Before the Thanksgiving holiday, we discussed the news that Brad Pitt made a “desperate plea” to Angelina Jolie to get her to somehow settle their custody dispute out of court. They’re due in court on December 4th for the big custody hearing, but for weeks now, sources have claimed that they’re trying to work on a deal before the hearing. Brad has cast himself as the (only) parent who is thinking of the health of the kids, like the hearing would be the worst thing ever for the kids (and not his drunken violence). Well, one of Brad’s favorite outlets dropped some news just before the Thanksgiving holiday, only The Blast claims that they’re talking to “sources close to Jolie.” So take this is as you will:
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will save their children from a bitter custody trial because we are told a settlement between the stars is about to be signed. Sources close to Jolie tell The Blast a custody settlement between the two stars is imminent, with the goal being to wrap up negotiations before the private custody trial begins.
As for specifics of the settlement, we’re told although Jolie fought to give Pitt minimal custody of their 6 children, the deal will include a substantial amount of time given to the “World War Z” star. Our sources say the former couple finally realized the ongoing fight is only hurting the children, and although they have not yet signed off on the agreement, it’s expected to be finalized very soon.
As we reported, the private trial was gearing up to be very nasty. Jolie had planned on using the child abuse allegations against Pitt from the airplane incident in 2016 that ended their marriage, even though he was never charged with a crime. The trial, which appointed the same private judge who officiated the star’s wedding ceremony, would most likely have been months of grueling litigation involving the children. The 6 kids have already been subjected to ongoing custody evaluations, and the findings were going to be used to determine a final custody order for the family.
However, with a deal in place, Jolie and Pitt will save their family from the painstaking proceedings, and can instead begin to focus on the financial part of the divorce.
I will believe it when I see it. I think up until a real deal is announced in, like, People Magazine, and until we know the specifics of the custody deal, Team Brad is going to continue to manipulate the press and smear his estranged wife. Basically, I don’t buy that Angelina and the people around her are leaking sh-t to The Blast, and I especially don’t believe that she would leak something like “we’re told although Jolie fought to give Pitt minimal custody of their 6 children, the deal will include a substantial amount of time given to the “World War Z” star.” Wait for the deal to really be announced.
Also: it was announced that Angelina will guest edit BBC Radio’s Today program on December 28th. That’s their current affairs/political program, and she’ll be using the day to bring in guests to discuss sexual violence in war zones and refugees.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN.
Here’s hoping for the best for the children.
Absolutely!
No question about it
At this point his team is acting desperate… He doesn’t want the details of what happened to come out in the open. Angie isn’t running scared cos she has nothing to hide hence she lets the court decide
Brad & Team are creaming in their pants over Angelina & Samantha.
They have the goods and the evidence to back up so Brad fighting tooth & nail for it not to go to court hearing.
It seems to me that Brad lost his sons with his alcoholic abusive behaviour 2 years ago and now he is losing his daughters with his smear campaign.
I certainly have a very different opinion of Brad Pitt. He seems more concerned about himself than his children. None of us know what happened on that plane except that it frightened the children and that it was the last straw for Angie who had been dealing with a drinking and absences for some time had to leave the childrens family home for the health of her family. I really do not thin Brad would let her stay in his house. even for the kids. He appears to be selfish about that house. Oh and I forgot brought DCFS in to their lives by his actions.
Thank you perfectly summed up
I know it is an unpopular opinion here, but I think that these kids have been poked, prodded and analysed enough. There is no way this should have to go to court. If shared custody will be harmful to the kids, either physically or emotionally, then there will be a mass of evidence to back that up and the private judge will have an easy decision and Pitt would be in no position to fight it. If that is not the case, then the courts are clear that shared physical custody is the best option. I simply cannot see a situation in which fighting this out in court would be a good thing and I strongly suspect Laura Wasser knew where this was going and was not prepared to be a part of it.
7 therapists and the judge wouldn’t let Brad see the children without supervision.
For 18 months, Brad was allowed to spend few hours with the children under supervision.
