A judge is "inclined" to side with Brad Pitt in the latest battle of his long-running dispute with ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
The former couple have been locked in a legal row over their French winery Chateau Miraval and at a hearing on Thursday (16.05.24), Judge Lia Martin said she was ready to agree to a motion filed by the 'Moneyball' star that would force his former spouse into turning over all the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) she has entered into since they married in 2014, including those signed by her staff, MailOnline reports.
Angelina's attorneys disagreed with the tentative ruling, with lawyer Paul Murphy asking her to consider several factors, including to limit the release of the NDAs signed by Jolie only in 2020 to 2021, and not any related to her companies.
But the judge said: "I don't see this as a character question.
"There may be agreements that [Jolie] entered into with people that may have terms similar or not. The court is not making any findings today about admissibility of the documents."
In a recent filing, the 60-year-old actor – who has Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 17, and 15-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox with Angelina – alleged former security guard Tony Webb was told the 'Maleficent' star had instructed the kids not to speak to their father during custody visits.
The paperwork also claimed Angelina, 48, attempted to use non-disclosure agreements to threaten her security team to stay silent.
According to the documents, after Brad and Angelina divorced, the security boss was called by the actress' personal assistant, Michael Vierra, who said he had heard two contractors were preparing to give evidence in a family court case, which he warned would violate their NDAs.
But one contractor, Ross Foster – who had worked security on Brad and Angelina's 2015 film 'By The Sea' – pledged to testify if he was subpoenaed by the court, regardless of the NDA.
Tony continued: “When Mr Foster told me this, he also told me that if asked, he would testify about statements he overheard that Ms Jolie made to the children, encouraging them to avoid spending time with Mr Pitt during custody visits."
Tony claimed his company was fired by Angelina after two employees testified, and he now works for Brad.
John Berlinski, the 60-year-old actor's lawyer, has accused the 'Eternals' actress of using NDAs in an “improper manner” to “silence her security detail and prevent them testifying truthfully in court about what actually happened behind closed doors”.
He added the claims “bear a striking resemblance to Jolie’s false allegations that Pitt improperly used a non-disclosure agreement to ‘silence her’.”
Angelina claimed in a recent motion Brad had a "history of abuse" towards her before the notorious 2016 plane incident that led to the end of their marriage, in which the 'Bullet Train' star was accused of being drunk and aggressive during a flight from France to California.
In October 2021, Angelina sold her half of the winery to Tenute del Mondo, a subsidiary of Stoli Group. Brad then sued her in 2022 for allegedly going against an agreement he said they had made not to sell up without getting approval from the other.
