Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are embroiled in an increasingly contentious legal dispute over their former co-owned winery, Chateau Miraval, and new allegations have surfaced adding fuel to their ongoing battle. Jolie has accused Pitt of attempting to force her into signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence her claims of abuse.
The Hollywood icons, who were together for over a decade but married for only two years, have been locked in a legal struggle since Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. The divorce, which was triggered by allegations from Jolie that Pitt was abusive towards her and their children during a flight from France to California, remains unresolved. Despite a judge declaring them legally single in 2019, the issues of child custody, their estate, and their French winery continue to spark disputes.
The recent development in their legal saga revolves around Chateau Miraval, the winery they bought together in 2008. Jolie has sold her share to a subsidiary of the Stoli Group, owned by a Russian oligarch. Pitt, however, contends that this sale breached an agreement between them that required mutual consent before either could sell their shares. Jolie denies such an agreement existed, leading Pitt to sue her over the sale.
Court documents filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court reveal that Jolie’s attorneys accuse Pitt of conditioning the purchase of her winery stake on her signing an $8.5 million NDA. The documents, obtained by PEOPLE, claim that Pitt’s demand was aimed at silencing Jolie about the alleged abuse. Jolie’s attorneys argue that Pitt’s request for the NDA is a misuse of privacy laws related to domestic violence.
The legal team representing Jolie stated, “While Pitt advances what is effectively an outdated privacy-of-domestic-violence argument to shield his abuse, his argument is not the law, at least not in this century, and he cites no authority that would give him such unwarranted protections. In any event, he waived any privacy protections when he sued Jolie.”
Conversely, Pitt’s legal representatives maintain that the NDA was unrelated to the divorce or their children, focusing instead on the business aspects of their separation. This claim raises the question of whether Jolie’s withdrawal from negotiations was indeed due to the NDA.
As the lawsuit continues to unfold, the public remains captivated by the legal battle between the once-beloved couple, with each new revelation painting a more complex picture of their turbulent relationship and separation.
