Sorry, But The Brangelina War Isn’t Actually Over, Even Though They Settled Divorce

When Hollywood star Angelina Jolie’s attorney announced she had settled her divorce with Brad Pitt after eight long years late Monday, it seemed like the end of the story.

But it is far from over. In fact, settling their divorce may only be the end of the beginning—for a bitter legal dispute is playing out between the one-time golden couple on two continents, with no end in sight.

The dispute is over Château Miraval, the upmarket French winery that the couple bought in 2008, where they married, and which is now very much the locus of their animus, eight years after they first split.

And while the Côtes de Provence Rosé Miraval which the vineyard produces by the caseload has become a summer party regular in smart venues around the world, the court case is more like the grapes of wrath.

Known affectionately as Brangelina, the supercouple shot to tabloid fame during their decade-long romance—but love turned sour in 2016 when they filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

The acrimonious battle over their divorce has lasted nearly as long as their relationship, something Jolie’s lawyer nodded at in a statement acknowledging the settlement Monday night.

“More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr. Pitt. 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,” Jolie’s lawyer James Simon told People magazine in a statement.

“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 representative for Pitt had no comments.

The former power couple were first linked while making the 2005 movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith, just months after Pitt and his then-wife Jennifer Aniston had announced their own divorce. Paparazzi photos of Pitt with Jolie and her son, Maddox, on a beach in Kenya were published on the cover of US Weekly in April 2005, which many in the entertainment press took as proof of their relationship.

They were dubbed Brangelina and quickly became one of the last true super-couples to rule Hollywood in an era before social media and streaming.

The pair wouldn’t go public, however, until the following year, when Jolie admitted that she was pregnant with Pitt’s child, whom they later named Shiloh.

The pair also adopted 3-year-old Pax from an orphanage in Vietnam in 2007. Jolie gave birth to twins with Pitt in 2008 as well: Knox and Vivienne. (Jolie had adopted two children before her relationship with Pitt: Maddox and Zahara.)

The couple announced their engagement in 2012 after seven years together, and were married in August 2014. Their tumultuous decade-long relationship came to an end two years later.

Jolie initially filed for a dissolution of marriage in September 2016, days after an alleged altercation on a private plane, during which she claimed Pitt abused her and their six children.

The actor was not charged by authorities and Jolie also declined to press charges.

The pair then released a joint statement four months later announcing that they planned to handle their divorce privately.

“The parties and their counsel have signed agreements to preserve the privacy rights of their children and family by keeping all court documents confidential and engaging a private judge to make any necessary legal decisions and to facilitate the expeditious resolution of any remaining issues,” the statement read at the time.

However, their divorce negotiations proved to be strained for years to come, with custody disagreements and intense accusations. By 2019, Jolie and Pitt were both declared legally single and the settlement on the divorce finally agreed this week.

But the battle over the chateau is now in full swing both in California and in Luxembourg. That battle is far newer than the divorce, although impossible to untangle from it.

It began in 2021, when the actress sold her share in Miraval to a division of the maker of Stolichnaya vodka, which is owned by Russian-born billionaire Yuri Shefler. Pitt had made Jolie an equal partner when they married, having originally held 60 per cent of the estate to her 40 per cent.

In 2022, Pitt sued in California, claiming the sale was unlawful because they had agreed to give each other first refusal before selling to an outside company. Jolie’s lawyers claimed that Pitt had refused to buy her share unless she signed a non-disclosure agreement which, she claimed, was to cover up his alleged abuse of her and their children. In a separate but connected case in Luxembourg, Pitt claimed that he was the 60-40 majority owner because Jolie’s sale of her share invalidated his gift to her which had made them 50-50 owners.

That set the stage for years of pre-trial hearings and rulings in California. Pitt won the latest round of the case, which had centered on a dispute over the use of NDAs, and on attempts by Jolie to dismiss the case in full. That may have hurried the chances of a trial actually happening next year, although the court in California now has to consider a motion to dismiss from the vodka company.

In Luxembourg, a ruling is not expected until next year—guaranteeing that the couple will still be in litigation 20 years after they first become an item.