Angelina Jolie provided details of what she described as ex-husband Brad Pitt’s abusive behaviour in a lawsuit on Tuesday, escalating a legal battle over a French factory the couple once co-owned and revealing new details about the rupture of their marriage.
The lawsuit, filed by Jolie in Los Angeles court, alleges that Pitt sought to tie the sale of her stake in the plant to a non-disclosure agreement that would have prevented her from discussing Pete’s “physical and emotional harm to her and their children” in public.
Jolie’s lawsuit describes a situation during a private jet flight in September 2016, in which Pitt is said to have “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her before pushing her against the toilet wall”. The lawsuit alleged that Pitt “strangled one of the children and hit another in the face.”
Pete’s lawyers did not respond to inquiries about the matter as of Tuesday.
Pitt sued Jolie and her former company in February, saying that Jolie’s September 2021 sale of her stake in the Chateau Miraval factory to an international beverage company was illegal because the couple had agreed that neither would ever sell their stake without the consent of the other.
Jolie said in the lawsuit on Tuesday that there was no such agreement and that Pitt refused the sale unless she agreed to an “unacceptable gag order” regarding his conduct.
Jolie also said in her lawsuit that the FBI investigated the incident on the plane and “concluded that the government has probable cause to charge Pitt with a federal crime.”
Pitt has not been charged with a crime, and an FBI spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
