After a lengthy legal battle, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have reached a divorce settlement, the New York Times and BBC report. A high-profile celebrity romance that soured, “Brangelina” first split in 2016 when Jolie filed for divorce. The couple originally married in 2014 following a near-decade-long relationship. “Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over,” Jolie’s lawyer, James Simon told the New York Times in a statement. He called the settlement − the terms of which are not public − “just one part of a long, ongoing process.”
In the eight years since Jolie’s filing, lawyers for either half of the pair have duked it out, including in separate proceedings over custody of their six children and control of a French vineyard purchased together in 2008. It was the dispute over the vineyard that revealed Jolie was accusing Pitt of assaulting her and two of their children on a private flight from France to Los Angeles in 2016. In later court filings, Jolie contended Pitt’s abuse of her started “long before” the airplane incident, but this was the first time the children had been subjected to it. Pitt denied the allegations, and after looking into the incident, the FBI declined to pursue an investigation or charges. Pitt ultimately won joint custody in 2021, but not until after a tug-of-war in which a judge accused Jolie of keeping the children from contacting their father, and lawyers for the actress alleged Pitt was not paying “meaningful” child support.
In June, the pair’s 18-year-old daughter, Shiloh Jolie, petitioned a Los Angeles court to drop Pitt from her name. The two also share: Maddox, 23; Pax, 21; Zahara, 19; and 16-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox. Pitt and Jolie first met on the “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” set in 2005, quickly becoming a couple and instant tabloid fodder following the actor’s recent divorce from Jennifer Aniston. The dissolution of their marriage shocked Hollywood, having established themselves as a power couple in philanthropy and entertainment alike. Pitt has since returned full force to Hollywood after a few years in the background. His racing drama “F1” is set to premiere in summer 2025 and “Wolfs,” a recent buddy comedy with George Clooney, hit theaters in September. Jolie is also back on the screen, starring in “Maria” on Netflix, a biopic of opera star Maria Callas.
