Though the marriage of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt ended officially in 2019 with a bifurcated judgment, the two have hardly spent the past several years out of complicated, and intertwined, legal matters. They are still fighting over custody matters, but what’s made a lot of news lately is their battle over their former family home in France, Château Miraval, which is also a winery. Now, an uncovered email from Jolie reportedly reveals why she wanted to sell her share of it.
The actress/director sold her stake in the property in October 2021, and there’s been a lot of back and forth when it comes to legal proceedings over that deal since then. Recently, an email (which surfaced on TikTok in October 2022) that Jolie sent to Pitt on January 21, 2021 has been submitted as evidence in her former company’s, Nouvel, suit against Pitt for $250 million. The email was obtained by Radar Online, and in it, Jolie notes her desire to be rid of her stake in Château Miraval, and why.
After noting that it was “a painful decision” and that she wrote to him “so as not to get emotional” while explaining her position to her ex-husband, Jolie expressed the hope she’d had when they first became attached to the property, having wanted it as everything from “a family business” to “a place to hold diplomatic and humanitarian meetings.” She continued:
Above all, it is the place we brought the twins home to, and where we were married over a plaque in my mother’s memory. A place that held the promise of what could be and where I thought I would grow old…But it is also the place that marks the beginning of the end of our family — and a business that is centered around alcohol. I have tried to stay open to the business, to see it as something that could be positive for our family, and have therefore not walked away. I had hoped somehow it could become something that held us together and we found light and peace. I see now how you really wanted me out and will most likely be pleased to receive this email.
The Tomb Raider talent went on to detail what she’d seen over the past four years, including “inconsiderate behavior, money spent in ways that I would not have approved, and decisions made that I was not consulted on,” which led her to believe that Pitt and his business partners had “no interest in sharing the business or changing it fundamentally into something that would be healthier for our children.”
Jolie’s sale of the business/home spurred a lawsuit from her ex-husband under the claim that they’d previously agreed she wouldn’t sell without his approval, with him wanting the deal with Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler’s company, SPI Group, voided and asking for damages. That led to the countersuit from Nouvel (which Jolie sold as part of the deal) alleging that Pitt had tried to “seize control” of the winery/home “in retaliation for the divorce and custody proceedings,” with several other claims tied to the suit.
After noting that she did “not feel I can be involved, publicly or privately, in a business based on alcohol, when alcoholic behavior harmed our family so deeply,” Jolie offered two solutions, with one being that they both sell their share of the property, and the other being that Pitt buy her out. She also said:
Your dream for your relationship to the business and the alcohol is your own and you’ve made it painfully clear. I wish you all the best with the business, and sincerely hope that the children feel differently about Miraval when they are older, and visit you there. But Miraval for me died September 2016, and everything I have seen in the years since has sadly confirmed that.
Seeing as how this letter had already been made public several months ago, I suppose it makes sense for it to now be submitted as evidence to support a number of allegations, including those of physical abuse by Pitt on an airplane, which led to Jolie filing for divorce. The case is ongoing, and it may be a while yet before any resolution is found.
