One of the thing that irritates me so consistently about the way Angelina Jolie is treated in the press is that her motivations are always suspect, she’s always second-guessed and no one can just take her words at face value. There’s probably a connection to how we treat all women, or all high-profile women, I suppose. Angelina told the world (through “sources”) that she filed for divorce because of her children, because she was concerned about Brad’s behavior around the kids. A lot of people jumped the gun and questioned every part of her story. Well, it’s like a repeat of the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp situation: some receipts have been produced, and these are the kinds of receipts that will likely change the way the story is covered from top to bottom. TMZ reports that Brad Pitt is under investigation for child abuse.
Brad Pitt is under investigation by the LAPD and L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services for allegedly getting verbally abusive and physical with his children, and that’s what triggered the divorce … TMZ has learned. Sources familiar with the situation tell us, Brad, Angelina and their kids were on a flight last Wednesday when he allegedly got wasted on the private jet. He allegedly went wild, screaming and getting physical with the kids.
We’re told the plane landed at an airport around 8 PM, and witnesses say Pitt continued his rant on the tarmac, and even tried leaving in one of the fuel trucks. Our sources say someone either on the plane or the tarmac anonymously reported the incident to the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services. We’re told Brad and Angelina have already been interviewed and DCFS plans to interview the kids as well. That investigation is ongoing.
We’re also told the LAPD has the case … which is routine when anyone reports child abuse. We do not know the specifics of the alleged abuse … just that it was supposedly both verbal and physical. Our sources say this incident triggered Jolie to separate from Brad the next day and file for divorce just days later.
A source close to Brad tells TMZ, “He takes the matter very seriously and says he did not commit any abuse of his children,” adding, “It’s unfortunate that people involved are continuing to present him in the worst possible light.”
“It’s unfortunate that people involved are continuing to present him in the worst possible light.” Yeah, but after years of not giving Angelina the benefit of the doubt, perhaps she’s the one who’s due this time around? If this incident freaked her out to the point where she left him immediately afterwards, it was something big. If there were witnesses to his freakout – and there were witnesses, so says TMZ – and they were concerned enough to call the authorities, why are we concerned about BRAD being presented in the worst possible light? Say what you will about Angelina, but haven’t we always known that if she was presented with two options – the safety of her kids versus protecting Brad – she was always going to choose her kids’ safety?
Update: The LAPD has issued a very carefully worded statement: “LAPD is not handling any report of allegations of child abuse for Mr. Brad Pitt.”
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Hoo boy. This is getting very interesting.
Well now. Let’s all sit back, relax and fasten our seat belts. This is going to be one bumpy ride.
+1000
Wow. This is not good. This is so sad. It’s one thing to cheat but to be abusive to the kids gives this a whole new spin.
I always thought he was a great father. 😔
The first question that hit my mind was, is this the first time he’s gone off like this?
Same here, Carmen. He always seemed really caring. I would have thought Angelina would be the unstable one tbh. But now the friggin FBI is getting involved and this is going to get CRAZY.
OMG I did not expect this at all
Me neither! To me it sounds like he mixed booze with pills and blacked out similarly to what happened with Selma Blair.
Doesn’t make it right, doesn’t make it safe and probably explains a TON as to why this is being played so pubically with such ferociousness.
If people witnessed this and it freaked EVERYONE out then she really was kind of backed into the corner with action.
Yeah, I was thinking more that it was pretty mundane: Jolie was bored with Brad; Jolie wants to divorce; Jolie wants to be able to live with the kids in another country in which Brad does not want to live full time so she files for full custody. This certainly changes thing.
I figured Brad had some kind of major booze/drugs meltdown because Angelina moved so quickly in filing for divorce. The whole situation is so sad. I feel bad for the kids.
Here’s the thing – you don’t expect it from them because they tend to keep their personal life private and controlled BUT it is exactly the kind of narrative you expect in a divorce with kids. And that is why people have people have side eyed AJ. At least for me, it’s not because she’s a woman. It’s because I’ve seen false abuse claims several times in custody cases and have friends in law enforcement who say it’s such a standard accusation that very often doesn’t hold water but they are required to investigate it. And it becomes easy to do without prejudice because in a custody case it’s often a vindictive grab for custody. So no I don’t think intelligent people are skeptical because they’ve got a romantic idea of Brad or Brangelina, but rather because anything with a full custody grab has a fifty/fifty chance of either being serious or malicious and you just wait for the investigation to end.
Paleo- If I were you I’d side eye your law enforcement friends. I don’t mean that in a bitchy way but hearing that people in law enforcement say that it is standard that women accuse men of abuse for a custody grab!? That’s not been shown to be true and it’s insulting. Maybe your friends don’t want to admit that domestic violence is not that rare and would rather believe people to be liars then beaters but they are wrong if they say that you should err on the side of the woman lying. Maybe they hate DV cases because they are difficult and taxing and dangerous for the police that take the immediate call. This is why we passed laws that police have to arrest someone if there are marks of abuse- many cops turned a blind (and still do) for years. The requirement (at least in my state) to arrest if they see signs of abuse has caused a lot more men to plea to abuse or a lesser charge & get help.
Most accusations of abuse are true but they are very difficult to prove in a court of law due to their intimate nature and the fact that victims are not saints either and we, as a society, tend to blame them. 50/50 is totally crazy and untrue and has been found untrue by studies and professionals. Please don’t spread that falsehood. A simple google search into studies and trends- looking at professionals in DV and not just weird sites- will show you that the stat you gave is wrong.
@MC2 actually what they have said is that those accusations fly from both genders. So no one is being sexist in any way. And it’s not just one person but several trusted friends that includes police officers, lawyers in the DA’s office and a judge. So I’m sorry if their viewpoints don’t agree with your statistics but in my experience those custody allegations don’t always end up in actually filing charges with the police so I think perhaps we’re talking about two different things. Many, many horrific allegations are made during divorce proceedings that come to nothing at all. And those allegations are made by both men and women.
Paleo- My mind went straight to police and where cops are called and intervene, not divorce cases. Thanks for being cool in your response- I thought about it and I have a background in working in dv where people call the cops or report child abuse to police but not in accusations stemming from divorce. I am sure that a ton of insane accusations are made by people during messy divorces. God- divorces really bring out the worst in people.
I do stand, though, that when women go to the police or cops are called during a domestic abuse that the women are likely to be telling the truth about the abuse and law enforcement should err on the side of safety. I worked with men who were accused of dv and very few didn’t admit to being guilty- even if they maintained their innocence for a long time and took a plea to a lesser charge. But they had been through the criminal system so it wasn’t just a case of an accusation during a break up.
