Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are entangled in a long-running lawsuit over her sale of half of their French winery, the site of their 2014 wedding. Photo: TNS
Angelina Jolie's legal team filed a motion on Thursday (April 4) to compel Brad Pitt's communications stemming from an "all-encompassing" nondisclosure agreement he wanted that purportedly tanked the sale of his ex-wife's share of their Chateau Miraval winery to him.
The former Hollywood power couple's protracted legal dispute over the winery – and its legacy for their six children – took another turn as Jolie's team asked a judge to compel Pitt and his company, Mondo Bongo, to produce documents pertaining to his calling for a "more onerous NDA" in order to purchase Jolie's share of the south-of-France winery.
The documents Jolie seeks, according to the Thursday filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court, are "highly relevant" and also likely to yield admissible evidence in the case, her team argued.
Her attorney, Paul Murphy, also accused the Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood Oscar winner of "unrelenting efforts to control and financially drain" Jolie, as well as "attempting to hide his history of abuse, control, and coverup."
A legal representative for Pitt did not respond immediately Thursday to The LA Times' requests for comment on the new filing and allegations of prior abuse.
Jolie's team indicated there was abuse of the actress that predated the contentious 2016 private plane flight. It argued that Pitt tried to force a more sweeping NDA on Jolie to conceal his alleged "personal misconduct".
"While Pitt's history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family's September 2016 plane trip from France to Los Angeles, this flight marked the first time he turned his physical abuse on the children as well," the new motion states.
Pitt was never charged in connection with the plane incident.
People magazine reported that he was drunk during the incident, which "escalated more than it should have," and asserted that "no one was physically harmed."
Meanwhile, a person close to Jolie who was not authorised to speak publicly about the case told The LA Times that Pitt "is drawing all this out of Angelina."
"She does not want to be here, she does not want to be raising any of these facts, and she is doing it only because Pitt's lawsuit against her is forcing her to defend herself. It's incredibly sad and she just wishes he could move on and let her be," the person said.
The person added that Jolie's lawyers have emails, photos and testimony that was presented under seal in the custody case that would help her in this matter. However, the person said, if the case goes to trial, she "will be forced to use that evidence in the trial whether she wants to or not." – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service
