A source close to Angelina Jolie claims that Brad Pitt’s ongoing legal action with wineries is due to his refusal to accept an NDA.
In a second amendment complaint filed this week, Pitt, 59, sued Jolie for selling half of Château Miraval, a French establishment consisting of a house and vineyard in the south of France, where they married in 2014.
He alleges that Jolie, 47, “deliberately kept him in the dark about the sale of his share in the family wine business to a Russian oligarch” after they split, and that the relationship with the buyer posed “an existential threat to the business.”
Court documents explain that the couple “purchased the castle as a house to share with their children and the vineyard as a family business.” And “Jolie, on behalf of the family, supported Pitt’s efforts, but did none of the work required for Miraval’s success.”
“The alleged sale erodes Pitt’s right to enjoy the home he built for his family,” the legal team wrote in the documents.
A source close to Jolie claimed to PEOPLE on Friday that Pitt’s pursuit of legal action over the sale was due to Jolie’s failure to agree to a confidentiality agreement that would prevent her from speaking out about her previous domestic abuse allegations.
These allegations of a 2016 plane ride with her six children, a circumstance that prompted her to file for divorce days later, came to light in court documents made public last year.
“No matter how much Mr. Pitt corrects his complaint, he cannot escape the fact that he verbally and physically assaulted Miss Jolie and her children, even strangling one of the children and beating the other.”
“Still today, and in the seven years since that fateful flight, he personally has never publicly denied that this happened,” the source claims. “It’s hard to understand when Mr. Pitt says he’s suing his ex-wife to protect his family, because he knows very well that the children haven’t been back home for almost seven years because of the events that took place in France. Ms. Jolie filed for divorce.”
“The truth is that Pitt refused to complete the Miraval sale with Jolie unless she agreed to be silenced on the abuse as she demanded that $8.5 million be withheld to force Jolie to remain silent,” the source said.
“Ms. Jolie wasn’t interested in talking about what happened. In fact, she didn’t even speak once and instead devoted her life to helping children get better and advocating to fix the very broken domestic violence response system in America. The only reason these things are coming up now is because Mr. Pitt is silent. It’s because she decided to sue him for not agreeing to stay.”
Pitt’s attorney, Anne Kiley, of Elkins Kalt Weintraub Reuben Gartside LLP, tells PEOPLE: “Unlike Angelina, Brad has had everything he’s responsible for from day one and will no longer have anything. and we refer to their findings.”
And a source close to Pitt previously told PEOPLE, “There was a non-humiliation clause in the contract, but that’s perfectly standard for business transactions like this.”
When Jolie’s legal team brought up the 2016 airplane allegations in an October response to the winery’s lawsuit, a source close to Pitt told PEOPLE: years ago by adding completely false information to draw more attention to herself at the expense of their families.”
“He took the opportunity to share information with law enforcement who decided not to prosecute. … He tried to tell the same thing over and over again. Every month he comes back to the same thing with new and still false information. for purposes only he can understand.”
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The Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services and the FBI investigated Pitt after receiving an anonymous tip about a drunken argument with Jolie. The incident occurred while their family was traveling in a private jet from France to their home in Los Angeles. At the time, a source claimed that Pitt “verbally abused” one of his children and was “physically” on the plane. Pitt denied any harassment.
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The FBI closed its investigation with no charges against Pitt by November of that year. Earlier that month, DCFS also completed its investigation into the incident before there was any evidence of abuse.
In 2021, Jolie considered her divorce while speaking to The Guardian and said, “I’m not the type of person to make decisions like decisions that I should take lightly. I felt I needed to separate from the father of my children.”
“There’s so much I can’t say,” Jolie said, adding that she felt “broken” by what she went through at the time and wanted her family “including their father” to find a way to move forward.