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Topics: Brad Pitt, Celebrity, News, Angelina Jolie
Keryn Donnelly
Topics: Brad Pitt, Celebrity, News, Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's legal battle over their French winery has intensified with Jolie's legal team calling Pitt a 'petulant child'.
The couple bought a controlling stake in the Château Miraval in the South of France in 2008.
This week, Jolie's former investment firm Nouvel said in a new court filing obtained by PEOPLE that Pitt "has been engaged in a vindictive campaign to dominate and loot the wine business that the couple had built and owned together".
Nouvel's attorneys wrote that Pitt's investment company Mondo Bongo has the same 50 per cent ownership of Château Miraval as Nouvel.
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"As a co-equal owner, Pitt enjoys precisely the same rights and obligations as Nouvel — nothing more, nothing less," reads the new filing.
"Incensed that Jolie sold Nouvel to Stoli rather than him, Pitt has acted like a petulant child, refusing to treat Nouvel as an equal partner in the business."
Pitt reportedly wanted to buy Jolie's stake in the winery and has spoken about his passion for the business in the past.
“I’m a farmer now,” Pitt told Wine Spectator back in 2014.
“I love learning about the land and which field is most suitable for which grape, the drama of September and October: Are we picking today? Where are the sugar levels? How is the acidity? Is it going to rain? It’s been a schooling for me.”
“I enjoy cleaning the forest and walking the land.”
However, Jolie's legal team this week said the 59-year-old is 'an actor, not a winemaker. He deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes'.
“During the years that he allegedly ‘built’ the business, he filmed and appeared in dozens of movies, not to mention making countless promotional appearances, jetting-setting [sic] around the world for movie premieres, and attending Hollywood parties," it goes on.
“While he no doubt visited the vineyards to admire the work of the French labourers who actually made the business successful, Pitt is no vigneron.”
Ouch.
The report also claims Pitt 'looted' the business, and spent millions of dollars in profits on 'frivolous projects', including renovating a recording studio.
The pair have been separated since 2016.