Once the most loved-up couple in Hollywood, borne like a phoenix from the ashes of Brad and Jennifer Aniston’s world-rocking break up, Brangelina has taken quite the tumble.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie announced their split in 2016, just two years after they tied the knot in Miraval, south east France, where they also co-owned a successful vineyard. Since then, there’s been allegations of abuse, claims of forced NDAs, a revolving door of legal professionals and more than a little crying over spilt rosé.
In court filings from the long legal battle dubbed “War of the Rosés” Jolie’s lawyers alleged that Pitt was abusive toward her prior to the 2016 plane incident that led to her leaving him and filing for divorce. Pitt denied allegations of abuse and no charges were filed after an FBI investigation.
It also emerged that two of the couple’s children, Shiloh and Vivienne, dropped Pitt’s name from their surnames.
And on December 30, 2024, Pitt and Jolie revealed they had finally reached a divorce settlement, bringing an end to one of the longest and most contentious legal battles in Hollywood history.
Meanwhile, Pitt has very publicly moved on, with the actor making numerous public appearances alongside his Swiss jewelry executive girlfriend Ines de Ramon. The Brangelina dream is officially dead in the water.
From Hollywood’s iconic “it” couple that couldn’t keep their hands off each other to embittered exes, where did it all go so wrong for Brad and Ange?
First, let’s go way back. The two actors first met on the set of action comedy Mr & Mrs Smith in 2004. Chemistry between the pair — playing a married couple who both turned out to be assassins hired to kill the other — was said to be palpable. At the time, Brad was married to Jennifer Aniston, making him one half of the most adored celebrity couple.
Brad and Jen’s Malibu wedding in 2000 was no small affair (if you’ll pardon the phrasing), it reportedly cost $1 million and was attended by the entire cast of Friends, including David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, Matthew Perry, and Matt LeBlanc. He was the biggest movie star in the world and she was the Rachel Green. People from all across the world were obsessed and ate up every available inside detail on the pair’s relationship. Like, for instance, their wedding vows: he promised to split the thermostat bill and Jen pledged to always make Brad his favourite banana milkshake.
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston in May 2004
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Their approach to marriage was charmingly liberal. “Neither of us wants to be the spokesman for a happy marriage, for coupledom,” Brad told Vanity Fair. “I’ll tell you what I despise: this two-becomes-one thing where you lose your individuality. We don’t cage each other with this pressure of happily ever after. You figure it out as you go along. We feel it out, rather than setting policies and rules.”
Adding: “Jen and I always made a pact; that we’ll see where this thing is going. I’m not sure it really is in our nature to be with someone for the rest of our lives, just because you made this pact. You keep going as long as you keep growing. When that dies, we do. We still have that friendship; we still have a good laugh, which can go in and out depending on the dynamics and outside influences. It’s complicated, but that’s what keeps it interesting.”
Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton in June 2000
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Enter Angelina, who came with a wild image (kissing her brother on the lips at the Oscars, reportedly wearing a vial of her partner’s blood around her neck, etc) and described herself as having had a ‘dark and dangerous’ youth. She was twice divorced when she met Brad — having been hitched first to British actor Jonny Lee Miller, of Trainspotting fame, and then Billy Bob Thornton, aka Bad Santa and the sleazy American President from Love Actually. During her marriage to Billy Bob, the couple adopted a child, Maddox, from Cambodia in March 2002, but abruptly separated three months later.
Speaking about her divorce, she told Vogue at the time: “It took me by surprise, too, because overnight, we totally changed. I think one day we had just nothing in common. And it’s scary but… I think it can happen when you get involved and you don’t know yourself yet.”
After seven years together, and mid-way through the filming of Mr & Mrs Smith, Brad and Jennifer announced their separation on January 7, 2005. A tidal wave speculation was unleashed. Both the media and the general public whipped up a frenzied Team Jen and Team Angelina rivalry, with brands even selling t-shirts for people wanting to pledge their allegiance.
Angelina was pitched as the mistress, but both have always strenuously denied their relationship started as an affair. “To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive,” Angelina said. “I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn’t be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife.”