The children had to speak to their therapists before, during and after each session with Brad.
His oldest sons refuse to see him while judge ordered the therapists to ignore the children’s fear of Brad. In fact, the judge ordered Angelina & therapists so convince the children that they shouldn’t be scared of spending time with Brad.
Don’t tell me that the above doesn’t give you a major red alert with Brad???
It is not my decision and I simply don’t believe most of what has been written about this or any other tabloid story. If all the information above is correct, then I imagine the decision would be straightforward. The key thing is that a small army has been mobilised to assess the situation and the majority of those people are required to put the children’s interest first, If it goes to court it can only be because someone isn’t prepared to accept the conclusions; that could be either Pitt or Jolie, but whoever it is, they are not being fair to the children.
but everything Maya said is the truth it isn’t rumor, hearsay or tabloid nonsense these are facts and when you google it you’ll find it…
Thank you Maya for speaking truth! As he always says, “he knows his truth”, well so does Miss Jolie. I am so glad, and still continue to hope, Angie stuck to her guns and Pitt is still giving “substantial time” only, along with his monitors. He brought this all on himself. And has the unmitigated gall to speak of alienation from Jolie and denigrade her humanitarian efforts. Still want them to go to court because I want all “of his truths” to come out in court for the world to hear. Will it harm the children? IMO no. Truth will actually set them free!
This is feeling a lot like vengeance. Jolie has the right to go to court and expose every lurid detail. But the bottom line is Brad followed the guidelines concerning therapy and sobriety. The judge, who already knows EVERYTHING, supported Brad in his June 2018 Order. The outcome will be joint custody. It could have been settled long ago.
I think shared custody will help keep the children from being put in the middle. A semblence of settlement is long overdue. It’s about what’s best for the children and according to Angelina, she wants the children to be healed from any family rift. This is not a popularity contest between fans of Pitt and Jolie, e.g, “I like Angelina so she should have the kids” blah blah blah. The best parent in divorce is a co-parent.
20/80 or 30/70 is shared I guess.
I’m w/you jellybean. This is the one thread that I tend to disagree w/ most of the posts. I have a unique up close an personal view of family courts! It’s always very complicated and requires parents to put aside their egos
( I’d imagine not either’s strong suit)
Additionally, I recall a Judge giving strongly worded rebuke to Jolie in a hearing to cooperate.
Because I’ve had such a traumatic experience
( even though I eventually prevailed) I believe these cases can get away from both parents and turn into something neither intended. If they settle it’s because Jolie’s attorney is telling her she won’t prevail…
Or Pitt’s attorney could be telling him he won’t prevail.
I’m in agreement too. The longer this goes on, the worse for the kids, and for both adults too. Everyone needs to settle this and start to find some new normalcy.
Hopefully the judge is able to evaluate everything that’s happened so far, where everyone’s at now, and come up with a plan that’s best for the kids. My guess is they’ll live with their mom primarily, and have visitation with their dad, with continued therapy and whatever else they need.
This going to court is going to make a lot of info public, and I can’t see how it would be good for the kids to have their traumas detailed in the news.
One or both can compromise, reach an agreement and the judge will sign off on it. This happens 90% of the time. OR if that’s not possible, it will go to trial, each will present a whole lot of ugliness, the Judge will take into account all the info from all the professionals involved and make the final ruling himself.
This is how it sounds to me also. “Substantial time” doesn’t sound like custody. It sounds like she will get primary custody and he will get generous visitation, which is probably how he wants it. I never believed he wanted custody of those kids. He doesn’t want the responsibility. He only wanted to damage Angie in the press for having the nerve to leave him, and to protect his image as Hollywood’s Best Dad.
It wouldn’t be good for Brad you mean.
He can’t undo a decade of being a d!ck to that woman and her kids……he can’t control the narrative surrounding himself anymore. It’s public knowledge. With or without a trial.
He just knows a trial will put the results out there directly……and handling it privately will allow him to continue to spin the truth and pretend he sees them…so he’ll have something to boast about to the tabloids.
