The allegations in the lawsuit appeared to match an FBI report into a prior incident involving Jolie and Pitt, in which the Eternals actress accused her then-husband of attacking her and one of their six children—Maddox, 23, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and 16-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox—during a transatlantic flight from Europe to Los Angeles on Sept. 14, 2016.
Ultimately, prosecutors did not press any charges against Pitt—who has denied the abuse allegations—in connection to the plane incident. As a federal spokesperson told E! News in November 2016, five weeks after the flight, "The FBI has conducted a review of the circumstances and will not pursue further investigation."
In the FOIA lawsuit, the plaintiff said she was requesting for the release of documents pertaining to the FBI's investigation to "obtain information necessary for her children to receive medical care and trauma counseling."
The plaintiff also asked that her lawsuit be sealed, though a judge denied the request, according to NBC News.
Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt on Sept. 19, 2016, citing their date of separation as the day after the plane incident. Though they were declared legally single in 2019, the former couple have spent recent years embroiled in a legal battle over Château Miraval, their once-shared French vineyard and winery.
Most recently, attorneys for Pitt slammed Jolie for going on a "sensationalist fishing expedition" after she asked the court overseeing that civil case to have her ex turn over any third-party communications he has about their 2016 plane incident.
In response to the accusation, Jolie's attorney said in a statement to E! News, "While Angelina again asks Mr. Pitt to end the fighting and finally put their family on a clear path toward healing, unless Mr. Pitt withdraws his lawsuit, Angelina has no choice but to obtain the evidence necessary to prove his allegations wrong."
(E! News and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
