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Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt.
Getty Images (2)Angelina Jolie has taken a major step forward in her ongoing battle with Brad Pitt about their French winery Château Miraval, We weekly can only confirm this.
A judge preliminarily ruled on Monday, November 25, that Pitt, 60, must hand over documents and communications that Jolie, 49, claims will prove he covered up alleged domestic violence against her and their children.
“We are pleased that the court ruled in Angelina’s favor,” Jolie’s lawyer said Paul Murphy told exclusively Us in a statement on Tuesday, November 26. “After fighting for years to hide this crucial evidence, Mr. Pitt must now produce documents and communications detailing abuse, lies to authorities and years of cover-up. His actions have harmed Angelina and their children and are at the center of this case.”
Murphy noted that his client only wants the best for her and Pitt’s family. (The exes, who divorced in 2016, share six children.)
Angelina Jolie’s legal team wants Brad Pitt to drop his lawsuit over the French winery they co-own — and “end the fighting and finally put their family on a clear path to healing.” Pitt, 60, first sued Jolie, 49, in February 2022, claiming she breached their contract by selling her stake in Chateau Miraval in […]
“I want to emphasize again that Angelina never wanted any of this. She never filed charges, she left all their property behind, and she is the one who tried to sell him the company in the first place,” the attorney continued. “To this day, Mr. Pitt has never been held accountable for his actions and has controlled Miraval and the winery at all times, but he is still demanding more.”
The statement concluded: “She wants this to end, the children want this to stop, and Mr. Pitt needs to focus on healing their family, not filing lawsuits. If he does not, Angelina will defend herself in court by presenting the evidence necessary to prove that Pitt’s allegations are demonstrably false.”
A source close to Pitt said this exclusively Us On Tuesday, he said the statement is “largely irrelevant because he has already provided so much information.”
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lia Martin issued its preliminary ruling on Monday after Jolie’s legal team argued that Pitt’s documents would prove her allegations that he tried to get her to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that would have prevented her from speaking out about the alleged abuse, so that she could sell her half of the shares. their winery to Pitt.
Jolie and Pitt have been locked in a legal battle since February 2022, when Pitt filed a lawsuit against her claiming she illegally sold her shares in their French winery. Pitt claimed that he and Jolie had previously agreed that they could only sell their shares with each other’s approval.
“Pitt and Jolie purchased the castle as a home to share with their children and the vineyard as a family business,” according to the initial court documents. “They agreed that they would never sell their respective interests in Miraval without the other’s consent. The couple spent their holidays in Miraval with their children and got married there in 2014.”
In July, Jolie filed court papers claiming the actor tried to force her to sign an $8.5 million non-disclosure agreement to cover up “years of abuse.” Her legal team asked the court to force Pitt to disclose “third-party private communications” he had about their family’s 2016 plane trip, which led to Jolie filing for divorce.
Angelina Jolie.
James Devaney/GC ImagesShortly before Jolie and Pitt called it quits in 2016, their family made headlines when Pitt was accused of child molestation during a trip on their plane. Pitt was later cleared by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
Jolie argued in the July filings that she “did not act with malice and intent to harm Pitt in response to a custody ruling” when she sold her stake in Château Miraval in 2021.
She claimed it was Pitt who “refused to purchase her stake unless he received his recently expanded non-disclosure agreement,” she alleged in the filing, claiming it was intended to “enforce her silence about his abuse and cover-up.”
Pitt’s legal team previously responded to the July motion, calling the separate filing seeking his personal communications “broad and intrusive.”
Nestled among the rolling hills of the French countryside, in the small village of Correns, lies Château Miraval, the century-old 1,200-acre estate that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie bought for $28.4 million in 2008. For the A-list megastars, the sprawling estate was an idyllic escape from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood. It was a place […]
The judge’s latest ruling is a major blow to Pitt, who had delayed making his correspondence public for years. “This ruling is a huge victory for Angie and a disaster for Brad. This is by far the most impactful ruling in the case to date,” said a source Us on Tuesday. “All this evidence is now fair game at discovery.”
The insider explained that this matter is “Pitt’s, and he decides if he wants to solve it.” The source claimed that the Oscar winner “clearly wants to control and hurt Angelina through this lawsuit, forcing her to relive the pain of the reasons for the divorce and the coverage of the abuse.”
Before Pitt was forced to make his communications public, he scored his own legal victory over Jolie when a judge ruled that the case would go to trial. Us on November 15, a judge upheld the ruling that there was an implied contract regarding shares in the holding company, and that Pitt’s claims were valid on two counts of interference.
The ruling came after Jolie previously asked for the case to be dismissed. The trial date has yet to be determined.
Us has reached out to the Pitt team for comment.