The Two Faces of Brad Pitt: From protecting Gwyneth Paltrow to allegedly assaulting Angelina Jolie
Trigger warning: The article describes alleged abuse which could be traumatic for some readers. Discretion is advised.
Angelina Jolie has filed court papers accusing ex-husband Brad Pitt of attacking her and their children during a private plane flight. This incident allegedly prompted her to file a divorce. Jolie alleged that Pitt grabbed her by the head and attacked two of their children on a trip in 2016. She also accused him of pouring alcohol on his family during the flight from France to Los Angeles. Pitt has maintained the allegations are false.
A source close to Pitt told BBC that Jolie's allegations are false. "She continues to rehash, revise and reimagine her description of an event that happened six years ago by adding completely untrue information each time she fails to get what she wants," said the source. "Her story is constantly evolving."
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Jolie shared new details of the 2016 flight as the legal battle between the two stars over a French winery that the two of them co-owned is escalating. Lawyers for Jolie said that negotiations for the 47-year-old to sell her share of Chateau Miraval to Pitt broke down over Pitt allegedly demanding she sign “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,” The Guardian reported.
The filing, first reported by the New York Times, said, "Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face” and “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her”. At one point, “he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children.” Days after the trip, Jolie filed for a divorce. The FBI did not bring criminal charges over the incident.
Brad Pitt, the same actor who has been accused of such violent abuse, previously spoke out about how he protected his former girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow against the advances of Harvey Weinstein. In an interview with CNN, he said he faced up to the disgraced movie producer after Paltrow had told him about an "indecent encounter". Multiple women accused Weinstein of sexual assault in 2017, but he has denied any wrongdoing.
Paltrow was reportedly 22 years old at the time of the alleged assault. "At that moment, I was just a boy from the Ozarks on the playground, and that's how we confronted with things," Pitt said. "I just wanted to make sure nothing was going to happen further because she (Paltrow) was going to do two films."
At the time of the alleged assault on Gwyneth, a source told People, "Brad threatened Harvey. He got right in his face, poked him in the chest, and said, ‘You will not ever do this to Gwyneth ever again."
Pitt also said that since the revelations about Weinstein, significant changes have come about in Hollywood. "I think the interesting thing is that we, Hollywood specifically, but the workplace, men and women's dynamics is being recalibrated," he said. "Recalibrated in a very good way that is long overdue. And I do think that's an important story to tell," he added.
Jolie was also one of the women to accuse Weinstein, who she said had made unwanted advances to her in a hotel room around the release of 1998’s 'Playing by Heart'.
However, despite the incident with Paltrow, she continued to work with Weinstein and so did Pitt. Years after Pitt's confrontation with Weinstein, the two worked together on the 2009 film 'Inglourious Basterds'. Weinstein served as one of the executive producers of the film. A source had claimed at the time that Pitt agreed to do it as it was a great script that was sent to him by writer-director Quentin Tarantino.
If you or anyone you know suspects child abuse, you are urged to immediately call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential and the hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.