I was also the victim of abuse and one certain “law enforcer” automatically tried to start poking holes in my story. The perpetrator never tried to say he didn’t do it- that was the weird part. My abuser said “yep- I did it but she deserved it because xxxxxxx ” and the detective still just tried to find holes in the story that we all agreed had happened to throw it out. It showed me how far some will go to conclude with an abuser. And that detective had an amazing career and someone came in to congratulate him on his retirement while he was interrogating me. I feel so sorry for any woman that had a case on his desk and I’m so grateful that I had the receipts (and that my perp was not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree).
The blinds have been saying for a while now that it’s not just pot and booze. He is a coke addict. He had the bloat last year.
I feel for Angelina. It’s different for her than it would be for us. She can’t just keep this private and try to work it out at home. He made a very public scene, tried to steal a fuel truck and flee the scene. She was put in the precarious position in front of airline crew and bystanders, to take action lest her children be taken from her for not doing something about it and the possibility of damage to her efforts and position with the UN. She probably felt she didn’t have a choice.
@MC2 I think most people do believe that if you’ve gotten to the point where you’re calling the cops and you’re filing DV charges then it’s probably credible. I think that even though I know a few women who have called and filed bogus charges. But I tend to trust the system because those got tossed immediately. I’m so saddened to hear about your own experience with DV. Good for you for seeing it through in the face of such skepticism.
I do think it’s also easy to have a knee jerk reaction of believing claims and rumors of abuse out of overall sympathy for how horrible those situations are. Unfortunately too many people in the pressure cooker of divorce know that is the reaction and fling accusations to get the upper hand. That might not be what is happening here but it’s so absurdly common that I always wait awhile to form an opinion in a divorce case. And honestly usually one party is louder and giving more information. We like to think we’re in an era where divorce is so common that it’s civil all the time but that’s usually not the case. Whatever is going on here it’s sad all around.
This can’t possibly be a “one off” thing. I’m gaining the sense that Brad’s behavior is a compounded concern, and the “tarmac” incident must have been the most escalated and pronounced incident. I’m surprised it’s never been in the press, however. It seems like Angie’s men have a pattern of addiction, but I didn’t see it in Brad- have I not paid attention?
Interesting is right. You know it’s bad when it turns out the affair rumour was the KINDER version. This is freaking Charlie Sheen territory. Ugh.
Who knew Bens nanny banging would be positively quaint only a year later.
@Naya – that made me laugh, and then feel guilty for laughing.
I laughed too, Fallon!
LOL Naya
Yep…. Man. This sucks. #teamangelina.
This is sad, but the amount of respect I have for this woman just keeps growing.
She’s amazing and strong. She knew she would be judged and taken apart and still she did what she had to do, and not turned a blind eye.
she is really amazing.#Joliestrong
Team angelina all the way.
Horrible. That’s all I can say. Having come from a very dysfunctional home, I feel for those kids.
#TeamKids
CNN just a moment ago, is saying the LAPD released a statement saying Brad is NOT being investigated -questioned for child abuse. He is being questioned, investigated about an incident.
I figured that meant that they’re not involved at this point because it’s being handled by CPS..?
I don’t understand how any of this stuff works so feel free to correct me…
It’s sort of unusual if you work for a large international airport like LAX to report something anonymously…these days particularly. Not a good idea. So I’m thinking it’s someone else. Who has Wasser on call.
(As for DCFS Kitten, speaks the friend of LCSW’s and others everywhere, they would definitely look into the best interests of the children first, but it doesn’t sound like anything is going to happen. If Pitt’s not being questioned about that by the LAPD, it’s over. No charges, yet – just the said incident, which is obviously not child abuse.)
And I’m guessing that the anonymous source at LAX was (looking into my magic 8 ball) please ask again later. They don’t like anonymous calls, esp. for high profile cases like this.
Good luck Wasser et.al, but trying to make Brad Pitt look bad in the U.S. is like trying to deface Mt.Rushmore (and where’s banksy when you need him?) Good luck with that. People aren’t going to buy it here. It may backfire on Wasser’s client, though. Like in the UN? Never resort to cheap and dirty tactics. Unless that’s what you’re like. If she hadn’t been Mel Gibson and Depp’s attorney recently, I might be a little more on board for this. But what we have here is a failure to communicate. Soon, the only country that will willingly accept Jolie is Cambodia.
* I’m trying to stay away from this, but I just can’t, I just can’t!
C’est la vie … again it could be a matter of jurisdiction and who has authority to investigate, so this doesn’t mean much yet. And how can you say that the said incident was “obviously not child abuse?” Only the parties involved and abuse investigators can determine that.
Wasser will work hard for her clients, though some of them are slime that doesn’t mean all of them are slime. She’s not in the business of judging, she’s in the business of representing.
@Who – Yes, but I know there are some lawyers, who are in fact different than others and will only defend certain types of clients. When you reach a level like Wasser’s, you go to her for her reputation, which is as her profile rises – is really damned ugly.
Also, The LAPD are putting out a straight report of looking into an incident. DCFS or CPS wouldn’t be looking at an incident of abuse by themselves without the police being involved and yes, LAX is within the LAPD’s jurisdiction. Unless they landed at Burbank Hollywood Airport (don’t think so) in lovely Burbank. And it is lovely.
Angelina is either stirring some serious shit because she is seeking revenge for something or Brad has fooled all of us like a pro for all these years.
Exactly. Honestly I have no idea
Or Brad’s a good guy who, recently, allowed his ‘recreational indulgences’ become crutches and he needs to get fcuking serious about cleaning up, developing functional coping skills and rebuilding the trust with his family.
Not prepared to throw dude down the stairs without giving him a chance to make things right.
A good dude who used to chase after teenagers and threw his ex wife under the bus..
Really Nacelle???
I don’t want to think of Brad as “this” guy. I really hope this is a HUGE wake up call for him. Maybe this is what he needs to get it pulled back together.
I wonder if this was a small, quiet part of conversation on their anniversary get-away, since they seemed to spend little time together. I’m curious how many times Angie tried to have an open dialog about these issues before it turned into what it is now.
I hope things can be salvaged, especially for the kids. Verbal and emotion abuse is just as hurtful as violent outburst and physical abuse. There’s been a breach of trust and I would be surprised if Angie forgives him. Ugh… so sad..
Or he’s an alcoholic and its getting out of control, and he’s in denial about it. It happens to a lot of people after years of handling their addictions. A really good friend of mine is in the process of ending a 20 year marriage for similar reasons.
+1 Luca76 It can just come to a tipping point for people when dealing with a person that has substance abuse problems. It comes to a you or them moment and it’s tough.
This is what I’ve been thinking since the divorce filing. Maybe he’s had substance abuse issues for a while, and she just couldn’t stay with him when she saw it was now affecting the children? Like Zapp said, everyone has a tipping point.
At the end of the day, though, if the kids are in danger – be it physical or emotional, etc – then she made the right decision.
