Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt may have finalized their divorce, but the legal battles between them are still going strong. In new court papers filed this week, Angelina said the process had been emotionally difficult for both her and their children. She is now asking her ex-husband to reimburse her $33,000 for legal fees related to one part of their dispute.
The filing connects to their disagreement over the French property they once shared. The former couple is still fighting over Chateau Miraval, a home in France that Brad is suing Angelina over. He claims she sold her share to the Stoli Group without his permission, while she insists that she had every right to do so.
Recently, Brad asked for private messages related to the chateau, and Angelina responded in a filing at the Los Angeles Superior Court. In the documents, she opened up about the hardship she faced at the time of their split and the toll it took on her family.
She said: “The events leading to my need to separate from my ex-husband were emotionally difficult for me and our children. Upon filing for divorce, I left him control (and full residency) of our family homes in Los Angeles and at Miraval, without compensation, which I hoped would make him calmer in his dealings with me after a difficult and traumatic period.”
She also said that she and her children have never been back to the property because of its painful connection to the divorce.
Angelina said that after separating from Brad, she was struggling financially and wasn’t working. She explained: “I was also very concerned about the health of our children, and so, for approximately two years, I declined work so that I could focus my attention on caring for our children and their recovery.”
She shared how much the property had once meant to her, adding: “Miraval was one of the first major investments we made together, and it was a focal point of our family life. We were married there, I spent part of my pregnancy there and I brought our twin children home there from the hospital. To have such a sudden break from my home and memories has been hard, and it was especially difficult for the children to have their lives so disrupted.”
Now, she wants to be reimbursed for the $33,000 she spent responding to Brad’s legal motion. According to her lawyers, they asked him several times to drop the motion but he refused.
They said: “Jolie, through counsel, repeatedly asked Pitt to withdraw [the motion]. She even warned him numerous times that if the Court denied Pitt’s motion, Jolie would ask the Court to order Pitt to pay Jolie’s attorneys’ fees opposing the motion.
Pitt still refused to withdraw it. Jolie thus requests that the Court order Pitt to reimburse her for the substantial attorneys’ fees she was forced to incur.”
