Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie reach divorce settlement after 8 years

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After an eight-year long legal battle, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement.

According to PEOPLE, Jolie and Pitt have settled on a deal that covers off their marital and property rights, effectively ending one of the longest and most bitter splits in Hollywood history.

“More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr. Pitt,” Jolie’s attorney, James Simon, said in a statement. “She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr. Pitt, and since that time she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family. This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago. Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.”

A source close to Jolie added, “She doesn’t speak ill of (Pitt) publicly or privately. She’s been trying hard to be light after a dark time.”

But even though they’ve settled their divorce, the legal battle between the two stars over Jolie’s sale of her stake in their Chateau Miraval winery will continue.

Pitt, 61, and Jolie, 49, met while filming 2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith and were married between 2014 and 2016. The former partners shared six children and during their time together they were considered one of Hollywood’s most glamorous couples.

But the Oscar-winning actress filed for divorce on Sept. 19, 2016, after Pitt allegedly became violent towards her and their children while aboard a private flight back to Los Angeles from Europe.

In 2022, as the two battled over her sale of a stake she owned in Chateau Miraval, court documents obtained by Page Six, Variety and other media outlets shed light on that 2016 flight with Jolie alleging that the Bullet Train star “choked one of the children and struck another in the face.” 

“At one point, he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children,” Jolie claimed.

Pitt was investigated for alleged child abuse over the plane incident, but authorities elected not to pursue charges.

“In response to allegations made following a flight within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States which landed in Los Angeles carrying Mr. Brad Pitt and his children, the FBI has conducted a review of the circumstances and will not pursue further investigation. No charges have been filed in this matter,” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a statement to CNN at the time.

Portions of a redacted FBI report obtained by The Associated Press in 2022, indicated that Jolie was “personally conflicted” about pursing charges against Pitt, and in a later court filing she said she opted not to push for them “for the sake of the family.”

Pitt’s rep told CNN that Jolie’s claims were “completely untrue.”

“(Jolie’s) story continues to evolve each time she tells it with new, unsubstantiated claims,” the rep’s statement read. “Brad has accepted responsibility for what he did but will not for things he didn’t do. These new allegations are completely untrue.”

Pitt told GQ in 2017 that when the plane incident occurred he was abusing alcohol, but had since stopped drinking and had started seeing a therapist.

“I enjoy wine very, very much, but I just ran it to the ground. I had to step away for a minute. And truthfully I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I was good,” he said. “You know, I just started therapy. I love it, I love it. I went through two therapists to get to the right one.”

Since Jolie initiated divorce proceedings against Pitt, the pair also waged war over custody of the children – Maddox, 22; Pax, 21; Zahara, 19; Shiloh, 18; and 16-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne – and their joint business interest in their French winery.

Earlier this summer, TMZ reported that Shiloh had petitioned a Los Angeles court to have Pitt dropped from her legal name. One of the former couple’s other children, Vivienne, was listed in a program for The Outsiders on Broadway as “Vivienne Jolie.”

Meanwhile, Jolie and Pitt’s adopted son Pax called the Oscar-winning actor a “world class a**hole” and said that his kids “tremble in fear” when they are around him.

“Happy Father’s Day to this world class a**hole!! You time and time again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person,” Pax, who Jolie adopted from Vietnam in 2007, began the message, which the Daily Mail published last year.

“You have no consideration or empathy toward your 4 youngest children who tremble in fear when in your presence,” Pax reportedly continued.

“You have made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell,” he added, according to the Mail. “You may tell yourself and the world whatever you want, but the truth will come to light someday.

“So, Happy Father’s Day, you f***ing awful human being!!!”

The message was written alongside an image of Pitt accepting his Academy Award for his work on 2019’s Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.

Elsewhere, Maddox and Pitt reportedly no longer have a connection with a source telling Us Weekly in 2020: “That relationship continues to be non-existent.”

In the wake of their messy split, Pitt has moved on with jewelry designer Ines de Ramon. The two have been dating for two years, and Pitt calls her his girlfriend. 

“This is Brad’s first proper relationship since the divorce,” an insider told PEOPLE last year. “He introduces (Ramon) as his girlfriend. It’s great to see him in a good place. Ines makes him very happy.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com