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NEED TO KNOW
- Brad Pitt’s lawyers filed documents in court arguing that his ex-wife Angelina Jolie must provide private communications related to the sale of her stake in their French winery
- Jolie is abusing attorney-client privilege “to bury critical documents,” Pitt’s legal team argued
- Most recently in the Mr. and Mrs. Smith stars’ legal battle, Jolie said that she and their children have not “set foot on the [winery] property” since their divorce
Brad Pitt is doubling down in his ongoing legal battle with Angelina Jolie.
New court documents filed by Pitt’s lawyers in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, Oct. 27 indicate that the F1 star, 61, is pressing his ex-wife for private communications related to the sale of her stake in the French winery Château Miraval. Jolie, 50, has claimed attorney-client privilege in refusing to provide the contested documents.
Pitt’s lawyers stated that the actress-activist “is abusing the privilege to bury critical documents that go to the heart of the case,” again requesting that his motion for 22 of her documents be ordered produced. “It is Jolie’s burden to prove that non-attorney communications are privileged, not Pitt’s burden to disprove this.”
In court documents filed on Oct. 6, the Maria star had written in a statement that she left her ex “control (and full residency) of our family homes in Los Angeles and at Miraval, without compensation, which I hoped would make him calmer in his dealings with me after a difficult and traumatic period… To this day, the children and I have never again set foot on the property, given its connection to the painful events leading to the divorce.”
MICHEL GANGNE/AFP via Getty Images
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Jolie and Pitt, who share six children — Maddox, 24, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 17 — separated in 2016 after 12 years together and two years of marriage, finalizing their divorce in December 2024. After Jolie sold her stake in the winery they co-owned to Tenute del Mondo, the wine division of the Stoli Group in 2021, Pitt filed a 2022 lawsuit alleging she failed to honor a prior agreement that neither would sell their stake without the other’s approval, and more recently, alleged that she acted “with malice.” The Eternals star responded by filing a countersuit, claiming Pitt has been “waging a vindictive war against” her.
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Jolie’s legal team has previously asserted that Pitt refused to buy her out of the winery business because she would not sign a non-disclosure agreement “designed to force her silence about his abuse and cover-up,” referring to a private jet flight in 2016 during which the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star allegedly was verbally and physically abusive toward his family. (At the time, authorities did not charge Pitt after investigations, and Jolie declined to press charges.)
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty; Eric Charbonneau/Apple TV+ via Getty
In June, Pitt filed court documents attempting to depose Stoli Group’s Alexey Oliynik, claiming the businessman had firsthand knowledge of the sale.
Sources close to both Oscar winners have lamented their legal dispute. A Jolie insider previously told PEOPLE she hoped Pitt would “move on,” but “until he drops his lawsuit, this family will not have the peace and healing they so very much desire and deserve.” A source close to Pitt formerly argued that Jolie’s actions in the Château Miraval fight have caused “tremendous collateral damage to those in and around the family.”