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie with studio executives at the premiere of Mr & Mrs Smith in June 2005
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Not long after their divorce, Jen gave a candid interview to Vanity Fair, saying “I’m not interested in taking public potshots. It’s not my concern anymore. What happened to him after the separation—it’s his life now. I’ve made a conscious effort not to add to the toxicity of this situation. I haven’t retaliated. I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t have a halo that I’m polishing here; everyone has their personal thoughts. But I would much rather everyone move on. I am not defined by this relationship. I am not defined by the part they’re making me play in the triangle. It’s maddening to me…”
In January 2006, Angelina confirmed to People that she was pregnant with the couple’s first child. It was the first time she’d publicly acknowledged their relationship. The pair then started assembling their ‘rainbow’ family, as she called it, at pace. That year, Brad became the adoptive father of Maddox and Angelina’s second child, Zahara. Both of the children’s surnames were changed from “Jolie” to “Jolie-Pitt”.
Angelina gave birth to daughter Shiloh Nouvel in Namibia, in May 2006. In the spring of the next year, Angelina adopted three-year-old Pax Thien from an orphanage in Vietnam and Brad adopted Pax in the United States about a year later.
Angelina and Brad with daughter Zahara and son Maddox in November 2006
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“We spent a lot of time contemplating and thinking and talking about what we both wanted in life and realized that we wanted very, very similar things,” Angelina said to Vogue in 2007. “And then we just continued to take time. We remained very, very good friends—with this realization—for a long time. And then life developed in a way where we could be together, where it felt like something we would do, we should do.”
At the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, Angelina confirmed that she was expecting twins, and Knox Léon and daughter Vivienne Marcheline were born in July that year.
The Jolie-Pitt family arrive in Japan to promote Brad’s film ‘Money Ball’ in 2011
Masatoshi Okauchi/Rex
A few years later, speaking to The Telegraph, Jolie said: “I am very lucky with Brad. He is a real gentleman, but he is also a real man’s man. He’s got the wonderful balance of being an extraordinary, great, loving father, a very, very intelligent man and physically he’s a real man.” Meanwhile, Brad told Esquire in mid 2013: “I have very few friends. I have a handful of close friends and I have my family and I haven’t known life to be any happier. I’m making things. I just haven’t known life to be any happier.”
They got married after ten years together with an intimate ceremony at the chapel of their French home and vineyard, Château Miraval, in southeast France, 2015. Angelina wore Versace with a veil that the couples’ children had doodled all over. “It does feel different. It feels nice to be husband and wife,” Angelina told Vanity Fair at the time.
Two years later and it was over.
In September 2016, Angelina filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. The FBI and the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services then confirmed they were investigating Brad for alleged child abuse following an incident on the family’s private jet. The actor was accused by an anonymous person of getting physical with one of his children.
According to TMZ at the time, “the details of precisely what happened” were “murky.” But it was reported that Maddox had stepped in to verbally stand up for his mother during a fight with Brad — and that the latter lost his temper. A source close to Brad told People he was “was drunk, and there was an argument between him and Angelina,” said the source. “There was a parent-child argument which was not handled in the right way and escalated more than it should have.” Brad has since been cleared of all allegations.
Angelina and Brad in 2014
Justin Tallis/PA
The actor hasn’t made any comment about the allegations but has been open about his drinking and drug use. In a May 2017 GQ interview, Brad revealed he had quit drinking and smoking cannabis. “I can’t remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn’t boozing or had a spliff, or something. And I’m running from feelings. I stopped everything except boozing when I started my family. But even this last year […] I was boozing too much,” Brad told the magazine. “It’s just become a problem. You either deny them all of your life or you answer them and evolve.”
Divorce drama and abuse allegations
Brangelina had been wrangling over the split through legal proceedings in California privately and quietly, but in February 2017, Angelina spoke out about the divorce for the first time saying “we will get through this time and hopefully be a stronger family for it”.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (C) with children (L-R) Pax Jolie-Pitt, Zahara Jolie-Pitt, Knox Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt and Maddox Jolie-Pitt attend the premiere of Disney’s “Maleficent” in 2014
Charley Gallay/Getty Images
According to court documents, Brad had been failing to give her “meaningful support” financially since the split. Brad countered that he had actually loaned her $8 million plus $1.3 million for bills. The next year it was revealed that Angelina had given Brad access to the children — but they were still working towards a full settlement.
