The F1 actor wants access to his ex-wife’s messages.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Black Han Sans|||on|||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]
Words by Nikki Peach<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/02\/imago1055866472-scaled.jpg” alt=”Jennifer Aniston” title_text=”2024 Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”] For those bearing witness to Brad Pitt\u2019s F1<\/em> press tour, it\u2019s easy to forget that the man parading down red carpets in silk shirts talking about race car driving is facing serious legal issues. Behind the smiles and the aviator sunglasses is someone taking his ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, to court over the rightful ownership of her stake in their French winery, Chateau Miraval. <\/p>\n The couple bought the Provence estate in 2008 as a place to raise their children and enjoy the fruits of their labour, however things turned sour eight years later when a tumultuous family plane journey from France to LA prompted Jolie to file for divorce. In 2021, Jolie sold her 50% shares of the estate to the Stoli Group, which Pitt claims she did without permission, however Jolie alleges she tried to sell to Pitt first but refused after he asked her to sign an \u2018expansive\u2019 NDA. <\/p>\n Pitt is suing Jolie for $67 million (\u00a349m) plus punitive damages and Jolie\u2019s former investment company Nouvel is countersuing for $250 million (\u00a3185m), claiming Pitt launched a campaign to \u2018seize control\u2019 of their winery \u2018in retaliation for the divorce and custody proceedings\u2019 to ensure she would \u2018never see a dime\u2019. The case will head to trial in 2026, but there are new developments on a regular basis as both teams attempt to iron out their cases. <\/p>\n In the latest twist, Pitt filed a motion in court to obtain Jolie\u2019s private messages between her and Alexei Oliynik of Stoli Group. His legal team also wants Jolie to sit for a deposition. The F1 actor says he tried to \u2018meet and confer\u2019 with Oliynik, but the Swiss businessman was unwilling to travel to California for a deposition. For that reason, or so Pitt argues, he needs access to his ex-wife\u2019s text messages. Pitt alleges Oliynik was \u2018acting at the discretion of his boss, Stoli chief Yuri Shefler\u2019 as the \u2018key operative\u2019 behind the purchase, making him \u2018unquestionably one of this lawsuit\u2019s most important witnesses\u2019. <\/p>\n A source familiar with the saga told Page Six<\/em> Pitt\u2019s latest filing is \u2018not just about Alexei [Oliynik], it\u2019s about Stoli [Group] as a whole\u2019. While a second source added, \u2018Stoli has consistently chosen to avoid or challenge evidentiary court rulings. They\u2019ve been failing to comply with the typical legal process.\u2019 The judge has not yet ruled on Pitt\u2019s motion.<\/p>\n Last December, the judge ruled that Pitt must disclose the documents that Jolie\u2019s lawyer claims will prove \u2018communications concerning abuse, lies to authorities, and years of cover up\u2019 on Pitt\u2019s part. Pitt sought for Jolie\u2019s motion to be denied, calling the request \u2018wide ranging and intrusive\u2019 as well as a \u2018sensationalist fishing expedition\u2019, but the judge ruled in Jolie\u2019s favour.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”Libre Bodoni|||on|||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#333333″ header_2_font_size=”40px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” global_colors_info=”{}”] While the Chateau Miraval dispute is ongoing, it is far from the only legal drama Jolie and Pitt have faced in recent years. Last December, their divorce was finalised after eight years\u2019 back and forth over the custody of their assets and their minor children. In May, Pitt downplayed the divorce as \u2018not that major of a thing\u2019 in an interview with GQ<\/em>. He said it was \u2018just something coming to fruition, legally\u2019.<\/p>\n However, anyone who has followed their relationship from its origins on the set of Mr & Mrs Smith<\/em> in 2005 to its demise in 2016 might think otherwise. They were together for nine years before they got married in 2014 and have six children together \u2013 Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, Knox and Vivienne, 16 \u2013 during which time they were widely touted as a Hollywood power couple. However, during the aforementioned plane journey from France to LA in 2016, Jolie alleges that Pitt drunkenly attacked her and their children, which forced her to file for divorce. Pitt denies the allegations.<\/p>\n The divorce might have finally \u2018come to fruition\u2019, but the uglier details of their marriage are likely to play out in court next year. Whether via the documents Jolie\u2019s team are hoping to sift through to prove that Pitt was abusive, or the correspondence between Jolie and the Stoli Group regarding the legitimacy of the sale, the trial is guaranteed to unearth a darker side to their relationship. Then there\u2019s the fact there is $350 million (\u00a3257m) at stake.<\/p>\n However, Jolie\u2019s lawyers have always stressed that she never wanted to take the dispute to court. \u2018She never pressed charges, she left all their properties, and she is the one who tried to sell him the business in the first place,\u2019 her attorney Paul Murphy said at the end of 2024. \u2018To this day, Mr Pitt has never been held accountable for his actions and has at all times controlled Miraval and the winery, yet still he demands more. She wants this to end, the children want this to end, and Mr Pitt should focus on healing their family, not pursuing lawsuits.\u2019<\/p>\n This is another matter which stands in contrast with the image Pitt has been presenting during F1<\/em> press junkets \u2013 where he proclaimed the importance of surrounding yourself with \u2018the people you love, the people that love you back. Friends, family, and that\u2019s it\u2019 \u2013 the actor seems to have grown estranged from his children. All six of the Jolie-Pitts have taken a marked stand by Jolie throughout their parents\u2019 legal battles, three of which have dropped \u2018Pitt\u2019 from their surnames. Pitt can do all the heavy-handed PR he likes on the red carpet, but his personal relationships tell a different story.<\/p>\n It’s a sorry state of affairs. Whatever happens in court, this is a very different family to the one that used to spend long, happy summers visiting their 990-acre estate in Provence. The question is whether it will all be worth it.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”] Photos: <\/b>IMAGO<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The legal battle continues…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11901"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11910,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11901\/revisions\/11910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Stoli Group chief is ‘unquestionably one of this lawsuit’s most important witnesses’<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/05\/imago56266507-scaled.jpg” alt=”Jennifer Aniston” title_text=”Angelina Jolie mit ihren Kindern Shiloh Nouvel Vivienne Marcheline Maddox Chivan und Brad Pitt mi” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]