Everything about the divorce battle of Brad and Angelina

You could almost make a movie about it; the relationship between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. While Brad was still with Jennifer Aniston, the spark flew between him and Angelina on the set of ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’. For 12 years, they were the it-couple of Hollywood; until the script of the ‘Brangelina’ movie took a major plot twist in 2016. The couple put an end to their marriage and ended up in a real divorce battle. After 8 years of (legal) disputes, it now finally seems to be ‘the end’. Let's rewind one more time through the key moments.

Where it went wrong

In September 2016, Brad and Angelina, along with their 6 children, fly back to their home in Los Angeles from France in their private jet. But during the flight, everything goes wrong. Brad becomes aggressive in a drunken state and allegedly physically assaulted Angelina and several of their children. Three days later, the actress files for divorce. The police are still investigating what happened on the plane, but ultimately clear Brad. Angelina does not file a new complaint, but now seeks full custody of their children. To protect their family's privacy, the negotiations are conducted as much as possible out of the public eye. The couple hires a private judge to resolve everything as quickly as possible. But it soon becomes clear that this will not be so easy.

A battle for the children

Since the divorce filing, all the children have been living with Angelina. After months of negotiations, the judge determines in 2018 a detailed schedule for how often Brad can see his five youngest children. Their eldest son Maddox is already of legal age and can decide for himself how often he sees his father. The judge also rules that Brad must be able to call his children at any time, without Angelina needing to give permission. She is also not allowed to be present during the time Brad spends with his children. In 2021, another judge determines that the actor can see his children more often. But that is only for a short time. Because the judge had previously had business relationships with Brad's lawyers, the decision was reversed. Nowadays, the actor has almost no contact with his eldest children. Three of them have also officially dropped their father's last name. Only for their youngest twins of 16 does Brad still have a visitation arrangement, although he hardly sees them due to his busy work schedule. During all this time, the actor has had to pay over 9 million dollars in alimony.

The French winery

While Brad and Angelina fought for custody of their children, the battle also extended to their joint fortune. And with celebs of this caliber, you can guess that this is quite substantial. In total, the actors are said to own around 520 million dollars. After their divorce, all of this had to be divided. Personal belongings could be kept by themselves, and joint items, such as their house in New Orleans, were sold. So far, everything seemed to be going reasonably smoothly, but these negotiations also stalled. The big problem: their vineyard Château Miraval in France; a business that is now worth about 164 million dollars. At the end of 2021, Angelina decides to sell her interests in the company, something Brad completely disagrees with. He sues her, claiming that she was not allowed to sell her share without his permission due to previous agreements. He also believes that she intended to damage his reputation with this. Angelina came up with a counter-lawsuit. She accuses the actor of a ‘vengeful war’ and demands 250 million in damages due to his plan to gain full control of Château Miraval. That's not all. Angelina's team also claims that the lawsuit comes because she refused to sign a confidentiality agreement regarding previous allegations of domestic violence against him. The actor's team continues to deny this. For a moment, it seemed that Angelina was going to win the battle when the judge ruled that Brad had to make various documents public, which, according to her, withheld information about Miraval. But when her next request to dismiss the case was denied, the former couple was back on equal footing.

Although the judge already determined in 2019 that Brad and Angelina were also legally single re-married, the actors officially signed their divorce agreement on December 30, 2024. A huge relief that finally brought an end to the years-long battle after 8 years. Although it is actually still not completely over. The case surrounding their vineyard is still ongoing and that could take a while. So the ‘Brangelina’ movie ends with a cliffhanger.