Actress Angelina Jolie opened up a new chapter in the saga of the dysfunctional family life of the rich and famous on Tuesday with a legal filing that made allegations of abusive behavior on the part of actor Brad Pitt toward their children.
As noted by Fox News, the couple was married from 2014 through 2019 and have been sparring for years over who gets control of a French winery.
Jolie’s latest salvo against Pitt came in the form of a court filing in which she claims Pitt went off the deep end during a September 2016 flight from France to California, according to The New York Times.
The court document said talks to resolve the long-running vineyard dispute broke down because Pitt wanted “a nondisclosure agreement that would have contractually prohibited her from speaking outside of court about Pitt’s physical and emotional abuse of her and their children.”
According to the filing, during the 2016 flight, “Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face” and “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her.”
In a spate of dousing everyone in sight, the filing claims Pitt “poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children.”
Allegations of misconduct on the flight were investigated by federal officials, but no charges were ever filed. Jolie filed for divorce days after the incident.
“She has gone to great lengths to try to shield their children from reliving the pain Pitt inflicted on the family that day,” the filing said.
“But when Pitt filed this lawsuit seeking to reassert control over Jolie’s financial life and compel her to rejoin her ex-husband as a frozen-out business partner, Pitt forced Jolie to publicly defend herself on these issues for the first time,” the filing said.
The court filing claims that during an argument in the plane’s bathroom, Pitt claimed Jolie was “too deferential” to their children.
“Pitt grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her, and then grabbed her shoulders and shook her again before pushing her into the bathroom wall. Pitt then punched the ceiling of the plane numerous times, prompting Jolie to leave the bathroom,” the new document said.
The fight continued, Variety reported, citing the court document.
“When one of the children verbally defended Jolie, Pitt lunged at his own child and Jolie grabbed him from behind to stop him,” the document said.
“To get Jolie off his back, Pitt threw himself backwards into the airplane’s seats injuring Jolie’s back and elbow. The children rushed in and all bravely tried to protect each other.
“Before it was over, Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face. Some of the children pleaded with Pitt to stop. They were all frightened. Many were crying,” the document said.
Pitt did not comment on the new filing, but has said in the past he never abused Jolie or their children.
People quoted what it said was a “source close to Pitt” who responded to the filing.
“It’s incredibly sad that she continues to rehash, revise and reimagine her description of an event that happened 6 years ago, adding in completely untrue information to try to get additional attention for herself at the expense of their family,” the source said.
“She had the opportunity to share information with law enforcement who made the decision not to press charges. She had the chance to share this during the lengthy custody trial, which resulted in the judge granting 50-50 custody to Pitt. She has resorted to trying to keep rehashing the same thing. Going back to the same thing month after month with new and still false information for purposes that only she can understand,” the source said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.