In an interview with Vogue in 2021, Angelina said she split from Brad for the “wellbeing” of her family. “It was the right decision,” she said. “I continue to focus on their healing. Some have taken advantage of my silence, and the children see lies about themselves in the media, but I remind them that they know their own truth and their own minds. In fact, they are six very brave, very strong young people.”
In December 2020, court proceedings had begun in Los Angeles over child custody for the five youngest children, as Maddox was already over 18 and therefore an adult in the eyes of the law. Pax is now 21, while Zahara is 19, Shiloh, 18 and twins Vivienne and Knox are 16. Brad was granted joint custody of his children with Angelina.
A source close to the case told PA the judge’s ruling would “significantly increase” Oscar-winner Brad’s time with the children. The decision is said to have been based on “extensive testimony” from those involved with the case, including professionals who had spent time with the children.
It marked a major breakthrough for the couple, but as they say: two steps forward, three steps back.
Angelina and Brad in 2012
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
It took nearly seven years and millions in legal fees to get to the point that the pair began splitting up their combined assets, including the French vineyard and estate, Chateau Miraval, they bought together for $60 million. In an extra twist, Brad sued his ex-wife for, according to the lawsuit, selling her stake in their co-owned vineyard to a Luxembourg-based spirits manufacturer controlled by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler without his knowledge.
Court papers submitted by Brad alleged that Angelina intentionally “sought to inflict harm on” him by selling her stake in the business. He said they had agreed to never sell their respective interests without the other’s consent. He also claimed the wine company grew “into a multimillion-dollar global business and one of the world’s most highly regarded producers of rosé wine” through his work and that Jolie had contributed “nothing to Miraval’s success.”
Chateau Miraval, the vast French vineyard and estate once shared by Brad and Angelina
AFP via Getty Images
In a revised complaint filed in summer 2023, the Fight Club actor insisted he had first refusal on his ex-wife’s share of their idyllic winery, situated in Correns, in the South of France. Pitt’s later submitted legal papers said: “As will be demonstrated at trial, Jolie’s actions were unlawful, severely and intentionally damaging Pitt and unjustly enriching herself.” Jolie denied these allegations.
But the dispute, which was dubbed the “War of the Rosés”, raged on. Just a week after Pitt’s revised complaint was filed, Vanity Fair dropped the bombshell accusation that talks about the vineyard sale broke down after Pitt attempted to persuade Jolie into signing an NDA — which would prevent her from speaking about the infamous 2016 private jet incident — in return for her being able to sell her stake.
The magazine spoke to the couple’s former head of security, real estate brokers and others with intimate knowledge of the couple’s time in the south of France to attain this information, but representatives for Pitt claimed that it was actually Jolie who first broached the idea of an NDA. They also claimed that the NDA was purely related to the sale of the winery, “to ensure the seller doesn’t damage the value of the asset after being paid for it.”
Brad and Angelina in 2014
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More information emerges regarding the private jet incident
The aforementioned Vanity Fair piece claimed to shed a little more light on the private jet incident as well, with the couple’s ex-head of security telling Vanity Fair that Pitt was “drinking quite a bit” at the time it happened. Another source claimed: “Brad was drinking, and the confrontation got out of hand. He was absolutely wrong in how he behaved but immediately apologised and acknowledged that he had crossed a line. He will always regret [it], and right away took steps to address this and try to make amends.”
Pitt apparently quit drinking immediately after the incident. Pitt’s lawyer said: “Thankfully, the various public authorities the other side has tried to use against him [Brad Pitt] over the past six years have made their own independent decisions. Brad will continue to respond in court as he has consistently done.”
And to top it all off, the Vanity Fair article ended by noting that since September 2016, nobody from either Pitt or Jolie’s family have returned to stay at the French property.
‘War of the Rosés’ drags on, Pitt is called a ‘petulant child’
AP
In July 2023, Jolie’s legal team accused Brad Pitt of acting like a “petulant child” over the sale of her stake, with claims that Pitt has engaged in a “blatant money grab,” and has spent more time on vanity projects around the site, like building a recording studio and renovating the swimming pool, than on the vineyard and winemaking process. The filing alleges that Pitt “deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes.”
“During the years that he allegedly ‘built’ the business,” the filing reads, “he filmed and appeared in dozens of movies, not to mention making countless promotional appearances, jetting-setting around the world for movie premieres, and attending Hollywood parties.
