'Attempts to Take Advantage’: Read the Icy Email Angelina Jolie’s Team Fired Off to Brad Pitt's Lawyer in Fight Over Actress Signing NDA
The legal battle is getting nasty.
Apr. 5 2024, Published 10:53 a.m. ET
Angelina Jolie submitted a series of emails and documents to back up her claims her ex-husband Brad Pitt refused to let her sell her stake in a winery they owned — unless she signed a strict non-disclosure agreement that barred her from speaking badly about him.
Pitt and Jolie are in an ugly court battle over a $164 million French winery named Chateau Miraval. The actor sued his ex-wife after she sold her stake in the company to a company called Stoli, run by a Russian oligarch named Yuri Shefler.
The email sent from Jolie's lawyer to Pitt's team.
Pitt claimed Jolie broke a promise not to sell her shares to a third party without his approval. The exes purchased the estate to pass it down to their children.
The actor said she spent a substantial amount of time and money into building it into a lucrative wine business. He accused Jolie of selling her stake to a Russian oligarch to tarnish the brand’s reputation.
Pitt accused Shefler and his team of attempting a “hostile” takeover of the company. The oligarch and his company denied the claims and countersued Pitt for $250 million — over claims he misused company assets for vanity projects.
His lawsuit demanded the entire deal be void.
The email sent by Jolie to Pitt expressing her desire to sell her stake in the company.
As we first reported, Jolie denied all allegations of wrongdoing. Last year, she submitted an email dated January 21, 2021, that she sent to Pitt.
In the message, Jolie explained she wanted out of the business. She said, “You know how much I wanted to buy Miraval, as a family business, as a place for us to visit together, and as a place to hold diplomatic and humanitarian meetings. Above all, it is the place we brought the twins home to, and where we were married over a plaque in my mother’s memory. A place that held the promise of what could be and where I thought I would grow old. Even now impossible to write this without crying. I will treasure my memories of what it was a decade ago.”
She added, “But it is also the place that marks the beginning of the end of our family — and a business that is centered around alcohol.”
The actress said, “In the past four years I have seen lots of inconsiderate behavior, money spent in ways that I would not have approved, and decisions made that I was not consulted on. I’ve been hurt by decisions that have been made that show no interest in sharing the business or changing it fundamentally into something that would be healthier for our children.”
Jolie dropped a bombshell in court this week.
“Most of all, I was shaken by the recent imagery that was released to sell the alcohol. I find it irresponsible and not something I would want the children to see. It reminded me of painful times,” Jolie said. “All of this tells me very clearly that the vision you and the others in the business have is not one I can share. I do not feel I can be involved, publicly or privately, in a business based on alcohol, when alcoholic behavior harmed our family so deeply."
The exes attempted to work out a deal after she reached out to Pitt. At one point, Pitt and his team agreed to pay Jolie $54 million to buy her stake.
This week, Jolie claimed Pitt attempted to have her sign a strict NDA that barred her from speaking about the business AND their personal life.
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Pitt said Jolie had no right to sell without his approval.
Jolie demanded Pitt turn over a series of documents and emails that she believes will back up her claim about the NDA.
RadarOnline.com obtained a bombshell email sent by Jolie’s lawyer to Pitt’s lawyer on June 13, 2021.
The email explained that Jolie was “stepping back from all aspects of negotiations regarding the sale.”
Her lawyer said, “she is doing this because it has become apparent that these negotiations are not in any way production, and that there is no prospect of her being treated fairly and as an equal partner.”
“She made her request to sell her share in the business in good faith, and reasonably anticipated that negotiations would pertain solely to the business transaction itself,” the lawyer added. “Instead, she feels that there have been numerous attempts to take advantage of the situation and to impose requests that are improper, are unconstitutionally vague and restrictive, are beyond the scope of the business, and are distressing and coercive to the point of being felt abusive.”
Jolie was offered $54 million at one point but the deal fell apart.
Jolie’s lawyer said her client had promised to not disparage the business. “She has made significant concessions in the financial negotiations in order to be able to close this painful chapter in her family history, and to end her association with Miraval, even at the loss of a family home as well as a financial loss.”
Sources close to Pitt dispute Jolie's claim he asked for a strict NDA and claimed she was the one who asked for a broader non-disparagement clause. An insider said the NDA proposed by Pitt did not prevent Jolie from speaking about their relationship.
The negotiations fell apart which led to Pitt filing the lawsuit. The actor has yet to respond.
Pitt denied all claims of abuse.
In her recent motion, Jolie accused Pitt of being abusive before their explosive 2016 flight that led to their divorce.
"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," her lawyers charged. Sources close to Pitt have denied the accusations for years.
No criminal charges were ever brought against Pitt over the incident.
A friend of Pitt's familiar with the litigation tells RadarOnline.com "This is a pattern of behavior — 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,"
The source added, "There was a lengthy custody trial that involved the entire history of their relationship and a judge who heard all the evidence still granted him 50/50 custody."