Brad Pitt, 57, and Angelina Jolie, 45, have been battling for custody rights of their children for almost five years.
Not all celebrity divorces are amicable even when they are high profile. Sometimes, the differences between two partners are so vast that it might take years to reach an end. Brad Pitt, 57, and Angelina Jolie, 45, have been battling for custody rights of their children for almost five years now. During that time, Pitt ensured that he cleaned up his act.
The Meet Joe Black actor had opened up about his struggles with drinking, drug use, and controlling his temper in the recent past. He has been going to therapy and has worked on himself. One of the reasons was his children. His ex-wife has wanted assurance from him before letting him have them for 50% of the time. She had filed for divorce soon after he lost his temper on their eldest, Maddox, according to CheatSheet.
The divorce was a "huge generator for change," he told GQ in 2017. "I can’t remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn’t boozing or had a spliff, or something. Something," he explained. "And you realize that a lot of it is, um — cigarettes, you know, pacifiers. And I’m running from feelings. I’m really, really happy to be done with all of that," he added.
He stopped drinking after the break-up and began going to therapy. "I’m realizing, as a real act of forgiveness for myself for all the choices that I’ve made that I’m not proud of, that I value those missteps, because they led to some wisdom, which led to something else,” Pitt explained to Interview Magazine. "You can’t have one without the other. I see it as something I’m just now getting my arms around at this time in my life," he added.
Having made so much progress, this dad wants to have access to his kids regularly, but he's still having to battle Jolie, who might be cash-strapped from the years of legal fights.
An insider tells Woman's Day, "Brad's feeling quietly confident that he'll see more of the younger children in the future, and his greatest hope is that Shiloh, who he has always shared a tight bond with, may even speak up to say she wants to move in with her dear old dad."
So far, he has been unable to spend much time with his children, including Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14 and 12-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, as Jolie has full custody.
The Girl, Interrupted actress recently sold a rare Winston Churchill painting for $14.9 million, and that led others to believe that she was in need of quick cash to keep the legal fight ongoing. "If you ask Camp Brad, their take on her selling the Churchill is that she needs the money. She's living off royalties and well outside her means right now because she's not working, and even though she's worth around $100 million, she has a lot of staff and real estate to pay for – not to mention kids with increasingly expensive tastes as they get older," said a source. "Brad's friends think she's struggling with the pressure of running a six-kid household on her own – and where she can, she refuses Brad's help out of sheer pride," the source said.
They had to pause their legal battle for financial reasons in 2020 as well. "A reunion is incredibly unlikely. First and foremost, it's about money. They have so many properties and so many areas their pre-nup doesn't cover. For instance, Brad wants to keep their estate in France and keep up their wine brand, while Ange wants to sell the property and use it all for charity. Also, Brad has a collection of early 20th century furnishings that's worth about $10 million, and Angelina wants that sold too. The list goes on and on and the lawyers are in stalemate," a source told Lady-First.
They have had many temporary custody arrangements but nothing has stuck around and given them structure for their family dynamic, something that might be needed for the children. While the couple became legally single in 2019, their children are still in a state of flux. If Jolie's fortune runs out, their legal battles might also come to a full stop.
References:
https://www.gq.com/story/brad-pitt-gq-style-cover-story
https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/celeb-news/brad-pitt-shiloh-live-together-67041
Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by (L)Junko Kimura (R) Frazer Harrison
