Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt agree on divorce settlement, her lawyer says, after 8 years of intense legal battles

Los Angeles — Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement, her attorney says, apparently ending one of the longest and most contentious divorces in Hollywood history.

Jolie’s lawyer, James Simon, told CBS News in a statement that, “More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr. Pitt. She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr. Pitt, and since that time she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family. This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago. Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.”

A representative for Pitt declined to comment to CBS News.

Jolie and Pitt signed off on a default declaration filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Monday, saying they’ve entered into a written agreement on their marital and property rights, Simon said, adding that the filing says they give up the right to any future spousal financial support but gives no other details. A judge will need to sign off on the agreement.

The settlement was first reported by People magazine.  

Jolie, 49, and Pitt, 61, were among Hollywood’s most prominent pairings for 12 years, two of them as a married couple. The Oscar winners have six children together.

Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, after a private jet flight from Europe during which she said Pitt was abusive toward her and their children. A representative for Pitt, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, strongly denied Jolie’s allegations.

During the long divorce fight, four of the couple’s six children became adults, negating the need for a custody agreement for them. The only two who are still minors are 16-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. In June, one of their daughters, then known as Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, successfully petitioned to remove Pitt’s name from hers.

Their other children are 23-year-old Maddox, 21-year-old Pax and 19-year-old Zahara.

There have been no official court actions in the case in nearly a year, and no indication that the two had been nearing an agreement.

Some details on their disputes, however, have been revealed through a separate lawsuit filed by Pitt in which he alleged Jolie reneged on an agreement that she would sell him her half of a French winery the two owned together. Jolie instead sold her part of the winery, Chateau Miraval, to the Tenute del Mondo wine group, a subsidiary of the Stoli Group, which Pitt said was a “vindictive” move that ruined a private space that had been a second home.

Jolie’s attorneys said the winery sale agreement broke down over Pitt’s demand that as part of the deal she sign a wide-ranging non-disclosure agreement about him. In court documents, she called that an attempt to cover up his physical abuse of her, which she said turned toward the children on the 2016 flight.

It’s not clear how the divorce agreement will affect the winery lawsuit.

Publicly, both Pitt and Jolie have been extremely tight-lipped on everything surrounding their split, despite robust promotional tours and many media appearances for various projects.

Pitt said in a 2017 interview with GQ that he had had a drinking problem at the time of the plane incident and the split, but had since become sober and was going to therapy. He has not defended his behavior on the family flight.

Jolie has also declined to make any public statements about the family issues or the divorce, though she has sought a broader examination and airing of his behavior by the courts in both the divorce and winery cases.

Both Jolie and Pitt were among the most elite stars in film when they began dating in 2004, after co-starring as hitman-and-hitwoman spouses in “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” and remained atop the Hollywood A-list throughout their coupling. The daughter of Hollywood luminary Jon Voight and the star of “Maleficent” and “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” Jolie won an Oscar for her performance in 1999’s “Girl, Interrupted.”

Pitt, the star of “Fight Club” and “Inglourious Basterds,” thrived as both actor and producer after the split. He won his own Academy Award for 2019’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” the crowning achievement in an awards season that some in media framed as a redemption and brought major public affection for him.

Jolie has kept a less visible profile in the years since the divorce, though she directed several films and appeared in several more while trying to focus on raising the children.

She has very much returned to the Oscar conversation this year for her portrayal of the legendary soprano Maria Callas in “Maria.”