Angelina Jolie’s attorney has accused Brad Pitt of trying to control both his former wife and the public narrative surrounding their long-running legal dispute after Jolie secured a favorable ruling in court.
A judge on Tuesday tentatively rejected Pitt’s request to force Jolie to hand over additional financial records. However, court documents obtained by Our News Outlet state that Pitt may renew the motions if Jolie’s income or financial circumstances between 2017 and 2019 become relevant during her testimony. Pitt is 62.
The requests followed claims by Jolie, 51, that she had “largely put her career on hold” after the couple’s 2016 separation and had gone without “years of compensation.”
In a statement to Our News Outlet, Jolie’s attorney sharply criticized Pitt’s legal strategy, describing it as an effort to obtain what he called “harassing information” about the actress.
“Mr. Pitt’s unyielding demand for harassing information is simply the latest example of his efforts to control her and the narratives in this case,” the lawyer said. “Angelina’s goal, and what she has always sought, is to separate her personal and financial affairs from those of her former husband.”
He further alleged that Pitt could have bought Jolie’s stake in the couple’s Château Miraval business at an agreed price but instead attempted to use the sale as leverage to secure a nondisclosure agreement. The attorney said Jolie contends the NDA was intended to conceal alleged abuse involving her and their children, while insisting that her personal income from years before the sale is unrelated to the dispute.
Angelina Jolie’s attorney sharply criticized Brad Pitt after a judge rejected his request for financial records from his former wife; the pair are pictured in 2012
Our News Outlet has contacted Pitt’s representatives and legal counsel for a response but has not received one.
Pitt’s lawyers have been pursuing details about Jolie’s finances after she claimed that she spent years without compensation following their separation.
According to the filings, Jolie had initially agreed to provide financial documents covering 2017 through 2021. Pitt’s legal team maintains that she ultimately supplied records only for 2020 and 2021.
His attorneys then asked the court to compel her to produce records showing her income from 2017 to 2019, arguing that she had failed to provide documents covered by an earlier agreement.
Pitt’s filing cited allegations in Jolie’s cross-complaint that she put her career on hold after the 2016 split and “forg[o] years of compensation.” It also referenced her claim that Pitt had “substantial leverage and control” because of her financial circumstances, and that she decided by 2019 to sell her interest in Miraval to achieve “financial independence” from him.
The filing stated that on February 23, 2026, Jolie withdrew her agreement to provide declarations addressing Request Nos. 81 and 82 for the entire 2017–2021 period. It also said she withdrew her agreement to provide participation statements covering those years.
Pitt’s lawyers alleged that Jolie instead submitted revised responses covering only 2020 and 2021, later providing profit-participation statements and tax returns for those two years alone.
The legal filing also claimed that Jolie rejected a proposal stating that she had not faced “economic pressure” before January 1, 2020, and that Pitt had not subjected her to “economic coercion” between 2017 and 2019.
“Before the IDC [Informal Discovery Conference], plaintiffs proposed that Jolie stipulate she was not under economic pressure before January 1, 2020, and that Pitt did not exert economic coercion on her from 2017 to 2019. Jolie declined,” the document stated.
Jolie’s attorney accused Brad Pitt of making an “unyielding demand for harassing information” from the actress; they are pictured in 2014
The filing said the court later suggested narrowing questions about Jolie’s earnings and compensation. According to Pitt’s lawyers, she rejected that proposal as well and indicated during the conference that she could argue at trial that Miraval had been used to exert control over her. She also maintained that putting her career on hold was relevant to her claim that the proposed NDA was abusive. The discovery dispute therefore remained unresolved.
Pitt’s lawyers argued that the requested records were directly connected to claims Jolie had made about giving up “years of compensation,” describing Miraval as her “most important asset” and alleging that Pitt’s control over distributions from the business gave him “substantial leverage and control” before she decided to sell her stake in Château Miraval in 2019.
In an earlier filing, Jolie disputed Pitt’s interpretation of her comments about seeking “financial independence,” arguing that her words had been mischaracterized.
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She also noted she had already provided financial records despite having ‘no obligation to do so.’
They also alleged digging into Jolie’s finances from 2017-2019 pose a ‘serious invasion’ of her ‘privacy rights.’
Jolie’s finances became of interest to Pitt’s legal team after she alleged to have went without ‘years of compensation’ following their split
‘In short, the entire basis for Pitt compelling these answers is a made-up theory that Jolie did not allege. Nevertheless, to narrow the dispute, and although she feels very strongly that she did not have to do this, Jolie already agreed to produce and has in fact produced her tax returns, and all of her profit participation statements showing any income received, for 2020 and 2021 Although Jolie had no obligation to do so, producing these documents should have ended this dispute. These two years of private financial information—leading up to (2020) and during (2021) – the very dispute that is at the center of this case—already provided Pitt all the insight he needs into Jolie’s financial condition. Going back any further is a serious invasion of Jolie’s privacy rights’.
For a decade, Pitt and Jolie were seen as Hollywood’s ‘It’ couple during their long-term relationship after they met on the set of the 2005 film Mr and Mrs Smith.
They married in August 2014 during a secret ceremony in the South of France and welcomed three children together during their romance: Shiloh in 2006 and twins Vivienne and Knox in 2008.
They also adopted two more, Zahara and Pax, and Pitt legally adopted the son that Angelina had adopted before they got together, Maddox.
But in 2016, it came to an explosive end after the pair got into an alleged physical altercation while on a private flight with their six children and Jolie later filed for divorce.
The former couple have six children together, but many of the children have dropped their father’s last name
Jolie later claimed that Pitt ‘choked’ one of the children during the horrifying dispute and ‘struck’ another in the face, leaving her and the youngsters feeling like ‘hostages’ and cowering in fear under a blanket for hours until they landed.
She also alleged that he grabbed her by the head, slammed her against a wall, and violently shook her at one point during the flight – which resulted in her injuring her back and elbow.
Pitt’s representative called Jolie’s account ‘completely untrue’ to CNN at first, but then released an amended statement to the publication that read, ‘Angelina’s story continues to evolve each time she tells it.
‘Brad has accepted responsibility for what he did but will not for things he didn’t do. He has been on the receiving end of every type of personal attack and misrepresentation.
‘Thankfully, the various public authorities she has tried to use against him over the past six years have made their own independent decisions. Brad will continue to respond in court as he has consistently done.’
Since they split, the two stars have been embroiled in one of the most publicized legal battles in Hollywood history over custody of their children, as well as the winery that they once owned together.
In May 2021, after years of duking it out in court, Pitt and Jolie were officially granted joint custody of their six children, but one month later, the judge’s decision was thrown out.
The fallout from their split has gotten progressively uglier.
Zahara, Vivienne, Maddox, Shiloh and Knox have all dropped their father’s last name. It’s unclear where Pax stands.
Pitt has since moved on romantically and has been dating jewelry designer Ines de Ramon for the last few years.