Absolutely—he doesn’t want it all out there. No argument from me. I can’t imagine what Jolie could say that the judge doesn’t already know though, down to the details, provided by 2 years of innumerable professionals. But if she wants to air it, it’s her right to do so. What’s best for the kids will just take a back seat. What’s that saying? Love your kids more than you hate your ex.
Why do you assume it’s her? Seems it’s Brad dragging it out. This is the brad show. Always has been.
I don’t see her standing in the way. I see him playing a lot of games.
Maybe they recommended no visitation no custody in August, and he is fighting that? That’s the most likely scenario, and fits in with one of the last things her people put out there. she wants it done. He thinks he should have all these rights, and keeps fighting for them….because it doesn’t look good for him to lose custody or his kids respect. He’s only worried about how this all looks.
He wants to hurt her more than he wants to hang out with kids he never wanted to hang out with in the first place…or he would have.
Oh now im thinking of when tom cruise sued that tabloid and in the deposition ended up looking bad because it was released publicly. Im sure brad doesnt want details of what really went todown on the plane years ago and his alcoholism leading up to that to be revealed
Oh please, Laura Wasser wouldn’t care where it was going as long as she got paid. And I strongly suspect she was working both sides of the street. Once she was gone and the new lawyer took over, the smears from Brad Pitt’s camp dropped dramatically. That should tell you quite a bit.
I am a trauma therapist.
Anyone who works as I do knows that there must have been serious issues for that pattern of therapy to be put in place but more significantly to stay in place.
I often see judges rebuke parents in court when their children are highly resistant to visitation.
Occasionally it is parental manipulation which may or may not be consciously undertaken. Most often the children have had it. They want to be listened to.
I have never felt that Jolie would damage a relationship between her children and their father. I think she values that stability and bond.
I do believe that she will standup for her children’s rights to live free from fear or unpredictability. I think she would like him to be the parent they deserve. I think she will fight to have him see that.
She’s doing him and them a favour
She wants what is best for her children, and a healthy relationship with their father is best for them. I really doubt she is fighting to have him kept from them. Just like she would want them to have a healthy relationship with all their extended family, because it’s good for the kids. Some seem to think the only reason she wants those kids is to hurt Brad. She has never struck me as vindictive, as her past boyfriends can attest to. She is a loving mother who wants a healthy Brad for her kids, because that’s what they deserve.
Angelina looks so good. She has great bone structure so she will keep aging well.
She does, I prefer the lighter hair on her though.
How old do kids have to be in California before they can choose? Maddox is what, 17ish now? Can he, assuming he wants to, refuse visitation with Brad?
And Pax will be 15 in a few days. Can he refuse to see his father?
Currently there is no specific age where the Court will consider the wishes of a child in deciding custody matters. Family Code Section 3042 requires the Court to consider and give due weight to a child’s preference regarding custody if the child is of sufficient age and capacity to form an intelligent opinion on the issue. However, this code doesn’t specify a certain age nor does it contain a standard percentage of weight for the Judge to place on child’s wishes.
However, commencing 1/1/12, California AB 1050 amends this statute to add that the judge must also consider such a child’s wishes re visitation. This amendment further adds that child who is at least 14 years old must be allowed to directly address the court regarding custody and visitation, unless judge finds that it would not be in child’s best interests, in which case the reasons must be stated on record.
This section specifically does not prevent younger children from addressing the Court on these issues if appropriate and consistent with the best interest of the child. Currently, Family Code §3042 permits the Judge to provide alternate method for learning about child’s preferences if it precludes calling him or her as witness; as amended, §3042(e) now requires the provision of such an alternative.
This is from cadivorse.com.
Take it for what it is worth. I don’t have actual legal books from that state.
I don’t believe those kids are feeling any hurt by this now. Maybe in the beginning, yes, but for the most part in the last year for certain, those kids are fine. Kids are very resilient. Plus, I’m pretty Angie showers them w/ love. They know who their father is by now too. Three of these kids are teens. Brad wants people to believe they’re still babies, not so.
