Angelina Jolie’s lawyer made a highly unusual public appeal to her ex husband Brad Pitt – asking the actor to ‘let her go’ – on Friday.
Paul Murphy, her attorney, said: ‘She looks forward to the day when he is finally able to let her go’. Pitt is accused of ‘sandbagging’ his former wife by filing a response to documents which her team say was ‘designed to cause a press event.’
Her team also say that the latest legal skirmishes, which concern Pitt requiring Jolie to sign an NDA as part of a deal to sell her portion of their vineyard, are part of a ‘shameful’ cover-up of his abuse of her and are ‘about power and control.’
The appeal follows a declaration by a former bodyguard which was lodged at the LA Superior Court by Pitt’s side. It accused Jolie of trying to drive a wedge between Pitt and their six children. Jolie’s team are now moving to have that filing struck.
It’s thought that the three eldest children – Maddox, Pax and Zahara – have no relationship with Pitt, and son Pax said in an Instagram post three years ago that his father was a ‘world class a**hole’ and ‘f***ing awful human being’ who made his children tremble with fear.
Angelina Jolie’s lawyer made a highly unusual public appeal to her ex husband Brad Pitt – asking the actor to ‘let her go’ – on Friday (the couple pictured in 2013)
Pitt is no longer seeking to vary custody arrangements for the three children who are under 18, following protracted legal action which failed.
Meanwhile, battle rages over the vineyard they once co-owned, which Ms Jolie sold to billionaire Yuri Sheffler of the Stoli group.
Pitt argues went against their agreement to offer the other the right of first refusal.
Paul Murphy, attorney for Angelina Jolie, said: ‘Mr. Pitt’s continued attempt to equate common NDAs for security personnel and housekeepers covering confidential information employees learn at work, with him demanding an expanded NDA to ensure the continued coverup of his deplorable actions remains shameful.
‘This case is not about NDAs in general, but about power and control.
‘All Angelina has ever wanted was separation and health, with positive relationships between all members of their family, including Mr. Pitt. She looks forward to the day when he is finally able to let her go.’
A source close to the case adds that the former bodyguard Tony Webb who made the declaration was present when Pitt allegedly attacked Jolie and the children in the 2016 incident on a private plane which ended the marriage.
The source said: ‘Webb is on Pitt’s payroll and worked for the same security team whose other members stood on the Tarmac in LA and turned a blind eye to Pitt’s actions that day.
It’s thought that the three eldest children – Maddox, Pax and Zahara – have no relationship with Pitt (Brad is pictured in 2014 with L-R Pax, Shiloh, Maddox and his parents Jane and William)
Angelina and Brad are pictured in 2005 movie Mr And Mrs Smith, where they met while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston
‘Webb’s declaration also conveniently leaves out the fact that the second security guard mentioned in the declaration, though called to testify by Pitt, testified in favor of Angelina, not against her.’
In legal papers seen by Daily Mail.com, Jolie objects to and moves to strike the declaration of their former bodyguard, filed by Pitt on Wednesday.
The filing notes: ‘Pitt clearly is trying to gain an unfair advantage by offering this contested evidence for the first time on reply when Jolie has no opportunity to respond.
The law is crystal clear that this form of evidence sandbagging grossly violates due process of law and should be struck. ‘The general rule of motion practice is that new evidence is not permitted with reply papers.’
It adds: ‘The Webb declaration has no relevance to this case or to the issue presented by Pitt’s motion. In fact, the Webb declaration, which does not mention the word ‘Miraval’ a single time, serves to demonstrate exactly why other NDAs involving other parties and other circumstances are irrelevant and will—as Jolie predicted in her opposition brief— cause a mini-trial on each and every NDA Pitt claims is relevant to this case.
‘The Webb declaration illustrates the point: Pitt is now claiming that conversations with two ‘contractors’ (security guards) about testimony in a different case are somehow relevant here. Jolie contests the testimony’s relevance, its credibility (Webb works for Pitt), and its accuracy.
‘To resolve this, the Court would have to have a mini-trial on this issue alone, yet none of it explains whether Pitt’s demand for an expanded NDA from Jolie as a condition of purchasing her interest in Miraval was the reason the deal they had struck fell apart.
‘If this evidence truly was relevant and material to Pitt’s motion, he would have— indeed, was required to—offer it in his moving papers.
