Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have finally reached a divorce settlement, more than eight years after announcing in 2016 that their two-year marriage was ending.
The Oscar-winning former Hollywood power couple, who were together for 12 years before splitting, signed a declaration of default filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday. Records obtained by The Times on Tuesday said the document said the couple had entered into a written agreement regarding marital and property rights and waived their right to receive financial support from a future spouse. . A judge still needs to sign the agreement.
This high-profile breakup was one of the longest and most controversial in Hollywood history, taking years in the making and lasting four times as long as their marriage.
“More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr. Pitt. She and her children left all property they shared with Mr. Pitt, and since then, she has focused on finding peace and healing for her family. ,” attorney James Simon said in a statement to the Times on Tuesday.
“This is just one part of a long process that started eight years ago. Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but relieved that this part is over,” said Harsh Manis, LLP. Simon said.
People first reported the breakup late Monday.
A representative for Mr. Pitt declined to comment to the Times on Tuesday.
Jolie, who is currently nominated for an Oscar for her role in the Maria Callas biopic “Maria,” has never spoken ill of her ex-girlfriend in public or private, saying, “I am trying very hard to brighten up after a dark period.” said a person close to. He told the Times he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
“Children have grown up seeing that some people have so much power and privilege that their voices don’t matter,” the source said. “Their pain is not taken into consideration. They have been asking her to represent them and protect them for the last few years, but she would rather run the law than speak publicly. It reminds me to focus on changing.”
Jolie, 49, and Pitt, 61, used a private judge to settle their divorce. This is an increasingly common practice among separated celebrity couples. This strategy allowed them to keep the details of their split largely out of public view. No formal proceedings have been filed in their case since February last year.
Jolie and the “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” Oscar winner met while working on the 2005 action film “Mr. Martin.” & Mrs. Smith,” while Pitt was still married to “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston and after Jolie had already adopted two children. The couple gave birth to their first child, daughter Shiloh, in Namibia in 2006. After several years and several more children, the couple decided to marry at the insistence of their six children. After a two-year engagement, the couple legally married on August 14, 2014, and celebrated their union in a non-denominational ceremony at a chateau and winery in Provence on August 23, 2014.
Then, the “Girl, Interrupted” Oscar winner abruptly filed for divorce from Pitt on September 19, 2016, just days after they allegedly got into an argument on a private plane returning from Europe. According to the FBI report, several of the actor’s children were also implicated in the incident. As a result of the investigation, Pitt was not charged by authorities.
Jolie cited irreconcilable differences in her petition for dissolution and listed the separation date as September 15, 2016. Jolie asked for sole physical custody and joint legal custody of their six children, but indicated she was willing to grant visitation rights to her husband.
Since that filing, four of their children have become adults, denying the need for a custody agreement for them. The former couple have two minor children, 16-year-old twins Knox and Vivian. His daughter Shiloh, who filed a petition in May to have her father’s last name removed from her own, filed a ruling in August asking the court to formally approve the change. She is now legally known as Shiloh Nouvelle Jolie, rather than her real name, Shiloh Nouvelle Jolie Pitt.
Tense divorce negotiations and heated countersuits lasted until the two released a joint statement in 2017 in which they agreed to handle the divorce privately and agreed to use a private judge to resolve the matter. , lasted for months. The two bifurcated their divorce, separating the marriage itself from other issues in the divorce, such as child custody and property division, and were declared legally single in 2019.
However, Jolie filed a motion in 2019 to be dismissed from the case after former private judge John W. Ouderkirk reached a decision that included equal custody of the children. Jolie claimed there were unreported conflicts of interest and that Pitt’s attorney, Ann C. Kiley, was hired too late to provide adequate explanations for other cases she was hired to involve. An appeals court upheld a decision to disbar him from the case in 2020, resulting in the judge’s removal and the couple starting the case over again.
In 2022, Jolie filed a lawsuit against the FBI that revealed more details about her family’s 2016 private plane crash. The alleged incident also came up during Jolie and Pitt’s protracted battle over Chateau Miraval, the winery and family home in the south of France that was also the venue for their 2014 wedding celebration.
Pitt’s lawyers claimed Jolie “revengefully” sold shares in the winery without his consent and “attempted to harm Pitt,” and later revealed details of the unraveling of their relationship. . Later, Ms. Jolie’s lawyers in the case argued that Pitt made “unrelenting efforts to control and financially deplete Ms. Jolie” and “attempted to hide a history of abuse, control, and cover-up.” ” he criticized. Pitt’s team denied these allegations.
The Miraval lawsuit is ongoing. It’s unclear how, or if, divorce settlements will affect that.
This is Pitt’s second divorce and Jolie’s third. Jolie is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, who died in 2007 after battling breast and ovarian cancer, and Jolie underwent a preventive double mastectomy in 2013 due to health concerns. received. Jolie was previously married to British actor Jonny Lee Miller from 1996 to 2000 and to “Landman” actor Billy Bob. Thornton from 2000 to 2003.
Pitt was married to Aniston from 2000 to 2005.
Times staff writer Christy Zurilla and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