It’s interesting b/c in the beginning, Angie asked for sole physical custody but she was helping him to get them closer to him. When she got betrayed by Wasser and that alienation lie came out she got tougher. That’s on him not her. She’s not talking to Brad tho and he’s more mad about that than anything. What Maya said was true, he held the process up b/c of all the changes he wanted made w/ the therapists and then whatever Wasser agreed to was changed after bringing Samantha on. Angie wanted this to be a clean break but Brad wants it to be about him not about the kids, that why it hasn’t been.
Thank you Jane! I could have looked it up I suppose. I just figured someone here would know off the top of their heads!
So Maddox and Pax could certainly address the issue to the court themselves. And possibly Z and Shiloh as well. The twins, probably not.
Interesting.
I know pictures don’t tell the whole story but every time we’ve seen pictures of these kids they’ve seemed pretty damn happy and content. Other than Viv who clearly hates the cameras. It’s pretty clear, to me, that they adore Angie and are completely comfortable with her.
Just my opinion.
Sidewithkids-you stated that the Jolie Pitt kids are fine. We see photos of them. We don’t know know if they are doing better or worse. There are 6 kids and they all have different personalities so my remark is that they are individuals and may have different reactions to the divorce.
In the end the court will decide what is in the best interest of the kids.
Mel B is in a big fight with her ex husband.A judge has ruled Mel B can keep joint custody of her daughter with Stephen Belafonte after she passed weeks of drug and alcohol tests.
We shall see with Jolie and Pitt.
Zaharra will be 14 years old in January and Shiloh will be 13 years old in May.
Kids are resilient is a myth. Research shows that children of divorce experience higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems. Each kid is an individual and some are more sensitive then others. We do not know these children. I was with my friend at Thanksgiving and her young son has emotional issues. She is a loving parent. We cannot make blanket statements about how children feel.
@Karen, we all have emotional problems. From divorce parents or not. I know people who were on drugs and they have a two parent household.
We’re human beings. That’s sort of why books, movies and music were created to talk about all the emotional problems people have.
I come from the mindset that you don’t leave a kid alone with someone they don’t like or feel comfortable with….at any age. You don’t force children to be around people who scare them. Period.
Feel uncomfortable with…
Definitely not from team Jolie because it’s negative towards her. Brad Pitt and his team always show their ass . he has substantial visitation but it’s obviously not 50/50.
Angelina didn’t and could not control how much custody he or she gets. THATS THE POINT OF THE CUSTODY EVALUATOR. So then saying she want him to have minimal visitation is a damn lie … It was likely the evaluator wanted him to have minimal and he’s probably gonna get exactly what the evaluator recommends.
This
does anyone actually think brad is capable of looking after the kids as the main guardian? i dont – even before the divorce he was already spending time working
There is no way in hell he wants the day-to-day routine of handling six kids. He would love to have the credit for raising them, but I’d bet my last dollar he would farm out the actual raising of them to relatives and nannies. I wonder what he would say about Angelina then? Doubt he’d shut up.
I love it
. From the beginning we had his fans screaming he would get 50/50 immediately and he didn’t . We’re two years down the line and is fans are still screaming he’ll get 50/50 and he’s not going to get that. As his fans and fake online lawyers says California is a 50/50 state … Well if he’s not getting 50 what’s wrong with him?
Even in this report that obviously is leaked by Team Pitt, suggests that Brad Pitt is NOT getting 50/50 joint custody!! I mean, “a substantial amount of time” doesn’t sound like 50/50 to me!!
IKR?
He may not have been charged with a crime but the agreement signed off by DCFS had to have safeguards in place for the children. The Blast is full of it. Remember his team running to various outlets denying there was such an agreement when Angelina put out her statement? Only to have it confirmed when she filed with the courts to have it enforced when he wanted to wilfully ignore the agreed upon terms.
He wasn’t charged with a crime because hitting that kid was the least of his bad behavior. He is a take you down if you mess with my reputation or public image kind of sociopath and narcissist. They are psychological abusers more than anything…and long term. It’s in year three and he’s still trying to be attached to this family, and publicly initimidates and humiliates them through the tabloids.