Yep. Remember when everyone was like, WHYYY are Depp and Paradis divorcingm they’re made for each other, she’s the love of his life, surely there is a way to make this work? Well, no one’s saying that now when we know what he’s like behind closed doors. Try to make it work with THAT.
Honestly, I think we have a tendency to almost excuse violence from substance abusers. I know it comes from a place of generosity but no. I think that if this report is correct, then to hell with Brad Pitt same as Johnny Depp. I still think she was wrong to be the one to bring this to the public domain. She should be fighting to have Protective Services and the courts handle it quietly. In the eventuality that the media caught on, she should have had a”no comment” on hand. That would not have changed the fact that a person who choses to take drugs that dispose him to violence and takes them while in a flying metal tube containing young kids is selfish and disgusting and yes, a monster.
Definitely. She could have stayed with him for years while he struggled with addiction, hoping he would work on it, hoping things would change and this was the last straw.
I can’t imagine how upsetting it would be to find out that someone called the authorities on your husband for abusing your kid. I would have a REALLY hard time getting over that and yes, I can see how once the kids are being directly affected by his addiction issues, that would be a deal-breaker.
@Naya-I would agree with you if Angie were a private citizen and not a celeb married to another celeb embarking on what will surely be a very messy and very public divorce. I think making this public was a strategic move on her part. She likely knew it would come out anyway once the tabs got ahold of it, and she was trying to do a pre-emptive strike as part of her divorce strategy.
Exactly. Addicts are very difficult people. And addicts are often verbally and emotionally abusive, even if they don’t engage in physical abuse.
Serious question: wouldn’t the LAPD have been required to arrest him if they were told by others that he hit someone (children, staff, wife, anyone)? Does things change, for some reason, when it is allegations about children?
I’ve no experience with this or with CPS so I am ignorant on the protocols.
Luca76, that was my thought too. This sounds like an alcoholic who used to be functional, but is ceasing to be — for any number of largely irrelevant reasons. This would also explain why AJ is going for sole physical but joint legal custody — when he’s not drunk and raging, he’d still be capable of sensible input on major decisions re: the kids. If AJ were being vindictive, she’d have asked upfront for sole legal custody as well and supervised visitation only.
If there are credible a accounts from disinterested eyewitnesses, I expect this will end with Brad going to rehab as a condition of some type of joint custody arrangement (given how rarely CA courts award sole custody).
If this is true, why is she not requesting supervised visitation then? If he really is a danger to his kids because of substance abuse issues, you do not just ask for sole custody and visitation for your ex. You request that your ex be required to be supervised, drug tested, complete a program and then move to unsupervised visits if you are so concerned with your kids safety. Happened with my mom’s divorce.
As Kitten said she could have stayed with him or years and tried to talk him into help but he was unwilling. I wonder if Angelina doing this is maybe a way to force him into seeking help. All he statements keep pushing the fact that she still loves him and he’s the love of her life, maybe she hoped that just by filling he’d seek help and she’s willing to stay with him if he does so?
I think someone can get violent with kids sudd my without it having being hidden for years. Not that he would not have had any issues prior but I always assumed he has some substance abuse issues and those people usually have some issues no matter how people say drugs can be harmless. Usually there is something after many years. But violence can be new thing.
I’d be willing to bet that his verbal abuse during the incident made her walk. He must have said some terrible things to the children that burned so deep that she is unable to forgive him. I don’t think he is violent but maybe it got violent by throwing things or rushing in one of the older kids face that made it seem like he was going to hurt them.
Words. It’s the words that linger.
While it’s true that the power of abusive words is underestimated, physical abuse can do lasting damage as well. It’s all bad.
His anger was possibly aimed at Angie, and one of the children stepped in, which caused Brad to redirect the anger at one of the children. It’s a common scenario, especially with a teenaged child.
It’s typical divorce crap, bet Brad’s friends and family have seen a lot. Wasn’t she a druggie too? This will be interesting.
But how hard is it, really, to “fool” a bunch of movie goers and gossip readers? I mean, we don’t know the guy AT ALL. Chances are, if we were ever to observe him in private with his kids even for half an hour, we’d know something was wrong (if something is, I’m perfectly willing to wait for the end of the investigation). But we never get close enough, spouses always say only good things about each other as long as they are together (as they should – that’s what we do in real life, too), and apparently, Hollywood always covers for their own, even when it’s something horrible.
I worked with abusive men and they don’t “fool” us- they can be wonderful men & abusive monsters at the same time. I think it’s important to get that abuser are just like us- if anything for the women and other victims. Abusers can be the very best people in so many ways and the idea that they are wearing masks hiding this evil person is not reality. That is why abuse is such a mind f-k. The victims of dv usually love their abuser and the abuser is lovable in many ways. The men can honestly “love” their partners & children but love is an action. I am betting that all of you could have spent weekends with these two and never suspected that he could be abusive. I am with the article that we should believe her and my sympathy goes out to her. And hopefully he gets some serious help. If Johnny Depp had admitted that he was abusive, sought and committed to help- how great would that have been to see. I am hoping Brad makes a good choice now.
I agree. We tend to think people are one-dimensional and assume the dimension presented to us is their whole person. It’s not. People have many facets. I don’t doubt for a moment that Brad loves Angelina and his kids more than anybody else in the world. I’m sure he’s been a good husband and father for most of their relationship. He also has a substance abuse problem. You can be both, all, and everything but we don’t see it all.
Well, he is in fact a pro-he’s an actor, and a very gifted one at that. Is it so hard to imagine that his public persona might be very different from how he is in private?
Well Johnny Depp had us fooled for all those years too and look how he turned out…
Yes, or she could be trying to win in the court of public opinion. It appears the storyline is going to go something like this. You know, she’s St. Jolie trying to save her family, LAX and the world and he’s evil Brad Pitt out to destroy it. It would make a pretty good movie, kind of like Travolta’s Battlefield Earth. Right now, it’s all just hearsay, with little or no evidence. And with an extremely suspect lawyer mixed in, to boot.
I’d think I’d change the storyline and the lawyer if I were her.
It sounds like there are a lot of witnesses, so no pot stirring. He may have been in such a condition before, but not on a plane and so she or nannies/tutors could have told any kids in the vicinity to go someplace else until dad is in his right mind again. But in the confinement of the plane- no place for the kids to go. I wonder if the two older boys, who are getting pretty big, tried to deal with him and that’s what is meant by getting physical – he may have reacted badly to their attempts. My brother would have done that, gentle fellow though he usually is. He was almost as tall as his father by the time he was 12.
So maybe she just decided enough was enough and the kids can’t be protected otherwise, although not sure why she didn’t ask for supervised visitation. Maybe she trusts him in some situations but not others, or maybe they always travel with nannies/tutors so it might not be a common problem. Or maybe she’s trying to get him into rehab and is still thinking of salvaging the marriage. It must be so disappointing for the kids – they worked hard for years to convince those two to marry!
Called it.
wow.
i think it has something to do with shiloh somehow
Wow that is a lot to lay on the shoulders of a little girl.
Oh dear
Good lord, this is going to be a hot mess. A hot and (surprisingly) VERY public mess.
Yes, seems like Pitt is playing the ‘she’s crazy’-card while trying to whitewash his problems.
Hardly. I took it as him rejecting the press’ tendency to swarm over celebrities whenever there’s blood in the water.
I think that, if anything, he will thank Angelina for doing things this way. She didn’t give him time to get a sycophant team together to go to war. Hell, it seems that he’s deliberately keeping PR hands off of this, which somehow makes me hopeful that he is getting real world serious about this whole thing.
I hope he checks into rehab ASAP, if he isn’t there already, ducks out of his career and work on rebuilding the trust with his family.
That’s so low. Not a fan but I didn’t expect THIS to be his line of defence. Just embarrassing.
I completely disagree. Everything I heard out of his camp either ignored her or was positive about her parenting. I think the quote was something like Angie is a great mother but so is Brad, and he will fight for joint physical custody. He didn’t bring out the guns and US was reporting that his camp was under instruction not to go negative.
I mean, if this stuff is true it makes him a complete monster but thats no license to rewrite the last two days.
Physical abuse towards the children was the first thing that came to my mind when I read Angelina’s statement. Sad to see this appears to be the truth. I knew it had to be something really bad for Angie to publicly issue such a statement. You just never know what goes on behind closed doors.
I think that she went public because she knew there were witnesses reporting to the authorities. Otherwise she would have managed the separation differently / Paltrow style.
That could definitely be the case. Makes a lot of sense, actually –she had no choice but to go public!
I still see no value in her going public. I said yesterday that if it involved kids welfare in the ways that were being speculated, she needed to get the authorities involved not the public. Thats not to protect him, its to protect the children. Once the media figured it out, I would expect them to put a joint “no comment” statement. Again, not for him – f*ck him – but because its not in the kids best interests to have a bad divorce play out as publicly as its about to.
@Naya First off I don’t think it was a situation that was going to remain private because there was a CPS allegation. TMZ would have found it. Keeping it private wouldn’t protect the kids it would protect Brad and his reputation. It would invalidate the kids . She handled this perfectly. She got ahead of the news and when it came out we already knew that she was protecting her children. BTW if her interest is in getting Brad help the best thing to do would be publicly calling him out and shaming him into going to rehab.
But how does adopting a joint “no comment” approach, invalidate the kids? I’m just saying its never a good thing to chum the media waters when there are kids involved. This is a matter for the authorities who thankfully are already involved.
That’s what I’m assuming from the reports that both are being investigated. Someone (witnesses) allegedly turned him/them in, and she went straight for divorce.
@Naya think of what it must be like to be the child of someone that’s internationally famous and adored and to be abused by them. As we see here many people want to believe he is innocent of these allegations and I’d bet even if more is released some will still adulate and adore him. The act of publicily standing by her kids is empowering to them.
I think the act of seeking sole custody and getting authorities involved is the most protective thing a mother could do here. I’m never going to be against shaming an abuser, I just don’t know in a situation like this. If the kids were denied justice and they consented to a public airing, then maybe. But right of the gate, I think was a mistake. I will say that given what she has been through the last week, it was an understandable miscalculation. She must be living her worst nightmare.
@ naya
This would have got out eventually . Her statement didn’t shame him. It just said she did it for the health of family. That’s her only statement. If you attribute “sources” to her, then you also have to attribute sources to him as saying she’s crazy. That’s just as shitty or worse that they are trying to twist the narrative that she’s the crazy one for divorcing him for abusing their kids.
And I am sorry why should she say no comment? What if he racially abused the kids ( just an example not saying he did). What if he said something homophobic to their daughter. Whatever kind of abuse it was I don’t understand why you think she’s supposed to say no comment. Shes a public person and this type of abuse affects people in millions of homes all over. once the social services are involved it’s no longer a private matter.
Jessie, I think its fair to say that TMZ is holding brief for her, given Wassers history. There also quotes in other outlets attributed to her manager and entertainment lawyer by name. Its no secret that she has had a big hand in getting this story to where it is. The only question is, is this in the kids best interests? I say no. I say that she should have let the media figure it out and completely refused to engage.
But I also think she was swept away by the situation. I dont believe she would have played it this way if she had had time to process or a different lawyer for that matter. I see some Wasser to influence here. Like how Depp should have avoided a public confrontation and yet rather than diffuse his instincts, she steered him directly into a storm.
With her statement she’s also giving him an out like Heard did for Depp. Making the issue about substance abuse and not him. If the LAPD finds this to be credible he can say I m going to rehab to get clean for my kids
If the LAPD finds this to be credible, I hope he seeks professional help for his addictions and whatever, if any, underlying causes there are for them. Even if CPS finds that this was an incident of too much yelling versus anything worse and closes the case, Brad still should seek help.
His marriage may not be salvageable but his relationship with his children certainly should be. They should be his top priority right now and, to his credit, his few statements thus far show that this is the case.
That’s definitely what the statement implied, but I still couldn’t believe it.
Whoaa. So this was THE incident. A few days ago these kind of headlines were impossible to even think about. Brad must have really lost the plot.
I know it sounds super bad doesn’t it? But being investigated doesn’t mean he is guilty. Like the article says, they investigate every complaint. Just saying, until we know more, we don’t know what happened for sure.
Lady Jane – agree. Child services has to investigate every complaint – true or not. Several years ago, child services was called on me because by my neighbor. Their dog bit my 2 year old grandson on the face. The dog sitting was as tall as my grandson. My daughter called to report the bite and the wife got angry and called child services. It is what it is. I don’t agree with going publicly with this – either one of them but if that is what Angie felt she had to do then that is what she had to do. We don’t know what truly happened and may never know. Neither one at this point needs to be vilified.
My mum was investigated because of how many bumps and bruises my sisters and I had. We all had to be interviewed and draw pictures of our family life. It turned out we were just tom boys who loved climbing and jumping.
Yes this is true—we don’t know for sure that he’s guilty.
Yet the way stars are idolized and coddled, the shroud of secrecy and privacy that surrounds them.. and now this very public accusation?
Remember: this happened on a private plane, where presumably Pitt was surrounded by his people and other trusted members of his entourage. Yet one of those trusted members was so outraged that he broke protocol and anonymously “ratted” on Pitt. At least at first glance, the situation lends a lot of credibility to this whistle blower’s claims.
There are plenty of unfounded cases reported to CPS for spiteful reasons and I am glad that the accused isn’t found guilty by CPS without an investigation. I am glad we have a judicial system and the guilty are presumed innocent in a court of law.
That being said- if I was in Vegas I would bet all my chips that he is guilty of abusing those kids. I am with Kitten in her thinking and this all rings true. There is no reason to not believe Angelina Jolie.