‘That he did not do so tells the Court all it needs to know about the strength of Pitt’s motion and, frankly, his true purpose in filing the Webb declaration—to create a press event and again put external pressure on Jolie. The declaration is irrelevant and violates Jolie’s due process rights. The Court should strike the declaration. ‘
The couple’s Chateau Miraval vineyard is pictured. They previously owned the sprawling estate
According to documents lodged by Pitt’s lawyers on Thursday, former SAS soldier Webb claims that the two colleagues were told by Jolie’s personal assistant that she ‘would sue’ after it emerged that they might give evidence in the couple’s custody battle.
Documents submitted to the court, seen by DailyMail.com, state Webb’s colleague told him he overheard Jolie ‘encouraging the children to avoid spending time with Pitt during custody visits.’
His comments make up part of the motion lodged by Pitt, where Jolie is called a ‘hypocrite’ for claiming he wanted to use an NDA in the sale of their French vineyard to ‘control’ her – despite regularly gagging her own staff with similar contracts.
In his statement, Webb claims that two of his contractors were subpoenaed to give evidence at the estranged couple’s custody hearings – exposing conversations between Jolie and the children.
He claims in the document that he typically took orders from Jolie’s personal assistant Michael Vieira and became aware that the relationship between Pitt and Jolie broke down in 2016.
According to Webb, the papers read, ‘After their divorce SRS Global and I continue to provide security for Ms. Jolie, Mr. Pitt and their children.
‘Shortly before two SRS global contractors testified in a court case that I understood was related to Ms Jolie and Mr Pitt’s divorce and the custody of their children Mr. Vieira called me on my cell phone.
‘He told me that he had heard that two contractors who provided personal security for Ms. Jolie through SRS Global might be testifying in the family court case.
‘Mr. Vieira then asked me to stop the two individuals from testifying. I understood that Mr. Vieira was making this request on the behalf of Ms. Jolie,’ Webb alleges in his declaration.
Webb went on to say in the document that he had ‘no power’ to stop the two individuals from testifying because they were ‘independent contractors’ rather than his direct employees.
The filings claim that Vieira then warned Webb that both men had ‘entered into NDA’s’ with Jolie, and if they ‘testified in the family law case, Jolie would sue them.’
Webb added: ‘I communicated this message to the two individuals over the phone and they both told me they planned to testify.
In legal papers seen by Daily Mail.com, Jolie objects to and moves to strike the declaration of their former bodyguard, filed by Pitt on Wednesday (the couple in 2015)
‘One of the two individuals, Ross Foster, specified that he intended to testify regardless of the NDA if he received a court subpoena.
‘When Mr. Foster told me this he told me also that if asked he would testify about statements he overheard that Ms. Jolie making to the children, encouraging them to avoid spending time with Mr. Pitt during custody visits’.
Webb, from England, retired from military service to set up SRS Global Security Ltd before working for Pitt and Jolie.
Earlier this year, Jolie’s attorneys made the claim that the marriage did include physical violence.
Court papers said: ‘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.
The court papers claim Jolie has evidence of ‘Pitt’s history of physical abuse of the family and control abuse of Jolie’ and claims the children continue to experience ‘significant and ongoing post-traumatic stress’ as the result of his alleged physical and emotional abuse.
Attorneys for Jolie refer to a ‘history of abuse, control and cover-ups’ and claim that Jolie has ‘testimony, emails, photographs, and other evidence’ which, they say, will show how Pitt tried to conceal his behaviour if they come to trial.
The actor’s denials of physically abusing the family are described in the court documents as ‘gaslighting’.
Documents in addition claim he exerted ‘coercive’ financial control over her via their dispute over the Miraval wine-making business as their divorce has dragged on over the past seven years.
The couple are pictured in 2014
Pitt has denied all allegations of physical abuse and was not charged following an FBI probe over what happened on the flight.
The couple met on the set of the film Mr and Mrs Smith in 2004 and the following year Brad Pitt and actress wife Jennifer Aniston announced that they were getting divorced. In 2008 Pitt and Jolie bought Chateau Miraval, a 35 room house in Provence with 926 acres and a vineyard.
He and Jolie have six children, Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 17, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 15 and were married at Chateau Miraval in 2014, with the children playing roles in the ceremony and writing their vows.
Jolie filed for divorce five days after the incident on the plane in 2016 and a legal battle has raged ever since.
A hearing on Pitt’s NDA motion is to be decided during a hearing on May 16, while full trial over the issues is not expected this year.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk