 according to Jacobi-Parisi, who clarified that the Miraval case and the divorce are technically separate court actions.

Jacobi-Parisi added: 鈥淯nder the Miraval court action, [the NDAs] can then bring up and dredge up all of the information that was probably sealed in their divorce.鈥

In other words, there may be more to come before Jolie and Pitt truly close this chapter and find their bliss, domestic or otherwise.

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