“While he no doubt visited the vineyards to admire the work of the French laborers who actually made the business successful,” it continues, “Pitt is no vigneron.”
“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.”
Pitt did not respond to these claims. Legal documents were then obtained by TMZ which said that Brad and Angelina had agreed to mediation, rather than settling in court, regarding their long-standing vineyard dispute. According to Daily Mail, Jolie has reportedly said she was willing to take part in a settlement conference, while Pitt appointed a ‘provisional administrator’ in a bid to hopefully help negotiations.
As you may expect in a situation like this, both Brad and Angelina have been represented by highly esteemed LA-based divorce lawyers, who they’ve been working with for years. But it took a while to get there — both Brad and Ange have made changes to the legal teams they initially hired back when the divorce proceedings first began. Brad was initially working with celebrity specialist lawyer Lance Spiegel, who has represented the likes of Charlie Sheen, Michael Jackson, Heather Locklear and Eva Longoria. Angelina was originally represented by lawyer-to-the-stars Laura Wasser, who previously worked with Britney Spears and Kim Kardashian during their divorces.
Jolie then ditched Wasser for another lawyer, Samantha Bley Dejean, in 2018, because she felt Dejean had more experience in the “protection of children.” At the time, Jolie’s spokesperson, Mindy Nyby, told People: “Angelina has decided to change counsel to Samantha Bley Dejean, as Samantha’s expertise is the protection and best interest of children. Angelina appreciates Laura’s cooperation in transitioning the case of the past several weeks.”
Brad and Angelina at a press conference in 2006
AFP via Getty Images
For his part, Pitt has transitioned to primarily using the legal expertise of Anne C Kiley (it became unclear if Spiegel was still involved, though he was initially Pitt’s primary counsel). Kiley even addressed the private jet incident in a statement to The Times in 2022 saying: “Brad has owned everything he’s responsible for from day one — unlike the other side — but he’s not going to own anything he didn’t do. He has been on the receiving end of every type of personal attack and misrepresentation.”
There was also beef between Pitt and Jolie’s lawyers when Jolie’s team allegedly attempted to subpoena Pitt at the 2022 SAG awards (where a legal team demands someone’s presence in court by handing them legal papers) à la Olivia Wilde, only to find that Pitt wasn’t present. Representatives of Jolie and Pitt have never responded to these subpoena claims.
Brad Pitt attends Wimbledon 2023
AFP via Getty Images
Pax also became closely linked to the messy divorce battle due to resurfaced comments in late 2023 about Pitt from Father’s Day 2020. “Happy Father’s Day to this world class a**hole,” he wrote on Instagram under a photo of Pitt receiving an Oscar, seen by MailOnline. “You time and time again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person.
“You have no consideration or empathy toward your four youngest children who tremble in fear when in your presence,” MailOnline reported the private post as saying. “You will never understand the damage you have done to my family because you are incapable of doing so.
“You have made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell. You may tell yourself and the world whatever you want, but the truth will come to light someday. So, Happy Father’s Day, you f*****g awful human being!!!”
Pitt with children Pax Thien, Shiloh Nouvel, Maddox, and his parents Jane Pitt, and William Pitt in 2014
Getty
Pitt did not publicly respond to his son’s comments, but was cleared of all allegations of abuse. The actor also made a concerted effort to be seen to be bettering himself — he began a public wellness journey, marked by his cashmere company, gender-fluid skincare line, sobriety and foray into sculpture work.
Jolie on the other hand eluded to a difficult past few years in an interview with Vogue in 2023, where she said that her children “saved” her. “Having children saved me and taught me to be in this world differently,” she told the publication.
Angelina Jolie reiterates claims of abuse
In an April 2024 court filing as part of the battle over Château Miraval, Jolie alleged that Pitt was abusive toward her prior to the 2016 plane incident that led her to filing for divorce.
The actress’s legal team filed a motion asking to release communications they claim would prove that Brad wouldn’t allow her to sell her share of the winery to him unless she agreed to a “more onerous” and “expansive” NDA. The topic of the NDA first caused a back and forth last year in court and recently began rearing its head again with new allegations coming to light.
The lawyers claimed that, “While Pitt’s history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family’s September 2016 plane trip from France to Los Angeles, this flight marked the first time he turned his physical abuse on the children as well. Jolie then immediately left him.”
