The war between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie has been the longest — and bitterest — celebrity divorce in living memory.
But only a fortnight after a legal filing which accused Pitt of bullying and illegal behaviour over the vineyard they co-owned, it can be revealed that peace — yes, peace — could at last be on the horizon.
For both Pitt, 59 and Jolie, 48, have agreed to mediation which could settle their beef.
Documents filed last week in the vineyard dispute show that both stars have agreed to mediation as an alternative method of dispute resolution over Chateau Miraval — rather than the matter going to court.
Jolie has also said that she’s willing to take part in a settlement conference.
It can be revealed that Pitt has appointed a ‘provisional administrator’ to Chateau Miraval in a bid to resolve the war between himself and the Russians Jolie sold her share of the vineyard to.
That transaction sparked the current imbroglio.
The move, at Pitt’s suggestion, aims to protect the highly successful wine business which he has helped to build, in conjunction with French wine-makers Famille Perrin.
Pitt and Jolie purchased Chateau Miraval, a 1300-acre estate in the south of France, in 2008.
In 2013 they started a wine-making business there with the Perrin family — leading producers of organic wine from the Southern Rhone Valley.
The couple were even married at the property in 2014.
The wine side of things was an almost immediate hit, with Chateau Miraval Rose being ranked the best in the world by many experts (including Wine Spectator magazine).
Profits grew from around €1 million in 2013 to around €15 million in 2022.
But in 2016, after an incident between Pitt, Jolie and their children on a plane trip from France to California, Jolie filed for divorce. There have been skirmishes ever since — over custody of the kids, and money.
In April 2019 the divorce was ‘bifurcated’ — a move which dissolves the marriage while allowing other disputes to rage on.
In 2022 Pitt launched legal action against Jolie for selling her interest in Chateau Miravel to Russian oligarch Shefler.
He had hoped to buy her out himself, and is now seeking to have the sale reversed.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Nouvel claimed two weeks ago that Pitt had been ‘looting’ the wine business and using it as his ‘personal cashbox’ for ‘vanity projects’.
They are seeking $350 million in damages.Pitt, now dating businesswoman Ines de Ramon, has been in the UK this summer, filming racing drama Apex, but with the actors strike, he is now understood to have moved on.
It was said by lawyers for Nouvel that Jolie had to sell the business because after the drunken row on a private plane which ended their marriage in 2016, she was ‘uncomfortable’ being involved in the sale of alcohol.
The filing alleged that their six children were so traumatised by that incident on the plane – described in full, riveting detail – that they have not been able to go back to Chateau Miraval since.
The documents alleged that Pitt had run a ‘gaslighting’ campaign which suggested that the image of the brand was damaged by its association with Yuri Shefler of Stoli, who bought Jolie’s share.
In point of fact, wrote Nouvel’s lawyers, the risk of damage to the brand came from Pitt’s own tarnished image. Pitt was bluntly invited to ‘look in the mirror.’
Pitt stood accused of using a deal with Jolie over the asset as ‘leverage’ by offering her ‘poison pill’ terms in a tit for tat after she filed allegations of domestic abuse during their custody battle.
It was also said in the filing that the Chateau Miraval company made no repayment of $40 million of loans and that Jolie sought to sell the company in order to ‘achieve liquidity’ – an astonishing assertion given her long and successful career in Hollywood.