@Kitten- I’m suspicious about who called anonymously. My problem is that Jolie didn’t demand supervise visitation for Brad in her divorce papers. That’s crucial. Where there is a substance abuse problem and you have children, supervised visitation is the norm. It has to be supervised.
According to Lainey, Brad & Angelina have been drifting in different directions this year. He wants to continue making movies while she wants to get involved in politics full time. Global politics/humanitarian issues. Plus, he’s been indulging too much in alcohol and pot over the years, which has been a concern for Angelina according to Lainey’s sources. I’m not sure if I believe that.
And then you have the kids, he wants them to be in a more structured, settled environment where she prefers less. He’s more of a disciplinarian than she is but I cannot see him abusing those kids. I’m sorry, I don’t see it. Can I see him getting upset and losing his cool? Yes. That does not mean he hits them or calls them names. And I am going to take a lot of heat for this, but yelling at a kid will not damage them. What damages a kids is what you say to them, what you do. Again, it’s my opinion.
I was emotionally abused, neglected and yelled at every day as a kid. I actually called it psychological warfare because it occurred every day. My parents were addicts, too. Kids do make it out of these situations.
We had an investigation triggered because my then-5 year old told the neighbor we only fed her dog food. She didn’t talk to us, she reported us to Family Advocacy (we’re military) who then were obliged to call the police. We had weeks of the military prowling through all the kids’ medical records and having to explain every single time any of them went to the ER–never for anything serious just regular vomiting, chicken pox, infected mosquito bite, etc…CPS interviewed our kids at school before even notifying us of an investigation and then interviewed us at our home. It was a freaking nightmare because it could’ve seriously impacted my husband’s career –he had to go before a board comprised of a dentist, doctor, JAG lawyer, family advocacy rep for them to clear him or recommend further Family Advocacy action. Luckily, the board did so quickly (though getting through the investigation took forever) and CPS basically dismissed it out of hand after the interviews and home visit. I think they were expecting scraggly children who looked like they’d been raised by wolves and I got the impression that they weren’t too happy at having to spend time investigating an obviously false claim when there are actually serious cases and not a lot of case workers. I knew exactly which neighbor it was and steered clear of her the remainder of our time and I’m still a little standoffish with neighbors–that was a real trust buster.
As for Pitt, I’d be more inclined to side-eye the claim based on personal experience but this sounds like there is more than one witness and one who has actual evidence to back it up. Plus at the airport, there may be video cameras? Security is pretty tight. I hope for the sake of the family that he sobers up and that the abuse turns out to be something relatively minor (a slap can get you called on but used to be pretty common when Pitt was growing up–and I’m not excusing it, I don’t even spank my kids) because something more substantial (a punch, etc) is not only more serious legally but it would be a lot harder to rebuild trust with your children following something like that. It would also indicate far more serious issues with anger than a simple loss of control while under the influence. That would really remain with them and if the other kids were present, it could destroy the bonds with all of them–and just seeing a parent *that* out of control would have been terrifying enough. Hopefully this was also the first time and only time for the same reasons. The family always seemed close and the kids never seemed ill at ease with him so maybe this is all really new and hasn’t been going on for years. I tend to think AJ wouldn’t have stayed if it had happened even once before but you never know what goes on behind close doors.
My best friend was investigated earlier this year. Her 9 year old son went to school and proceeded to tell a teacher that she hit him in the feet, head, and hands with sticks. As a mandated reporter, the teacher reported her to CPS. CPS came out and investigated her. Her son admitted to CPS that he made it all up because he was mad at her for making him do chores and his homework before playing games. I had another friend investigated because he yelled at his 12 year old son in a store, because his son tried to steal some candy from it. There was an anonymous phone call to the police saying he was abusing his son. Again, because of the report, he was investigated and cleared as well. Just because someone is reported “anonymously” to the police, doesn’t mean that they are in fact abusing the children. I am not saying Brad didn’t do anything wrong, but I have to side eye the whole situation. There are those that are mandated to report, and then there are those that are hyper critical of everything when it comes to children. When I mean hyper critical, I mean that even the slightest of raised voices, makes them scream abuse. And maybe its a cultural thing, but unless its an everyday occurrence and verbiage is hyper abusive, then a little yelling at a child every now and then, isn’t abuse to me. Again, not saying something bad didn’t happen, I am just saying I will refrain from calling Brad a monster solely based off a CPS investigation. I think a lot of people jump to conclusion for or against too fast without waiting to get all the actual facts. At this point, this COULD be a case of a alcoholic husband, or it COULD be the case of a vindictive wife. Both scenarios are highly plausible, but no one really knows.
Cannot attest to what happens in CA, but in my state, CPS is obligated to respond to any allegation of abuse/neglect. There is a hotline, and based on information provided, investigations are prioritized based on severity of allegations.
CPS works with law enforcement when warranted, but is a separate entity.
@Christin – I live in CA. In CA, it is mandated to cross report between agencies if a report of child abuse is made. Basically, if LAPD receives an anonymous complaint, by law, they must notify CPS and the DA’s office, and vice versa. They are also mandated to investigate all reports as well.
Holly sh#t! First Depp now Pitt? WTF?!? I always thought Pitt as a dotting father but alcohol and middle life crisis can mess you up I guess. It must have been quite a scene if this was what triggered her decision.
Yeah, he didn’t even care to compose himself. Just kept on ranting everywhere like a maniac. If it’s that bad that other parties are intervening, then he’s got no legs to stand on. Who knows Pitt might have gotten a small chance to redeem himself after a trial separation or something but other people calling Child Services pretty much obliterated that option. I could understand he has issues but he want too far and I doubt Jolie would have given him another chance any way. She seems like the person to fuck up once and you’re out. Which…good for her. I take back all that I said before!
I was just thinking that! Mel Gibson, Johnny Depp, and now Brad Pitt. All my favorite 90s actors, all jerks. Tom Hanks better keep his stuff together!
Poor kids. I hope they are all safe.
I know. Can’t believe just a month ago I was typing how Brad was the only worthy 90s hunk left. Alec Baldwin and Charlie Sheen were pretty hot commodities at the time too. But Now I think about it, Denzel and Hanks are doing fine – fingers crossed.
Millennial that made me giggle, Tom Hanks is my favorite, he better be good! 😉
Oh god, Tom Hanks, please please please let him be all good and fine and lovely and no scandalito!
^^^ this. Looks like every movie star from the era before the superheroe movies and instagram culture are going down. I will loose all trust in humanity if Hanks starts thowing drunk tantrums or runs away with a bimbo.
On the serious note – there is no justification for child abuse. However crazy things get around kids – getting physical IS the end of the line.
I mean, Tom Hanks is a home wrecker, everyone seems to forget and/or ignore that. Then again, I guess home wrecking is small potatoes compared to domestic assault and child abuse.
