Jolie's Lawyer Accuses Pitt of Attempting to Control Actress in Legal Dispute

Angelina Jolie's lawyer has accused Brad Pitt of attempting to control the narrative of their legal disputes, stating his demands for financial information are a form of harassment. This accusation follows a judge's tentative ruling on Tuesday, which denied Pitt's motion to have Jolie ordered to produce financial records from 2017 to 2019.

While the judge denied the initial request, Pitt was granted the ability to renew the motions if Jolie's income or financial condition from 2017 to 2019 becomes relevant during her testimony. These motions were filed after Jolie, 51, asserted that she had "largely put her career on hold" and forgone "years of compensation" after their 2016 separation.

Jolie's legal counsel criticized Pitt's "unyielding demand for harassing information," characterizing it as "the latest manifestation of his attempts to control her and the narratives in this case." The lawyer stated that Jolie's primary goal is to untangle her personal and financial life from her ex-husband, rather than engage in disputes over past financial records.

Pitt's legal team had been seeking detailed financial information from Jolie, alleging she had not fully complied with a prior agreement to produce records from 2017 to 2021, having reportedly only supplied documents for 2020 and 2021. Pitt's filing claimed Jolie withdrew her agreement to provide declarations for the full period and later limited her production to the two most recent years.

The filing also stated that Jolie declined proposals to stipulate that she was not under economic pressure before January 1, 2020, nor that Pitt had not exerted economic coercion on her during the 2017-2019 period. According to Pitt's legal team, Jolie confirmed at an Informal Discovery Conference that she might argue at trial that Pitt used the winery Miraval as leverage to control her, and that her decision to pause her career impacted the proposed Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

Jolie's representatives have previously pushed back against Pitt's characterization of her remarks, claiming she was misquoted and had already provided financial records despite having no obligation to do so. Her team also argued that delving into her finances from 2017-2019 constituted a "serious invasion" of her privacy rights.

Pitt and Jolie, once considered Hollywood's "It" couple, were together for a decade before marrying in 2014. Their relationship ended in 2016 amid allegations of a physical altercation on a private flight with their six children. The ensuing years have seen a highly publicized legal battle over child custody and the division of their shared assets, including the winery Chateau Miraval.

In recent years, several of their children have dropped Pitt's surname, indicating a further estrangement.