Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt legally separated in 2016, but lawsuits over the couple’s French estate and winery are drawing out the settlement of their divorce.
In a new filing made on Monday, Angelia’s former investment company Nouvel slammed Brad for complaining about the Maleficent star selling her shares of the couple’s co-owned Château Miraval in 2021 – and called him a “petulant child.”
“Incensed that Jolie sold Nouvel to Stoli rather than him, Pitt has acted like a petulant child, refusing to treat Nouvel as an equal partner in the business,” alleged the filing, obtained by CNN in regard to Angelia’s sale of the investment company to a subsidiary of the Stoli Group.
The filing accused Brad and his alleged “co-conspirators” of “stripping” and “looting” Miraval’s assets to retain control, and claimed Brad has been doing so by renovating areas of the estate — which has led Nouvel to seek at least $350 million (around £271 million) in damages from the Fight Club actor.
“Pitt wasted the company’s assets, spending millions on vanity projects, including more than $1 million on swimming pool renovations, building and rebuilding a staircase four times, and spending millions to restore a recording studio,” stated the filing, per CNN.
Brad and Angelina originally took control of the award-winning Miraval winery in 2008 and were married on the grounds in 2014, according to Vanity Fair.
Their publicised split led Angelina to sell her shares in October 2021, however, which Brad sued her for in February 2022.
Brad called the sale “unlawful” at the time and claimed Angelina’s Nouvel owed him the right to first refusal on the sale. Jolie denied such an agreement existed, however, and said in a countersuit that she sold her shares to have “financial independence.”
He has famously painted himself as an established vintner over the years, and told Wine Spectator in 2014 that he enjoys “cleaning the forest and walking the land.”
He added: “I’m a farmer now. ... I love learning about the land and which field is most suitable for which grape.”
Angelina’s former holding company brutally rejected that image in Monday’s filing, however, and alleged that Brad “no doubt visited the vineyards to admire the work of the French laborers who actually made the business successful,” but is no “vigneron” himself.
“Pitt is an actor, not a winemaker,” read the filing, also obtained by Page Six and the Financial Times. “He deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes.”
“During the years that he allegedly ‘built’ the business, he filmed and appeared in dozens of movies, not to mention making countless promotional appearances, [jet-setting] around the world for movie premieres, and attending Hollywood parties,” it continued.
Brad filed papers of his own last month that alleged Angelia’s sale of her stake was “vindictive” after what he called an “adverse custody ruling.”
While Angelina and Brad were declared legally single in 2019, he was granted joint custody over their underage children in May 2021, though an appeals court decision two months later has kept the custody arrangement from being finalised.