If he thinks the courts and evaluators haven’t noticed that….. he’s crazier than I thought.
He’s a dark and manipulative person. And he wants to get even with her….not hang out with kids he never wanted to hang out with in the first place with.
“He’s still trying to be attached to this family” lol like he wasn’t instrumental in creating that family.
BB you must be a drive by fan. You don’t know the history the way real fans do. He’s basically a sperm donor. Absent father.
I really hate when people say “he was never charged with a crime” regarding abuse. Same with sexual violence, in domestic violence it is SO HARD to get people charged and prosecuted, and it does not mean that no violence occurred! Maybe he wasn’t charged with a crime, but if she told a judge that his kids were terrified of him because he maybe hit one of them, that still holds weight. Not being charged with a crime is not exoneration of abusive behaviour.
Then he acts like Angie shouldn’t use this for her case. She better if she wants to win. He doesn’t like his mess out there but he always putting out a false narrative about her. Man, please.
Yes….long term domestic violence is as much about psychological abuse as it is physical. He wasn’t fitting in for years before the divorce, and he admits that. Angry distant men are horrible to live with.
Angie is a great mother and the family will be fine, that’s been her goal to heal the family all along.
Dupe
Bras is full of mess and has been for a very long time and has always let Angie take the blame for everything including how they were raising the kids when people were criticizing them for traveling abroad. He benefitted the most from this union. I mean that literally because she gave birth to three kids because of his request. Don’t tell me that he didn’t. You haven’t seen him alone with them in two years why? He is manipulative, egotistical, selfish, and spiteful.
@ truth hurts, well said! He wanted a family but didn’t take care of them. I wonder if he was jealous of the children!
Truth be told. Brad is full of it b/c none of this would be happening had he been a better husband and father to Angie and the kids. Angie loved that dude and the reason I know that is b/c she took all the hits for him. People clearly enable him and cover for him still. CAA, other actors and Angie did it too and I believe she had the kids do it as well, that’s where she went wrong. A woman and kids should not be covering/making excuses for a grown man. She realized it and she’s done w/ him. She left him and he needs to move on too.
His stans need to quit as well. The truth is staring them in the face, they just ignore it. Sound familiar? It’s Just like the Republicans do to Trump. They are delusional especially since all they do is call Angie names Instead of talking about the facts of this case.
Most think writing in caps Brad wasn’t charged validates him not doing anything. It does not. He still did something. To his son. While drunk. Why was there a need for authorities anyway? Him. Brad. Manchild. Most of his stans are just old middle aged white women who still dream he’ll come and sweep them off their feet when in actuality Brad would never want them. Now that he’s older, he’s gonna try to hang onto some young starlet pretty soon anyway. But just like Trump will never get his wall, they will never get Brad. Plus, it’s pretty evident now he’s just an old fading star, Angie was keeping him young and relevant, he and them need to face it. It happens, get over it. He messed up big time. He lost the most precious thing on earth, his family. He can try to smear all he wants but when push comes to shove those kids will choose their Mom b/c he was not a great husband and father. He can still try to be a better father and husband to somebody else but based on some of the facts we have before us, I’m giving that a 50/50 chance.
The outcome of this will be 70/30. Angie will get 70. Brad won’t get is 50/50 so he come out w/ a whole new set of lies, like I let her go ahead and get more, she is their mother. Lol. Please. This joker. We already know his lies.
Reality is those children love their mother and prefer to live and spend most of their time with their mother.
I still think the kid part was done in aug, and they have been sorting out the rest. His actions since aug have been extra vengeful media wise……definitely not those of a peaceful coparent who is getting his way…….and most definitely not the actions of a man about to receive judgement.
It’s like since aug he’s had nothing to lose….cause he already lost it.
I think he’s been dragging out the asset division so he can delay the inevitable. ( the public knowing his kids don’t have anything to do w him)
In aug….Her people said something to the effect of it’s over, the custody evaluators came to a decision ……. and he said it’s not over by a longshot ….. then he got weird in the tabloids…. a lot of smearing.
