In Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s bitter legal battle over the Chateau Miraval winery

Shocking new details have been revealed about the seemingly never-ending legal battle between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt following their acrimonious split in 2016.

In a new article for Vanity Fair’s July/August edition, special correspondent Mark Seal dug into Brangelina’s dispute over their once-beloved French winery, Chateau Miraval.

The couple bought the vineyard in 2008 for around 25 million euros and became 50/50 owners of the estate and winery.

Those who spoke to Vanity Fair include the couple’s former head of security, winemakers, real estate agents and others with intimate knowledge of the couple’s time in the south of France.

The report notes that Jolie, 47, and Pitt, 58, appeared to have reached an agreement in 2021 in which he would buy her half of the company. The deal stalled when Pitt attempted to insert a non-disclosure agreement that would prevent the Maleficent star from publicly speaking about the infamous 2016 plane incident, according to the Vanity Fair piece.

Pitt representatives have maintained that it was in fact Jolie who first brought up the idea of ​​an NDA, as the 12 Monkeys star began negotiating the terms of the agreement, when Jolie pulled out of the deal.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Angelina Jolie’s representatives for comment on this story.

Not long after, Jolie sold her share to Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, who has been labeled an “oligarch” by the US Treasury Department.

Pitt and Jolie met on the set of Mr & Mrs Smith in 2005, playing a bored married couple who discover they are both hitmen hired by competing agencies to kill each other.

They married at Chateau Miraval in 2014 and had six children — three biological and three adopted — who are now between the ages of 14 and 21. The Vanity Fair piece notes that cracks in the marriage began to appear in 2015.

Those tensions reached a boiling point when the family returned to the US from Chateau Miraval in 2016.

On September 14, 2016, tensions between and had been boiling for about a year. They tried to keep their fights private and had made a point of never fighting in front of the children. Until the plane,” Seal wrote.

The couple’s head of security, Gary Bradbury, told the magazine he had never seen him drunk in the 15 years he worked in Pitt. On the day of the flight from Nice, France, to Los Angeles, which included a fuel stop in Minnesota, Pitt was “drinking a lot.”

Brad was drinking and the confrontation got out of hand. He was absolutely wrong in how he behaved, but immediately apologized and acknowledged that he had crossed a line,” another source said.

“He’ll always regret it [it], and immediately took steps to address this and make amends,” the source added. After the incident, Pitt sobered up.

Jolie filed for divorce shortly after that incident and a long legal battle ensued, mainly over custody of their six children.

The couple was also at odds over the fate of their Chateau Miraval property.

When it looked like there was an agreement, Jolie backed out when she learned about the NDA.

Vanity Fair quotes a source close to Pitt as claiming that the non-disclosure agreement was only related to the winery “to ensure that the seller does not damage the property’s value after paying for it.”

Pitt claimed, through lawyers, that the real reason Jolie walked away from the deal was because she was upset about the separate custody arrangement that had given him more access.

Jolie’s lawyers also tried to correct an unfair portrayal of her role in the wine brand’s success during their ownership, claiming she invested $60 million in the company. A source related to Pitt said her investment was more than $38 million.

It was previously reported that Pitt had learned from a press release that the estranged woman had sold half of their property and business to a “Russian oligarch.”

The pair had a “mutual and binding commitment” to the $160 million Chateau Miraval venture, agreeing not to sell without the other’s consent. According to Vanity Fair, Jolie says “there’s never been such an agreement.”

Pitt discovered his ex-wife had “secretly” sold her 50 percent stake when a 2021 press release announced he had new business partners, the actor’s lawyers said.

The buyer was part of a “Russia-affiliated” vodka conglomerate headed by Shefler, who would use his new relationship with the A-lister to bolster and improve his reputation, court documents said.

“For Jolie, the sale was a business transaction to which she had every right. “In an effort to maintain her own mental health and well-being, she sought and found what she thought would be a good business partner for Pitt,” a source told Vanity Fair.

While Pitt saw the sale as a “betrayal”.

“It is no coincidence that she sold her interest in Miraval to a hostile party and part of the family home to a stranger just after a judge awarded a huge 50-50 custody win,” a source close to Pitt told vanity. Honestly.

The Fight Club star tried to challenge the sale of Jolie to Shefler.

By selling to Shefler instead, Jolie linked the Chateau Miraval to Russia and Vladimir Putin — perhaps irreparably damaging the brand, Pitt claims.

In a counter-claim, Jolie accused Pitt of forcing her to sell to his company, Mondo Bongo, and spreading lies about Shefler’s connections and dealings with the Kremlin.

Pitt was further charged with hiding assets and using profits from the wine on a swimming pool and an ornate staircase that was rebuilt several times.

“The only thing that makes sense in Jolie’s mutual suit is that she and Pitt bought Château Miraval as a ‘loving home for their six children,’ Pitt’s lawyers protested in documents filed in 2022.

As set forth in plaintiffs’ second amended complaint, Pitt and Jolie made a mutual and binding commitment, reflected in their conduct and statements to each other over time, that they would keep Miraval together and, when the time came was that they would sell their interests separately only with the consent of the other.’

The filing said that Pitt trusted Jolie and so “devoted his time and resources to renovating the estate and building a very successful wine business.”

“Jolie supported Pitt’s efforts on behalf of the family, but did none of the work necessary for Miraval’s success,” the filing continues.

Instead, she allowed Pitt to put money and stock into the company, relying on her promise to keep Miraval together, as well as the contractual rights her holding company Nouvel owed him. By the time of their divorce, Pitt’s investment had surpassed Jolie’s by nearly $50 million.”

The legal battle apparently continues to this day, with French authorities investigating the company, VF reports.

The Vanity Fair article ends by noting that as of September 2016, none of the Pitt or Jolie families have returned to stay at the property.