Brad Pitt has demanded Angelina Jolie's texts as part of the former couple's long-running legal battle. Photo / Getty Images
Brad Pitt has demanded Angelina Jolie's texts as part of the former couple's long-running legal battle. Photo / Getty Images
Brad Pitt has demanded private communications from Angelina Jolie in the US actors’ long-running legal battle.
The former couple – who split in 2016 – have been locked in dispute over the ownership of their US$500 million winery, Château Miraval in the south of France.
Jolie sold herstake to Tenute del Mondo, Stoli Group’s wine division, in 2021, and the latest move in the row has seen the F1 star file new legal documents in his attempts to depose Alexey Oliynik.
As an employee of Stoli Group, Pitt claimed, Oliynik had firsthand knowledge of Jolie’s sale but has refused to turn over relevant documents or sit for a deposition, having argued he cannot be forced to do so as a resident of Switzerland.
In documents filed in California on June 30 and obtained by People magazine, Pitt’s team wrote: “These requests go directly to key allegations about Pitt’s objections to the sale and easily meet the standard for discoverability given Pitt’s allegations that Jolie acted with malice in selling to Stoli, a counterparty she knew Pitt opposed.”
Pitt filed his lawsuit in February 2022, in which he alleged his 50-year-old ex-wife had sold her stake in contravention of an agreement that neither would do so unless the other approved. Jolie hit back with a countersuit in September that year, and accused the 61-year-old star of “waging a vindictive war” since they split.
Angelina Jolie, here with daughter Vivienne Jolie in June last year, has accused Brad Pitt of waging a vindictive war since their split. Photo / Getty Images
The Maria star’s team stated in court documents that the Fight Club actor refused to buy his ex-wife out of the winery because she didn’t want to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) “designed to force her silence about his abuse and cover-up”, referring to a 2016 incident in which Brad was accused of being drunk and aggressive during a private jet flight from France to California.
And last May, a judge ruled Jolie must produce eight years’ worth of NDAs to illustrate that she too had used the kind of documents she had objected to signing.
In one filing, Pitt – who has Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, and 16-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox with Jolie – alleged former security guard Tony Webb was told the Maleficent star had instructed the kids not to speak to their father during custody visits and then attempted to use NDAs to threaten her protection team to stay silent.
According to the documents, after the couple divorced, the security boss was called by the actress’ personal assistant, Michael Vierra, who said he had heard two contractors were preparing to give evidence in a family court case, which he warned would violate their NDAs.
But one contractor, Ross Foster – who had worked security on Pitt and Jolie’s 2015 film By The Sea – pledged to testify if he was subpoenaed by the court, regardless of the NDA.
Webb continued: “When Mr Foster told me this, he also told me that if asked, he would testify about statements he overheard that Ms Jolie made to the children, encouraging them to avoid spending time with Mr Pitt during custody visits.”
Webb claimed his company was fired by Jolie after two employees testified, and he now works for Pitt.
Lawyer John Berlinski said Pitt has accused the Eternals actress of using NDAs in an “improper manner” to “silence her security detail and prevent them testifying truthfully in court about what actually happened behind closed doors”.
He added the claims “bear a striking resemblance to Jolie’s false allegations that Pitt improperly used a non-disclosure agreement to ‘silence her’.”
