Angelina Jolie claims Brad Pitt physically abused her before 2016 plane incident

In a court document seen by CNN, the actress’s lawyers claim the Seven star had a ‘history of abuse’ before the episode that brought an end to their marriage. Photo / Getty Images

Angelina Jolie has accused former husband Brad Pitt of having a “history of physical abuse” towards her.

Once Hollywood’s golden couple, the two actors separated in 2016 after Pitt was accused of being drunk and aggressive on a plane during a family trip from France to California.

But, in a court document obtained by CNN relating to a legal battle over a French winery they once jointly owned, Jolie’s lawyers claim he was also abusive to her before the plane incident.

In the legal filing with Los Angeles Superior Court, Jolie, 48, claimed she tried to sell Pitt her stake in the Miraval wine business but negotiations broke down over a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

Her lawyers claim Pitt conditioned the sale on his ex-wife signing an NDA that “prohibited Jolie 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”.

The lawyers added that the 60-year-old’s “history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family’s September 2016 plane trip from France to Los Angeles”. However, they did not provide details of other incidents.

Pitt and Jolie with their children, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne in Japan, 2011. Photo / Getty Images

The document also stated that Jolie didn’t press charges over the alleged altercation on the plane because she believed “the best course was for Pitt to accept responsibility and help the family recover from the post-traumatic stress he caused”.

The former couple are parents to Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 17, and 15-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.

The FBI previously investigated the plane incident and Pitt was neither arrested nor charged. In legal documents from October 2022, his spokesperson disputed Jolie’s account of the incident.

His spokesperson said then: “Brad has accepted responsibility for what he did but will not for things he didn’t do.”

The ongoing legal fight over the winery, located at Chateau Miraval in the south of France, follows the Oscar-winning actress’s decision to sell her half to a company controlled by Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler in 2021.

This May 31, 2008 file photo, shows the Miraval property in Correns, near Brignoles, southern France, Saturday, May 31, 2008. Photo / AP

Pitt, the star of films such as Fight Club, Seven and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, sued Jolie in 2022 for allegedly breaking an agreement he said they had made not to sell without obtaining approval from the other.

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in 2016 after the plane incident. They were declared legally single in 2019 and a joint custody arrangement was established in 2021.