For close to eight years, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have not only been locked in a contentious battle over their French winery.
They have also been at odds with parenting their six children — Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 18, and 16-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. From physical abuse allegations to name changes, the Jolie-Pitt clan has faced a number of challenges throughout the years.
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight, Jolie’s father, gave his two cents on the family rift.
Though Voight admitted he doesn’t talk to his grandchildren “as much as [he’d] like,” he’s certain about one thing. There needs to be a resolution.
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“I wish they’d find a way to make peace,” said Voight, who is promoting his upcoming film, “Reagan,” in which he portrays ex-KGB agent Viktor Ivanov. “You know, I think the kids need some stability. I love the kids, and I love my daughter. And I want Brad to step up to do, you know, what he has to do. End this nonsense.”
Pitt and Jolie were married for two years before the actress filed for divorce in 2016 after the couple allegedly got into a physical altercation on a plane, effectively ending their 12-year relationship. The two became legally single in 2019.
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In 2022, the actress was granted sole physical custody of her minor children, including Shiloh at the time, after Pitt had been granted joint custody for a short period of time. Pitt was then allowed “custodial time” with his minor children. It’s unclear where the two stand regarding custody of the children at this point.
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In June 2020, the actress opened up about why she made the decision to leave Pitt, saying it was for her children’s “well-being.”
“I separated for the well-being of my family. It was the right decision,” Jolie told Vogue India. “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.”
Most recently, the former couple’s French winery, Château Miraval, has been the focus of their ongoing battle after Pitt sued Jolie for breach of contract in 2022. In 2021, Jolie attempted to sell her company, Nouvel, to Tenute Del Mondo, a subsidiary of the Stoli group, effectively transferring her 50% ownership interest in Miraval.
Last month, in documents obtained by Fox News Digital, Jolie’s attorneys argued the “Maleficent” star and her children were “victims of Pitt’s purportedly ‘private’ abuse and cover-up.”
In the court documents, Jolie’s legal team argued she “was not acting with malice and the intent to hurt Pitt in response to any custody ruling” when she sold her share of Miraval.
“Instead, it was Pitt who refused to buy her interest unless he received his newly expanded NDA, enforceable by an $8.5 million holdback specifically designed to force her silence about his abuse and cover-up,” the court documents stated.
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A source close to Jolie further commented to Fox News Digital about the latest filing earlier this month.
“Brad Pitt’s insistence on an NDA to cover up his criminal conduct is unconscionable, and no abuse survivor should be coerced and forced into silence,” the source told Fox News Digital.
“She never pressed charges, she left him all their properties and she is the one who tried to sell him the business in the first place. Yet he was not satisfied, and still he sued her and continues to attack her in the press today. All she wants is peace and the ability to heal their family.”
But a source close to Pitt immediately disputed the claims.
“This was a simple business dispute, but, sadly, this legal attack is just the latest example of them harming the entire family by making it personal,” the source told Fox News Digital at the time.
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“The other side is desperately and repeatedly trying to do anything to distract from the fact that it was her — and not Brad — who requested an NDA about the divorce, a fact that completely undermines the legitimacy of their never-ending attacks.
“They don’t want anyone to focus on the fact that she deprived the kids of their inheritance of Miraval by breaching the agreement and selling it and taking the money.”
As the legal battle over Miravel continued, Pitt was dealt another personal blow.
The couple’s daughter Shiloh filed to remove Pitt from her hyphenated last name of Jolie-Pitt on her 18th birthday in May. A source close to the situation confirmed to Fox News Digital that Shiloh had hired her own attorney to handle the change, which was spurred by the alleged abuse.
Two of Pitt’s other daughters — Vivienne and Zahara — have seemingly dropped Pitt from their last names in professional and personal settings as well. People magazine also confirmed in May that Vivienne Jolie-Pitt’s name was printed as solely Vivienne Jolie in a playbill for “The Outsiders,” which she worked on with her mother.
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Zahara previously identified herself as “Zahara Marley Jolie” in a video obtained by Essence when joining her sorority at Spelman College.
Following the announcement in May, a source close to Pitt shared the actor’s dismay regarding his daughter’s legal action.
“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,” the insider told People magazine.
“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. He’s still happy with Ines [de Ramon],” the source said of Pitt’s girlfriend, but the separation from his six children “pains him.”
Jolie previously told Harper’s Bazaar how the last few years have been physically, emotionally and mentally turbulent for her.
“My body has been through a lot over the past decade, particularly the past four years, and I have both the visible and invisible scars to show for it,” Jolie said.
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“The invisible ones are harder to wrestle with. Life takes many turns. Sometimes you get hurt, you see those you love in pain and you can’t be as free and open as your spirit desires. It’s not new or old, but I do feel the blood returning to my body.”
Fox News Digital’s Caroline Thayer, Stephanie Giang-Paunon and Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this report.
