Angelina Jolie Admits She Was ‘Broken’ By ‘Horrific’ Split From Ex Brad Pitt: ‘It Took A Lot To Separate’
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s divorce has been on going since 2016, as the couple continues a legal battle over child custody.
Angelina Jolie, 46, made a rare public comment about her on-going split from ex Brad Pitt, 57. The Oscar winner opened up about the “difficult” divorce and custody battle with her Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star, who she shares kids Maddox, 20, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 15, and 13-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox with. When asked if she “feared” for the safety of her kids during the relationship, the actress nodded and said “yes, for my family. My whole family,” in a new interview with The Guardian, published on Sept. 4, 2021.
While she clarified that there’s “a lot I can’t say” due to the “legal situation,” she confessed that the decision to split after 14 years altogether was tough. “I’m not the kind of person who makes decisions like the decisions I had to make lightly. It took a lot for me to be in a position where I felt I had to separate from the father of my children,” she explained, noting that her advocacy work kept her distracted in some ways. “Often you cannot recognize something in a personal way, especially if your focus is on the greatest global injustices, because everything else seems smaller. It’s so hard. I’d like to be able to have this discussion and it’s so important,” Angelina said.
During the couple’s on-going divorce, Angelina made domestic abuse allegations against Brad, in addition to specific claims about an airplane incident that occurred between a 15-year-old Maddox and his father on a flight from Nice, France in 2016. Judge John W. Ouderkirk, who Angelina’s legal team has previously claimed has a conflict of interest in the case due to a pre-existing relationship with Brad, has denied their five underage children from testifying about the incident which Angelina also alluded to.
“It has been so horrific that I almost have to see it as a godsend to be in a position to be able to fight this system. It doesn’t start with the violation [the plane incident]. It’s so much more complicated than that,” the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider actresses added. “My 17-year-old [son Pax], for example, has been denied a voice in court…I think at the end of the day, even if you and a few people you love are the only people who know the truth of your life, what you fight for, or what you sacrifice, or what you’ve suffered, you come to be at peace with that, regardless of everything going on around you.”
Days after Angelina was granted full custody of their five minor kids, Brad Pitt’s legal team clapped back. “We are seeking review in the California Supreme Court because the temporary judge, who had been appointed and repeatedly renewed by both sides, was improperly disqualified after providing a detailed, fact-based custodial decision, following a lengthy legal process with multiple witnesses and experts,” Brad’s lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. of GIBSON DUNN told HollywoodLife. The actor had previously been granted joint custody in May 2021. Maddox, now 20, is considered an adult and living in South Korea where he is attending Yonsei University.