Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are heading back to court, this time over their winery in France. Pitt filed a lawsuit against Jolie this week, accusing the Eternals star of selling her interest in the Chateau Miraval to a Russian oligarch without him knowing. The former couple tied the knot at the French estate in 2014, but she filed for divorce two years later. They are still in the middle of a court battle over the custody of their six children.
Pitt, 58, and Jolie, 46, bought the winery back in 2008. In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star notes that he has heavily invested in the winery for years. Although Jolie paid 40% of the $28.4 million purchase price herself, Pitt says he made the winery a success himself because, by 2013, she was no longer interested. He claims there was an understanding between the two that neither of them could sell their interest in the business without the other’s consent.
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“Unfortunately, this is another example of the same person disregarding her legal and ethical obligations,” a source close to Pitt told TMZ. “In doing so, she has violated the rights of the only person who poured money and sweat equity into the success of the business by purporting to sell both the business and family home to a third-party competitor. She is seeking a return on an investment she did not make and profits she did not earn.”
The winery took center stage in Pitt and Jolie’s ongoing divorce battle in July 2021, when Jolie told the judge she reached an agreement to sell her interest in the Chateau Miraval. In September 2021, Pitt agreed to let Jolie look into selling her interest, but he was not fully consenting to the sale. Pitt claims he heard from Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of Stoli Group, out of nowhere in October. The company, run by a Russian oligarch, Yuri Shefler, bought Jolie’s interest. Pitt accused Jolie of making the deal behind his back and “intentionally” kept the terms of the deal a secret.
Pitt argued that Shefler has made running the winery business difficult. He wants the judge to undo the deal between Shefler and Jolie. Jolie has not commented on the situation.
Jolie and Pitt started dating in 2005, shortly after they met on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith and after Pitt and Jennifer Aniston divorced. They finally married in August 2014 at the Chateau Miraval, but Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016. Although they were declared divorced in 2019, the custody battle over their children has continued. They share six children, Maddox, 20; Pax, 18; Zahara, 17; Shiloh, 15; and 13-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.