I have been wondering if their (former) heartthrob status is indeed a factor in these kind of midlife-crisis breakdowns. For decades (and longer) women have had to deal with the sad and unfair fact that they are seen as less desirable and of less worth when youth has faded. Men hasn’t really been confronted with this situation because our society has been patriarchal for so long. It still is but things are changing and the objectification of attractive people in the public sphere has now become an equal opportunity game and it turns out that it is just as toxic to men as it is to women, maybe even more because men generally hasn’t been subjected to the cultural conditioning that women has. Then magnify everything a 100 times because these are people in the public eye who have been celebrated for their attrativeness not only by millions of people but by the massive complex of the entertainment industry.
I know. When I saw the news about Pitt this morning I was having flashbacks to the initial threads with the Depp scandal where I was urging everyone to not jump to conclusions because I didn’t think Depp was capable of abuse. SMDH…You just never know.
“You just never know.” Agree.
Although I’ve seen so many of these stories in real life… that I always tend to think that such allegations are likely true when I hear about them.
Many (if not all) of these celebrities have carefully crafted a public persona and most of the time that persona is actually, and wholly, removed from the real one.
I wouldn’t have thought of Brad that way either, though…
Nobody also cares about James who took over as a nanny for their children. Reports say in July. Hmm……
Wait, you think James Haven was the one who might have called CPS? Whoa.
But yes, I agree with you that in terms of celeb gossip, history has taught is that where there’s smoke, fire is sure to follow.
I’m glad most people change their positions on things even if the initial reaction is to think that person could never be capable of abuse. These two surprise me but I don’t doubt the abuse once it’s out. If we were just betting people then most of these cases that come out and make sense are true & we should be on them. There is very little motivation for a woman (esp in Hollywood) to come out and say she has been abused by a beloved man. What is more likely then the woman doing that and going throw a public firestorm and trial in order to get her check, is that we have an epidemic in our country of domestic violence.
Consultation in all this is that people are seeing that men like JD & BP can be abusers and (hopefully) err on believing victims more. I really, really, really hope that one of these man’s men will get help & do it publicly so other men can see that there is a solution. I hope but I am a betting person so I put most of my chips on the fact that he will go the brat packer way and pickle himself on a yacht somewhere. I am putting one shiny chip on the spot that says he gets help- I hope that one wins!!!
I just didn’t want to believe it. And it was making me mad, the speculating. But now, well……here we are. Again. I didn’t want BP to be anther JD. But this incident had witnesses and even if it didn’t, Jolie isn’t some bitter woman with a grudge. Shit. :(. Did not see this coming, but why would we? We don’t know anything about anything really. Not even Brad Pitt.
AJ strikes me as very protective, that being said I don’t really see BP as being abusive. But I could see him saying something while drunk and mad at her really ugly to the kid and her being like “Oh hell no.” Honestly there are some lines that should never be crossed and as a mother my self if someone anyone said something really cruel to my child I would be done forever. That maybe what happened, don’t mean he is an abusive person, just he made a huge mistake and she is done, and her leaving him could very well be for the child, as in “I 100% have your back” I am like that with my kids. If so it’s sad, and would explain why she didn’t ask for supervised visits, you know not an abuser but crossed a line verbally that was below the belt. Drunks do that.
There is a preconceived idea that women that are control freaks, focused and determined are manipulative bitches. And there is a preconceived idea that women must sacrifice ALL for their families (sexuality, ambitions, standards, self-respect, ego, etc), no word on what men should sacrifice. Not to mention the mistaken idea that kids are happy as long as parents are together, regardless whether those parents are miserable or not. Because of these ideas, women that pull the trigger on the separation when things go bad are harshly judged and questioned.
I am sure if she was more of the self-sacrificing, forever victim kind she would have tried to cover it up but she didn’t. Good for her and for her kids. Maybe good for Brad as well, that is obviously not being enabled.
Maybe if Brad managed to pull himself together, they could still be a family, divorced or not.
Well said als, an abusive Father even verbal abuse, can be extremely damaging to a Child.
Not a particular fan of either of them, but if there is any truth in this, than Jolie has gone right up in my estimation.
Yep. Too good to be true. I was right about him all along.
@Soror Bro: I can’t say the same thing.
Never liked Brad’s physic or his acting but I liked him as a professional and as Angelina’s husband.
I liked the fact that all his public relationships were with women that probably always had very strong opinions one way or another: Gwyneth, Aniston, Jolie. I am not debating how much of actresses they are, whether I like them or not but they have always been big names in the industry, relatively self-made. (Aniston may have been a TV star but what she is today is her construction and her hustle)
I like what he does with Plan B and what he says in interviews.
Never thought about how he is in private because as long as he was Angelina’s husband, a woman that takes no BS, he must have been good enough. He is not anymore.
God yes!!! What you said! EXACTLY!
I agree with EVERYTHING you said. And I would like to posit that it makes sense WHY she put it out in public. I can see why she would go so public, if in case this has been going on for over a year and he doesn’t want to seek help (ala Johhnny), sometimes a woman has to put him on blast. Especially someone so much in the public eye, it’s harder to navigate the situation. (Harder to be honest to people about the problems at home, harder to seek help).
I recently broke up with my bf because of drug related issues. And it was hard for me to cut myself off, what was more difficult was to tell my friends NOT to give him money… Sometimes exposing the person you love is the best way. I have zero doubt that Angelina tried her best to resolve without going public, but when that didn’t work… She fell straight into the position her mom was is…. This is SAD. This is VERY VERY SAD!!
Too be persecuted for being strong, and firm regardless of the love you have. It’s SAD!!!
Yes, it is sad, for everyone involved, Brad and Angelina as well, not just the kids.
But it is not the end of the world either. Families do overcome moments like these, as long as they acknowledge and work on them. As for the privacy thing, things are kept private if all parties agree. In this case there was no such thing.
Sorry for your beak-up. Be positive, you are healthy and functioning as well and don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
The silence surrounding an abusive environment is deafening and very damaging.(and it is not exclusive to mega-celebrities) Breaking out and yelling that it is not ok what is happening is a huge step.
This x1000
this is one of the best celebrity comments I have read in a long time well done, very informative as well as correct.
@Als
Spot on comment!!
Well said.
Angelina will always, always do what’s best for their kids. And I think her actions in part, which we’ve criticized so heavily (myself included), are calculated as a wake up call to him. The carefully worded statement about the health of the family was designed to get ahead of the story which she knew was going to come out.
If Angelina designed this as a wake up call for him, I think her plan will fail.
He is father of six, a man with a mega-career and a lot of responsabilities for his family and for the business he runs. If all these things are not wake up calls, he will never wake up.
I hope that Angelina did what she did strictly for herself and for her kids.
