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War of the rosé: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in court battle over £120m French vineyard

Actors got married at the winery in 2014

Ellie Harrison
Thursday 23 September 2021 11:22 BST
Brad Pitt challenges Angelina Jolie in child custody case
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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are in a legal battle over their French vineyard, in the latest development in their five-year divorce battle.

Pitt filed legal papers in a court in Luxembourg accusing Jolie of “systematic obstruction” of his management of Château de Miraval in Provence and of selling her part of a stake in the vineyard without offering him the chance to buy it first.

The €140m (£120m) site was purchased by the actors in 2011 for €35m (£30m), after they married there in 2014.

Pitt’s business, Mondo Bongo, and Jolie’s company, Nouvel, each have a 50 per cent stake in Quimicum, the holding company that owns the winery.

In the papers, seen by Page Six, Pitt’s lawyers argued that if Miraval had increased in value, it was because of his input.

They also asked the court to cancel the sale by Jolie of a 10 per cent stake to an unnamed buyer for €1, a sum that was described as “not serious” given the value of the vineyard.

The Independent has contacted Jolie and Pitt’s representatives for comment.

Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. In a recent interview, she said she feared for the safety of her family during her marriage to Pitt.

Jolie admitted she could not talk in depth about her experiences with Pitt due to an ongoing legal situation but said she did not make the decision to divorce Pitt lightly: “It took a lot for me to be in a position where I felt I had to separate from the father of my children.”

Pitt has admitted to having an alcohol addiction and that he yelled at one of his children but denies ever being physically abusive. He was cleared of any wrongdoing over an incident on a private plane.

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