Brad Pitt Inquires Whether Angelina Jolie Restrained Personnel After Her Recent Allegations

Reportedly, Brad Pitt launched a legal salvo to have Angelina Jolie disclose the number of gagging order agreements she had requested staff members sign.  Jolie claimed last week that Pitt had made an 'unconscionable' effort to 'control' her during the Miraval sale discussions by asking her to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Pitt's attorneys are attempting to demonstrate that the NDA Jolie was asked to sign was no more onerous than those she frequently asks others to sign. They also claim that, in the months following Jolie's sale of her Miraval shares, Jolie's attorney asked Pitt to sign an even more expansive NDA as part of their divorce filing.

As reported by Page Six, on Friday, John Berlinski, his attorney, said in the court documents, "If Jolie conditioned her continued employment of an individual on that individual’s agreement to an NDA covering what they witnessed in her home — including her treatment of her children and Pitt — that would be highly probative of whether she truly believed the provision requested by Pitt was an ‘unconscionable gag order. The same is true concerning any NDA between Jolie and any third party with whom she is in a relationship or who has assisted with the care of the couple’s children." Two letters were presented to the court by Jolie's legal team: one from April 2021 included her own draft non-disparagement agreement, and the other came from her US divorce lawyers six months after she withdrew from the Miraval sale and purportedly suggested an even more expansive NDA as part of her divorce from Pitt.

On April 4, Jolie filed a petition to the Los Angeles Superior Court stating that she had made Pitt an offer to purchase her shares. Negotiations, however, fell apart when he asked that the  actress sign a nondisclosure agreement that forbade her from 'speaking (other than in court) about Pitt's abuse of Jolie and their children by attempting to tie Pitt's personal reputation to Miraval's business.' According to the complaint, Jolie would provide 'testimony, emails, photographs, and other evidence' to back up the accusations that she was physically abused long before the well-publicized 2016 aircraft incident.

In December 2016, Jolie was given exclusive custody of the kids, but Pitt was still permitted to see them under supervision. Early in 2017, Pitt wanted shared custody, but Jolie's attorneys insisted on further treatment sessions. The duo's relationship deteriorated further when Jolie accused him of not providing significant child support, a claim Pitt refuted. In 2022, Jolie filed a countersuit after Pitt's lawsuit regarding the vineyard. Citing the 2016 aircraft incident, Jolie accused Pitt of verbal and physical assault in court filings.

As per Newsweek, Jolie's attorneys included a cross-complaint, "She has gone to great lengths to try to shield their children from reliving the pain Pitt inflicted on the family that day. But when Pitt filed this lawsuit seeking to reassert control over Jolie's financial life and compel her to rejoin her ex-husband as a frozen-out business partner, Pitt forced Jolie to publicly defend herself on these issues for the first time."