If Brad wants to see it as a wake up call, good for him but I am sure the family has supported him enough already, this entire scandal should not be one other sacrifice they make for him. Maybe he should think what sacrifice he could do for them, for example he could sacrifice his desire to drink his sorrows away for the peace of his family.
#Team Always Protect your kids.
I said this TUESDAY that Brad got physical or verbally abusive with his kids while drinking or on weed .Annie is a Momma Bear.Don’t Fu#ck with her kids.
He better get his ass to rehab if he wants to possibly save his family.
Great comment!
Good comment
wow
As much as this concerns me and I’d like to know the true extent of the incident (it’s an airport, there are cameras), I don’t think anything was really “anonymous.” And if it was truly an outside source, the media outlets would have found out first. Just saying.
not when the subject matter is child abuse. usually that involves a minimum of restrain in spilling the bean
I thought CPS calls are anonymous as a matter of course. You might tell them who you are when you make the call, but they’re not allowed to release that information.
Wow. Talk about ruining your life. The hell was he thinking? What on earth could make him turn to substances and turn on his kids? Dude like go into therapy for your issues, attacking your kids is just awful! Think before you act. The kids must be so sad, scared and confused.
He must have been holding some internal rage against his kids for a while because not all addicts turn against their loved ones, it’s usually when you harbor those feelings already and then use substances to excuse an actual attack.
I wonder if this is an exception to his behaviour. I wonder if when he’s angry, Jolie turns silent and walks away all the time like she has said in an interview. But I can’t imagine her not defending her kids physically and emotionally against him. Then again, her staying calm and collected while plotting her escape is much better. Really wonder about the details but either way, Pitt is done for in the public eye. After years and years building a family, he goes and ruins it because of substances? wowowow…
I think it’s a bit too soon to straight out say he attacked his kids. Clearly he got angry but what his actual behaviours were we don’t yet know.
Definitely could see one of those drunken rages where things are said that can’t be unsaid
A child doesn’t have to be struck to be abused. As someone who grew up with a father whose verbal attacks escalated while drinking I can tell you how damaging it is. Jolie may have recognized the signs of escalating behavior and said I’m not putting my kids through that.
I can never understand parents who say abusive and hurtful things to their kids. What could you be so bitter about that you would take it out on your children? Whatever it is it’s not worth it.
@Shaboo
A verbal attack is an attack too. If he was ranting and it was so bad that other people reported it to the authorities and Jolie wants a divorce, it most certainly is an attack. An attack on his family and symbolically their values in parenting.
We really don’t know anything at this point. There’s a big difference between a sober or drunk guy randomly going up to a little kid and beating on them vs a drugged drunk reacting to a teenage son the way he would to a stranger trying to restrain him (verbally or physically) because his mind is all blurry. I know people claim in vino veritas but I’m not sure I believe it, especially when psychotropic drugs are involved that can actually alter your perception of reality.
Apparently, according to Chelsea Handler being married to Jolie would drove someone to drug and alcohol 😒😒😒🙄🙄
I’ve always taken her with a boulder of salt but that comment was too much. She really is an uncompassionate human being. Shame on her.
Well he said he smoked weed to cope while being married to her BFF.So I guess Aniston drove him to weed.
#sarcasm
I’ve always hated him. Remember when he dated all these underage actresses back in the day?
Me too…. I never liked him. I always thought he was a bimbo and Jolie was too good for him. He came across totally vacuous in interviews pre-Jolie. Frankly he suited his ex-wife more than Jolie.
I wasn’t speechless about the divorce. But I’m speechless about this…
I wonder who reported it. Someone on the private plane likely means he was reported by insider staff…..
Or the ground crew who heard/witness it.
Especially if he got into an argument (or more) with employees. Trying to run off in a fuel truck?
It was pretty obvious this is what happened given the wording of her statement – i suspect there is a history of this behaviour (there usually is) and she only took action when it was reported to child services and the investigation launched. They may have been trying to deal with it privately. Hopefully this is the catalyst to force him to get help for his substance abuse and behaviour.
Wonder who the next A Lister to be outed as a substance abusing rage monster – Johnny Depp now Brad Pitt. Makes you wonder who the A Lister accused of abusing Corey Haim is – am not sure its who twitter has been outing, that one is going to be someone we have no idea about.
Charlie Sheen on the set of Lucas. Allegedly.
I believe that person was a producer or someone associated with the production plus Sheen was not that much older (5/6yrs) – I thought it had been stated that this person was a lot older. Plus given that Sheen has been a serious drug user/alcoholic for years I don’t think he’d be lucid enough to run a peado ring.
I think the more recent allegations reference abuse that took place a couple of years after Lucas was filmed, late 80’s vs. mid 80’s.
The blind I read made it sound like the abuser was very powerful and well-liked then, which given his family connections could be Sheen, though it’s over-stating things a bit. But it also seems to say this person is still extremely powerful and well-liked, and Sheen hasn’t been that for a long-time. Also, if he’d been running a pedophile ring all this time I feel like some hint of that would have come out during the Heidi Fleiss scandal.
I think Peppers list is why Travoltas name is coming up now. He does fit, I gather one of the clues is that the star also happens to be a closeted gay man? I dont know how would he run it from Florida, though.
Maybe they had fights in private, without the children, and she urged him to clean himself up. He didn’t and then he blew up and fortunately or unfortunately, there were witnesses to it which prevented Jolie from keeping it private. Thus she had to ask for a divorce regardless of what she initially planned to do (separation and Pitt in rehab for a few months maybe). Hell an addiction + rehab story helped Kidman and Urban’s marriage, it’s human to have flaws.
I don’t think it was going on for that long because the BTS couple had addiction issues with Pitt’s character and she didn’t want any speculation about their marriage being the same hence why she said they fight but not like that. She would be stupid to recreate their issues for the screen.
She just stayed ahead of the story and is protecting her kids now.
I agree with everything you wrote Artemis. Spot on.
Artemis, this sounds like the most plausible theory I’ve heard. The only thing that’s puzzling to me is that she’d file for divorce after one incident vs give him the chance to get help and redeem himself for the kids.
I agree too, it’s a little like the Nigella Lawson / Charles Saatchi story here in the UK. The pictures came out of him grabbing her face and being abusive and she really had to make the divorce move after that regardless of how often or even if it had ever happened before.
If this is true, it’s sooo sad for the kids, imagine how terrifying it is to be stuck in an enclosed space like that with your father in a rage? It must’ve been awful. The report doesn’t say where they landed – like was it an unscheduled landing sooner than their actual destination?
This makes complete and total sense.
@Esmom
See Rose’s comment. Regardless of how many times it happened, it happened recently with witnesses. There are little options for her and he clearly got many chances to clean himself up before. Once he went after the kids, the marriage was done and the witnesses probably pushed her to be sure of that 100%.