Jolie and son Maddox in 2023
AFP via Getty Images
Pitt didn’t immediately comment in response, though a source reportedly close to him told PEOPLE, “This is a pattern of behaviour — whenever there is a decision that goes against the other side they consistently choose to introduce misleading, inaccurate and/or irrelevant information as a distraction.”
Though conversely, Jolie’s lawyers claimed that she “never pressed charges as she believed the best course was for Pitt to accept responsibility and help the family recover from the post-traumatic stress he caused.”
Her lawyer Paul Murphy said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE: “Mr. Pitt refused to purchase Ms. Jolie’s interest when she would not be silenced by his NDA. By refusing to buy her interest but then suing her, Mr. Pitt put directly at issue why that NDA was so important to him and what he hoped it would bury: his abuse of Ms. Jolie and their family. After eight months of delays, this motion asks the Court to force Mr. Pitt to finally produce that evidence.”
The team claimed that Jolie’s sealed filing which includes emails, summaries of the family’s expected testimony and other evidence, caused Pitt to worry it would become public, meaning that they feel he wanted to “contractually bind” her to staying silent about his “personal misconduct, whether related to Miraval or not.”
Brad Pitt’s children appear to drop his surname
Further fuel was added to the fire with the revelation that two of Pitt’s children, Vivienne and Shiloh, chose to drop his name from their surnames.
According to documents obtained by TMZ, Shiloh legally requested to change her name from Shiloh Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Jolie on the day of her 18th birthday, 27 May, 2024. Vivienne’s name also appears as Vivienne Jolie on the playbill for a 2024 musical on which she serves as a production assistant, though it is unclear whether she has legally changed her name.
Angelina Jolie with her children Shiloh, Zahara, Vivienne and Maddox
Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images
And this is not the first time reports have emerged claiming that members of the Jolie-Pitt family have dropped “Pitt” from their surnames.
Eldest daughter Zahara is said to have introduced herself as “Zahara Marley Jolie” when joining a sorority at Spelman College in Atlanta, according to a video of her induction. And according to TMZ, Pitt’s son Maddox has also reportedly dropped Pitt from his surname, although he doesn’t appear to have made a filing to legally change his name.
A few months after news of Shiloh dropping the name, Pitt was reported to be “aware and upset”. “He’s aware and upset that Shiloh dropped his last name. He’s never felt more joy than when she was born. He always wanted a daughter,” a source told People. “The reminders that he’s lost his children, is of course not easy for Brad. He loves his children and misses them. It’s very sad.”
It comes after it was learned that Pitt had attempted to prevent Shiloh from testifying about her custody preferences during his divorce battle with her mother. Shiloh reportedly wanted to testify at a 2021 hearing, a source told Us Weekly, to explain her preferences regarding the custody arrangement. Though he is said to have blocked his daughter, who was 14 at the time, from doing so and ultimately the judge sided with Pitt meaning Shiloh wasn’t heard on the stand.
Relationship rumours and hard launches at Venice Film Festival 2024
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made a rare appearance at the same event this summer, with the former couple both present for their respective film premieres at the Venice Film Festival — albeit days apart.
Jolie was in attendance promoting her new Oscar-tipped opera film, Maria. She also spent some time with her close friend Akala, the British rapper, activist and brother of Ms Dynamite. It lead to some poorly informed relationship rumours. Given that Akala’s partner was also present on the trip, these were quickly dispelled.
Angelina Jolie at Venice International Film Festival 2024
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Then, mere days later, a real relationship was hard-launched. Brad Pitt appeared on the red carpet arm-in-arm with 34-year-old Ines de Ramon, an executive for the jewelry brand Anita K.
The couple posed for photos on the red carpet alongside George and Amal Clooney in promotion of Pitt and Clooney’s new film Wolfs.
Ines de Ramon and Brad Pitt attend the “Wolfs” red carpet during Venice International Film Festival
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Seeing Brad Pitt and Ines de Ramon being pictured together in public may have been a new sight for the general public, but the pair apparently quietly started dating way back in 2022.
Then, on December 30, 2024, it was revealed that Pitt and Jolie had finally reached a divorce settlement — eight years on from their first decision to call it quits. Angelina Jolie’s legal team said in a statement to People magazine that Jolie has been focused on “finding peace and healing for their family” since divorce proceedings began.
They continued: “This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago. Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.”
The terms of the agreement have not been made public.