Why has Pitt and Jolie’s divorce taken so long?

Arguably the most important couple of the modern era, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were married for two years, but it took eight years since they announced their divorce to finally reach an agreement. Why did it take four times as long as marriage to settle?

Part of the answer is that this is a particularly messy divorce, complicated by bitter legal disputes involving their children and a French vineyard they bought together.

Some of that still needs to be resolved in what Jolie’s lawyer has called “a long ongoing process.”

Celebrity lawyer Chris Melcher told BBC News that the divorce settlement had taken an unusually long time.

“This is much longer than any divorce we normally see,” he said.

“But initially they had custody fights and then it all revolved around this winery that they own together, and that’s been the focus of their fight in recent years.”

Many celebrities want to divorce quickly and move on, Melcher explained.

“A lot of times, in a case of this magnitude, we can solve it in six months, a year at most. Eight years is really a sign that something else is going on.

“It’s an inability to let go and a desire to really harm another.”

Kate Daly, co-founder of online divorce company Amicable, told the BBC that such a case was very different from a normal divorce.

“It’s an industry… (they can afford) a lot of expensive lawyers,” he said. “Most people couldn’t afford for this to take eight years. It’s an industry and it’s a bad example: we have to distance (normal) people from that kind of narrative.”

Jolie, 49, and Pitt, 61, got together after meeting on the set of the film Mr & Mrs Smith, released in 2005.

“Because of the movie, we ended up getting together to do all these crazy things, and I think we found this strange friendship and partnership that came out of the blue,” Jolie told Vogue in 2007.

Both had been married before: Pitt to Friends star Jennifer Aniston, and Jolie to actors Jonny Lee Miller (1996 to 2000) and Billy Bob Thornton (2000 to 2003).

Jolie and Pitt share six children.

Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia in 2002, a few months after his birth. Pitt later adopted him after he and Jolie began their relationship.

In 2005, the couple adopted their daughter Zahara from Ethiopia when she was a few months old.

The couple’s first biological child, Shiloh, was born in Namibia in 2006. Earlier this year, it was reported that Shiloh had petitioned a court to remove Pitt from her name.

Their son Pax was adopted at the age of three in Vietnam in 2007, and twins Knox and Vivienne were born in 2008.

The couple made their last red carpet appearance together in November 2015 for a film they both starred in, By the Sea. It was about an unhappy married couple and was written and directed by Jolie.

The couple rarely talked about their relationship, but when promoting the film, Jolie told The Telegraph: “Brad and I have our problems.

“We have fights and problems like any other couple. We have days where we go completely crazy and want space, but the problems in the movie are not our specific problems.”

The news that Jolie was filing for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences,” surprised many in September 2016.

It was learned that she filed for divorce a day after an incident aboard a private plane.

Pitt was initially accused of hitting his son Maddox, then 15, on the flight from France to Los Angeles. The FBI and social workers looked into the claims, but neither took any action. Pitt denied any wrongdoing.

Then, in 2022, the legal documents for the vineyard dispute. revealed that Jolie accused Pitt of attacking her and two children while intoxicated during the flight.

At the time, a source close to the actor told the BBC that his claims were false.

Speaking to Vogue in 2020Jolie said she left Pitt for the “well-being” of her family.

“It was the right decision,” he said. “I continue to focus on his healing.”

In an interview with GQ in 2017Pitt opened up about his decision to stop drinking and smoking marijuana, saying the breakup had been a “huge change maker.”

Regarding the divorce, Pitt said he and Jolie had decided to abandon the path of “vitriolic hatred” and work together to resolve their problems, adding that they were committed to resolving the issues amicably and privately.

Their attempts to reach agreements over divorce and custody of their children seemed acrimonious and protracted.

In 2019, a judge declared that the couple was officially single, but that the divorce had not yet been finalized.

They reached a custody agreement in 2018, but it seemed to fall apart. In 2021, Pitt was granted joint custody after a court battle, but the private judge who oversaw the case was later removed because he did not disclose his business relationships with Pitt’s lawyers.

That raised the possibility of a new custody case, but nothing has been made public.

And while the divorce saga may be coming to an end, there is still another legal battle underway: the one involving the vineyard.

Pitt and Jolie bought Chateau Miraval together in 2008 and married in their small chapel in 2014.

But Jolie sold her share to a spirits maker owned by a Russian oligarch, according to Pitt’s lawsuit. He is suing his ex-wife for selling her stake in the property, saying they agreed not to sell their shares without each other’s permission. Jolie has not commented publicly.

Few details of the divorce process have been revealed. In the United States, private judges are often hired to mediate disputes between celebrities divorcing for privacy reasons.

All of their children are now between 16 and 23 years old, and showbiz journalist Jeanne Wolf emphasized the emotional consequences.

“It has been a very emotional and complicated divorce settlement. It has taken its toll on the children and the couple involved,” she said.

“They have tried very hard not to reveal too many details about what happened in that marriage.”

Jolie’s lawyer highlighted the passage of time in his statement Monday. “This is just one part of a long process that began eight years ago,” he said.

“Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she’s relieved this part is over.”