In mid-July, after shutting down production of his Formula One movie, Apex, in Budapest, Hungary, to abide by the actors’ strike, Brad Pitt hopped on a private jet with his girlfriend of a year, Ines de Ramon. Destination? His beloved, 990-acre Château Miraval estate in the south of France. “They’ve been spending a romantic summer together,” says a source, adding that despite his lengthy, nasty battle over the winery with his ex Angelina Jolie, “Miraval really is his happy place.”
Even more so now. Seven years after their shocking split, “the divorce is final,” confirms a source. According to court docs, Angelina has also agreed to go to mediation to settle their separate Miraval lawsuit, in which Brad accused her of “vindictively” selling her part of the $164 million business out from under him. “They’ve spent so much money on these legal battles, including the custody fight, and Angie eventually could have gone broke, so it’s smart to cut her losses,” says the source. “It’s a huge victory for Brad.”
Theirs has been one of the most contentious splits in Hollywood history. The pair’s 11-year relationship infamously imploded after an explosive fight aboard a private jet in September 2016, during which Angelina claimed a drunken Brad, 59, physically and verbally attacked her in front of their crying 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren and choked and struck two of the kids who tried to intervene. She filed for divorce days later, and the pair had been embroiled in a heated divorce and custody battle over their kids — Maddox, 22, Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 17, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 15 — until now.
Miraval, the site of their 2014 wedding, turned out to be the final battleground. Brad, despite embracing sobriety after the split, poured his passions into the award-winning rosé made at the “estate I fell in love with,” he’s said. Angelina, who hasn’t returned to the château since their split, wrote to him in a 2021 letter that it would be too “painful” for her to continue in “a business that is centered on alcohol.”
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To that end, Brad agreed to give Angelina $54.5 million for her share of the business in February 2021. But the deal was soon derailed by the ongoing custody proceedings. In legal docs, Angelina, 48, asserts that after she filed a document to prove her abuse allegations against Brad, he retaliated in the Miraval case by seeking a non-disparagement clause, which she calls an “unconscionable gag order.” He has countered that such clauses are standard in business agreements and that she was punishing him because of a May 2021 custody ruling in his favor. At the same time, he claims, she was “secretly negotiating” to sell her stake to someone else.
By October 2021, it was no longer a secret. Brad says he was “shocked” when a subsidiary of the Stoli Group, run by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler, announced in a press release that they were now co-owners of Miraval. He filed two lawsuits to stop the sale, which he characterized as a “Jolie-led conspiracy…to inflict harm.”
Angelina insists the decision was purely financial. “Jolie’s assets were largely tied up in Château Miraval,” her filing reads, pointing out that Stoli paid $13 million more than Brad offered. She was simply seeking “financial independence,” Angelina insists, and to “have some form of peace and closure to this deeply painful and traumatic chapter of her and their 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren’s lives.”
Ultimately, the financial situation is what led her to settlement talks, says the source. As part of her company’s countersuit accusing Brad of “looting” Miraval — she accuses him of excessive spending on the property out of spite — Angelina asked for $250 million in damages. But she also checked the box indicating she would be willing to enter mediation. “The legal costs are astronomical,” says the source. “That’s why Angelina is likely to cave on their other pending issues, as well.”
Negotiations have been “excruciating,” says the source. Not only will Angelina likely retain primary custody of the three kids under 18 (their father has visitation rights), but Brad is expected to hand over the $250 million for full control of Miraval. “Still, he’s telling friends he actually won,” says the source. “He’s lost so much time with his kids, but it’s never too late to rebuild those relationships. At least Miraval will be all his — and he can finally move on with his life.”