I wouldnt put it past Pitts team to do this given what theyve already done publicly: say an agreement has been met when it hasnt then when that comes out publicly that theres no deal they’ll say she lied to him, shes being unreasonable, etc.
A friend in my early 20s was dating a guy who told people they were engaged and started putting down payments on flowers, the venue, etc. when she found out and complained to him he swnt the message the ball was already rolling and does she really want him to tell everyone he sent save the dates to that there wont be a wedding? What a psycho
I was at a crowded coffee shop and the table next to me were discussing a friend who planned a wedding to a guy she wasnt engaged to. My ears perked up thinking, ‘you too?’ People are manipulative
He is such a Goofball.
I’ve been a long time CB reader and very occasional commenter. I find it quite amusing (not really) that some of the posters who were stating the plane incident wasn’t that big a deal and Jolie was manipulating the public by implying it was, are now calling her vengeful if details from that incident are submitted on record as part of the custody trial. Won’t someone think of the children?! I bet if the shoe was on the other foot and it was Jolie who caused DCFS to enter their lives, they’d be clamoring to get the details out in the public sphere, said children be damned.
Having had multiple friends go through custody battles in CA, if the child is sixteen or older, they pretty much decide who they will live with and how much they will see each parent. From 14 to 16, the courts will ask and take very seriously the children’s preferences. So, most the kids will have a significant in what will happen with custody.
Angie out and about making change and fiighting for Justice right now at the film festival.
Meanwhile Brad and his team are connocting lies about her and telling them to TMZ and/or The Blast b/c she can’t be in the news w/o his name attached.
Big Difference. Who should I believe? Uh? Lol.
I believe in Angelina.
They both look amazing in that pic. She used to care about her outfits! Still feels strange they’ve split up and it’s been like two years!
She looks like she’s got a giant parasite sucking the life out of her……
She looks amazing these past few years however. It’s been so long since they split, it’s odd to see a pic of them together. You can definitely see the bad dynamics though looking back.
She’s just been on top of the world since dumping that douche.
Yeah…I noticed that she looks way healthier and happier and not so thin and stressed
Knowing the circumstances now, I can look back and see why
#TeamAngelina
I believe some of those older photos were taken when she was grieving her mother’s death, and fighting illness. Sure life with Brad Pitt didn’t help, but she did have other reasons for being so thin.
Some very astute posters at this thread. As a divorced parent of three kids, I’m a CA resident and I was awarded full physical custody and we shared joint legal custody. He was an alcoholic who did the same things to his family as Brad like distancing himself, working long hours and so on. My kids grew up to become responsible, loving individuals with very good jobs and many friends. Being raised by a single parent is not always a bad thing just like being raised by both parents is always a good thing. If Angie gets full physical custody I believe those kids will turn out just fine and become responsible, successful adults.
Thank you for sharing your experience. So it is possible even in California to be awarded full custody? How? It is believed that it’s only in extreme cases where abuse happens against a child. Physical Abuse against the other parent or other adults doesn’t count (Chris brown is a good example) and neither alcoholism nor drug use seem to be enough in most cases.
That’s the thing tho, she wants physical custody not legal. That’s different from full custody. I think this is another point that gets confused.
Just my two cents here so…
My youngest daughter just got done with custody mediation here in Texas. It took well over 3 years
My daughter’s goal all along was to have my granddaughter’s dad have as much involvement in her life as possible…school concerts, meet the teacher, stuff like that.
His WHOLE problem was that my daughter left him (drugs) and moved on. Raised our granddaughter pretty much on her own until he remarried then wanted to show the new wife how much of a fantastic father he was and how my daughter was the unreasonable and unhinged lunatic keeping him from her (never mind that he already had the standard visitation and she stuck to it)
Obviously I don’t know all of the situation between Ms. Jolie and Brad Pitt but if his behavior was and is anything like my granddaughter’s father, I understand absolutely why she dug her heels in and why it’s taking so long.