Brad Pitt accused of ‘choking’ one of his kids, grabbing Jolie ‘by the head’

Angelina Jolie detailed what she described as abusive behaviour by ex-husband Brad Pitt in a court filing on Tuesday, escalating a legal battle over a French winery the former couple once shared and revealing new details about the dissolution of their marriage.

The filing in a Los Angeles court alleges Pitt sought to condition Jolie’s sale of her stake in the winery on a nondisclosure agreement that would have barred her from publicly discussing “Pitt’s physical and emotional abuse of her and their children”.

Jolie’s filing describes an episode during a September 2016 private plane flight where Pitt allegedly “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her” before “pushing her into the bathroom wall”. Pitt also “choked one of the children and struck another in the face,” the filing alleges.

Pitt’s lawyers did not immediately respond to inquiries on Tuesday.

The filing advances counterclaims against Pitt in a lawsuit he filed against Jolie and her former company in February. Pitt alleges Jolie’s September 2021 sale of her stake in the Chateau Miraval winery to an international beverage company was unlawful because the pair had agreed they would never sell their interests without the other’s consent.

Jolie said in her Tuesday filing no such agreement existed, and Pitt had refused to buy her out unless she consented to “an unconscionable gag order” regarding his conduct.

In her filing, Jolie also said the FBI investigated the incident on the plane and “concluded the government had probable cause to charge Pitt with a federal crime”.

Pitt has not been charged with a crime. An FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jolie’s court filing comes months after a leaked FBI reported revealed damning allegations about the controversial 2016 incident.

Jolie reportedly anonymously filed a Freedom of Information Act request under the name “Jane Doe” for the report earlier this year.

In it, according to Daily Mail, the Bullet Train star is accused of saying one of the couple's children “looked like a f**king Columbine kid” and claimed his former partner was “ruining the family”.

Pitt is also accused of being a monster during the flight, being involved in a verbal and physical altercation with Jolie and causing an estimated $25,000 (R443,000) in damages.

Jolie and Pitt, once one of Hollywood’s most glamorous couples, separated in September 2016 after a more than 10-year romance and two-year marriage. Jolie filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences.

The couple were declared legally single in 2019, but the two actors have remained locked in a battle over the care of their five minor children.

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