Hollywood-style twist hits Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s winery feud

Get ready for another dramatic turn in the never-ending saga of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Château Miraval war. If you thought we were just dealing with grapes and sprawling French estates, brace yourself – we're now delving headfirst into the messy world of Hollywood paycheques and personal finances. Genuinely, only in LA do you end up dissecting film fees in the middle of a winery lawsuit.

What Pitt Wants

Latest twist: Pitt's lawyers have just filed to get their hands on Jolie's private financial records – not just from this last year, but dating all the way back to their split in 2016. They want everything from upfront payments she's pocketed for film roles, to brand deals, right through any other kind of entertainment gig that might have lined her bank account.

Why? They reckon Jolie misled everyone about why she sold her stake in the winery back in 2021 (to none other than Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler, if you recall). The story she gave was that flogging her interest in Miraval was necessary for her "financial independence". Pitt's legal team clearly aren't having that. They'd like the jury to know exactly what sort of coin she's been hauling in all those years – their argument being, if she was swimming in cash anyway, the sale starts to look a tad different.

Jolie's lawyer shot back at a July discovery hearing: "I think this is an overreach by them and a gross one and essentially more controlling conduct by Pitt."

The NDA and Accusations of Control

It doesn't stop there. Pitt's camp also demanded Jolie to sign an NDA as part of the deal, which her legal team called "abusive and controlling". So not exactly a picture of co-parenting harmony. Adding petrol to the fire, Jolie's lawyer went further, pointing out that Angelina put her own career on pause for five years after they split, so she could help their family recover – and specifically cited "substantial physical and emotional abuse" at Brad's hands. If you've been keeping up, that lines up with her previous court statements.

As Jolie's counsel claimed: "For five years she put her career on hold so she can help her family heal from substantial physical and emotional abuse that Mr. Pitt put on that family".

The Legal Back-and-Forth So Far

This financial push follows an earlier legal win for Jolie, when a judge said Pitt didn't bring enough proof to force her to hand over private communications, especially ones between her and her lawyers – those remain protected by privilege, for now.

Jolie sold her Miraval stake to Yuri Shefler in 2021 and Pitt sued the following year, aiming to undo the deal entirely.