Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt: Here's why the couple split up in 2016

After a long courtship of many years, Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt tied the knot on August 23, 2014. Cut to 2016, and Angelina Jolie finds herself in a court of law filing for divorce from her partner of over a decade.

The private jet fight that changed it all: 2016

During a private jet flight, according to reports by TMZ at the time of the incident, Brad Pitt had a fight with his then 15-year-old son Maddox and was, according to recently leaked FBI documents, behaving ‘like a monster’ in front of the children. Jolie had described Pitt as being ‘verbally abusive’ and ‘physical’ with the child.

The matter got out of hand to the extent that Brad Pitt was under investigation for Child Abuse both by the FBI and the Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services.

A source close to Brad Pitt said at the time that Pitt was taking it all:

‘very seriously and says he did not commit any abuse of his children’.

And added:

‘It's unfortunate that people involved are continuing to present him in the worst possible light.’

The aftermath

Angelina Jolie filed for divorce on September 19, 2016, and had asked for sole custody of the six children, while Brad Pitt filed for joint custody.

Angelina Jolie’s lawyer said at the time had said in his statement:

‘This decision was made for the health of the family. She will not be commenting at this time, and asks that the family be given their privacy during this difficult time.’

Brad Pitt, too, hadissued a statement, saying:

‘I am very saddened by this, but what matters most now is the wellbeing of our kids. I kindly ask the press to give them the space they deserve during this challenging time.’

The FBI files

Recently, Jolie had anonymously requested the FBI files to be released to her under the Freedom of Information Act of America.

The six-year-old highly redacted FBI papers involving Pitt’s investigation into Child Abuse accusations soon made headlines.

According to a source close to Brad Pitt said Jolie’s intention was to, as quoted by The Independent:

‘revive an issue that was painful for everybody and was resolved six years ago’ to ‘inflict the most amount of pain on her ex’.

The former couple, who met on the sets of Mr. & Mrs. Smith and started dating soon after,got engaged in 2014 and then tied the knot in 2016.

Since their divorce in April of 2019, the former couple has been in a long battle over the custody of their children: Maddox, 21, Pax, 18, Zahara, 17, Shiloh, 16, and 14-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.

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