Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s kids reportedly wanted their mother to be more outspoken with her side of the story during their eight-year-long divorce battle, which finally got settled on December 30, according to People. The outlet, citing a source, reported on January 1 that despite her children urging her to speak up for herself, she reminded them to focus on changing laws rather than telling public stories.
“She’s been trying hard to be light after a dark time,” a source close to the Maria star told People.
Of Pitt and Jolie’s six children—Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 16—the insider added, “The kids have grown up seeing that some people have so much power and privilege that their voices don’t matter. Their pain doesn’t count.”
Jolie and Pitt met as co-stars on the 2005 set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. After dating for a decade, the pair married in 2014, only to go their separate ways two years later. Jolie filed for dissolution of marriage from Pitt in 2016 following an alleged private plane abuse incident involving their children.
The actor was not charged by authorities after investigations at the time, and Jolie refrained from pressing charges either.
In 2017, the couple signed agreements to preserve the privacy of their children and family by keeping all court documents confidential and employing a private judge to handle all legal decisions.
Documents obtained by various media outlets at the time showed that Jolie risked losing primary custody of their kids if she did not help mend the Bullet Train star’s relationship with their children. Ultimately, the custody trial resulted in the judge granting 50-50 custody to both parents, according to a Pitt source. However, the private judge overseeing the case was later disqualified by an appeals court, and the ruling did not go into effect.
Following their recent divorce settlement, Jolie’s lawyer, James Simon, told People that his client is focused on finding peace and healing for the family. However, this may not happen soon, given the former couple remains entangled in a contentious legal battle over the French winery they once co-owned.
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