Hollywood’s favorite duo at one point was Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. People were heartbroken to learn about their divorce. The couple is currently involved in a contentious legal dispute.
To learn every detail of how their legal struggle is now playing out, continue reading.
Regarding Miraval, their southern French chateau that also produces the popular wines bearing their namesake, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are embroiled in a legal dispute. Just before their twins, Knox and Vivienne, were born in 2008, the couple purchased the land.
Additionally, it was the location of their 2014 wedding, at which point Pitt gave Jolie 10% of his ownership share in the property and his wine-making endeavors, resulting in a 50/50 ownership partnership.
“Miraval was a love letter to his wife and his kids, giving Angelina and the kids a beautiful life and protecting them from the intense pressures of celebrity,” said Frank Pollaro, a furniture designer who assisted Pitt in pursuing his early passion for winemaking.
The couple’s relationship and the ensuing legal disputes have soured, and now the dispute over Miraval has followed suit. When Jolie and her business manager decided to go into business together, they included a doomsday clause that would have required one of them to purchase the other’s portion of the property in the event of a break. They both dismissed this provision, believing that the day would never arrive.
Jolie’s cross-complaint states that Pitt had stated at the time that it “wasn’t necessary for two reasonable people.” Jolie disputes Pitt’s later assertion that the pair had promised not to sell their Miraval stake without the other’s approval.
An email sent by Angelina Jolie to Brad Pitt on January 21, 2021, has since been made public. She states that she writes “with a heavy heart” in the email. She tells Pitt that she has decided to sell Miraval, which she describes as “an alcohol-centered business.” This might be a reference to the now-famous incident on the plane where an inebriated Pitt “choked” one of their kids before “striking another in the face” and dousing her and the kids with booze.
In the email, Jolie added, Even today, Jolie said, “it’s impossible to write this without crying.” It is the location where we married over a plaque honoring my mother, and it is also the spot where we brought the twins home. I saw myself growing old there. Furthermore, it is the location where our family’s demise began.
Continuing to allude to the day of Pitt’s purported breakdown on the aircraft, the actress said, “Miraval for me died September 2016, and everything I have seen in the years since has sadly confirmed that.
Pitt consented to pay Jolie $54.5 million in February 2021 in exchange for her Miraval interest. But their ongoing divorce processes hindered the business agreement. Details of the plane incident were contained in court filings Jolie had filed, which were sealed and accused Pitt of domestic violence. Pitt wanted Jolie to sign an NDA prohibiting her from “discussing outside of court any of Pitt’s personal conduct toward her or the family” in exchange for the sale of the home. The proposal was dubbed a “unconscionable gag order” by Jolie.
Pitt sought to “ensure the seller doesn’t damage the value of the asset after being paid for it,” but he couched his request as being essential to the transaction.
The actress sold Nouvel, the holding company that managed her stake in Miraval, to Tenute del Mondo, the Stoli group’s wine branch under the leadership of Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, for $67 million on October 5, 2021.
Pitt believed that this was a reprisal for his victory in their child custody dispute. Rather than grant Jolie complete custody of the children along with Pitt’s visiting rights, Judge John Ouderkirk granted Pitt joint custody of the children.
An individual close to Pitt stated, “It is not a coincidence that she sold her interest in Miraval to an adversarial party, and part of the family home to a stranger, right after a judge granted Brad a huge win: 50-50 custody.” Subsequently, a trio of judges dismissed Ouderkirk from the lawsuit, reversed his decision.
Pitt sued Jolie, her holding firm, and the Miraval’s new owners in February 2022. “Contributed nothing to Miraval’s success,” he said Jolie had done. For Pitt and his friends’ unlawful and malicious conduct, which devalued Nouvel’s investments and deprived it of its rightful place in the administration of Chateau Miraval, the company filed a cross-complaint.
Pitt filed an updated case on June 1, 2023, requesting the reversal of Jolie’s Nouvel sale. Jolie’s agency responded to this by stating in a statement that Pitt “has never publicly denied.”
“Brad has owned everything he’s responsible for from day one, but he’s not going to own anything he didn’t do,” said Pitt’s attorney, Anne Kiley.
“I hope you’ll give some grace to somebody who had a breakdown,” a family-close insider said. “Because Brad is not an abusive person, everyone was shocked by the eruption on the plane,” the statement said. What followed, though, was much more tragic: Brad became estranged from his children, who are the people he loves the most.