The fact also that he got chances and it escalated from their private life into the public life also was an important factor to file for divorce now. Pitt seemed to go in a downwards spiral, not seeking help and being away from his family for too long. When he is with them, he drinks and blows up? Eh, that marriage was not going to last anyway then. I think Jolie got handed a divorce that will work in her favour in regards to everything: the kids (custody), her career and image (she can focus on her political career without worrying about her husband ruining her life and with the public as the Ultimate Mother and do-gooder). Without the witnesses, it was going to be an uphill battle as nobody would believe her.
Also, I don’t think he ever went after the kids like this, she would not allow it. She hated her father for cheating and her father never abused her physically although I think he emotionally abused her and neglected her needs. Cheating < abuse, if those are her morals and values, Pitt never stood a chance to redeem himself from any type of abuse. Pitt being a good father was also the major reason they not only got together, but for her choice to become pregnant. She did a 180 in that regards. She said it makes her feel in love when she saw him interact with the kids. That love must be almost gone now since the incident.
But she’s been saying for 12 years that he is the best father possible. So which is it? Does it mean all the gushy things they said about each other were lies? Oops.
This. If it has indeed been going on for years like someone speculated and Angelina is the angelic mother she wants to be seen as she would have left him and taken the kids away from him a long long time ago. If not she would have been complicit in the child abuse, knowing about it but doing nothing to protect them from it. I also think that as long as she is as severely anorexic as she seems to be she cannot be a good mother to her kids either.
But I don’t buy any of this. There is something very strange going on here. Just glad Marion Cotillard put out a statement putting the rumors of her being in any way involved in this sick mess to rest. She’s pregnant and truly does not deserve getting dragged into the Pitts’ dysfunctional relationship by malignant rumors spread by the media.
I don’t think she was complicit in any abuse or anything. I wouldn’t just throw my husband away if he got drunk in front of our kids and acted like an idiot. Maybe I am wrong for that but I don’t feel like it’s that cut and dry. You have to weigh everything out when deciding if you should end a relationship with someone that you have kids with. And besides, ending the relationship doesn’t mean that person and their influence is gone… They are still his kids. I don’t think most moms just throw men out at the first sign of trouble.
Maybe he is when he’s sober.
And that could be where the problem lies. Maybe he’s normally great with the kids… but has developed a drinking problem that has spiraled out of control.
For the sake of the kids, he needs to get into some sort of therapy -whether for drinking or anger or both. It’s not easy to repair a relationship with your kids – especially when substance abuse is involved.
Erinn – that’s exactly what I was going to say.
He may have had some underlying anger issues that he was able to keep control of…when sober.
Alcohol is a known trigger for these types of things (anger, abusive behavior).
But isn’t that true of a lot of alcoholics? They are the greatest person on earth when sober, but when drunk look out. I just don’t know. There is a saying “in vino veritas”. I am just sad about all of this.
I’m thinking this has happened before it without witnesses. Now that there are witnesses, Angie had no choice.
Jen – I think it’s only true to a degree. Alcohol makes you more likely to lose inhibition and say things that you’ve been bottling up. But it is a chemical affecting the brain… I don’t think that everyone who becomes a jerk when drinking is necessarily a bad person when not drinking. The way alcohol affects the brain is a lot more complicated than that, and it’s also not nearly as understood as it should be.
It’s affecting your motor functions, your memory, and your pre-frontal cortex which is responsible for reasoning and judgement.
I’m not trying to excuse him – because I 100% think he needs to get some serious help. And if he’s refusing to do that – I’m glad Ang is taking the kids out of the scenario. But I’m not one of the people who believe that drinking brings out who you really are end of story. I think that it’s a lot more complex than that.
When I drink too much, I tend to get louder and a lot more friendly. This is the only time I dance. I will dance with strangers. I hate strangers. This doesn’t mean that deep down I love dancing with strangers.
When your motor functions are compromised – you may not realize how close you are to someone, or how much force is behind you when you’re attempting to do something. You also don’t tend to be able to watch your volume the way you would when you’re sober.
Ultimately, I think it’s possible that he has some anger issues, or maybe parenting issues, that don’t really become a problem until you’re adding to the volume and the coordination affects of drinking. A lot of parents yell. A lot of parents get snippy with their kids. But when you’re drinking and it’s become a problem, it doesn’t automatically mean that you want to be a yelling ragey ass to your kids all the time.
Again – not trying to excuse this drinking issue, or completely trivialize his behavior. I 100% think she made a good call if it’s become this kind of issue. It wouldn’t be in the best interest of the kids to be exposed to that AT ALL. I just don’t think that EVERYONE who gets completely out of line when drinking is automatically behaving like that when they’re sober.
At the end of the day – he needs to be an adult and get his shit together. If he wants a relationship of any kind with his kids, he’s going to have to stop having a relationship with booze.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said. I just find it likely that this type of behavior has occured before. He probably has a lot of pent up anger and this time it was witnessed by strangers who felt the rage was over the top.
I’d like to know too. Wasn’t that her constant and unwavering message? That he’s a very supportive partner and a wonderful dad? So what happened?
I also want to know how bad the incident was in terms of the kids. I don’t think he actually hit any of them or that would have been the headline, but I don’t know what the line about him being “rough” with them actually means.
Rough means physical. People are quick to minimize what physical abuse means and stories about it tend to tiptoe around the reality.
We may or may not learn the details but we do know it is seems almost instinctive for people to minimize or qualify abuse, especially when the accused has been otherwise admired or of high status.
I think it is instinctive to minimize it because the truth is just so horrible that nobody wants to believe it. I know I never in a million years pictured Pitt as an abuser, even when I was willing to believe it with Depp. This is so sad and so terrible for the family.
I understand the desire to minimize but it’s also important not to respond to victim statements by minimizing.
I also think not all people find it horrible or it wouldn’t be continuing to this extent: There is still some belief that children are personal property (in the way that women are personal property) and parents are “entitled” to raise them in whatever way they “see fit.” It’s still very hard for many people to see child abuse as a violent crime, and child abuse remains the only violent crime in which victims are often expected to remain with and relate to the person who attacked them.
I agree, Who ARE These People? People need to call it out when they see it.
I sometimes marvel at how naive some people are about alcoholism and drug addiction. Maybe he is a wonderful loving dad with a drinking problem that’s got degeneratively worse over the years. I had one of those dads and he was a great father (luckily never abusive). Sadly my father never got help. I hope for Brad’s sake he gets himself together.
My partners father never got help, at least that stuck, either. He was a decent father to my partner, and a worse father to his much younger sister.
I’m sorry Luca, alcoholism is not kind.
Thanks
That’s what I’m thinking too, he probably started off great, but as substance-abuse increased, things have gone drastically downhill. And what else could she have said while that was happening? She wouldn’t have volunteered that information publicly, and has probably been trying to keep it quiet for sometime now.
My dad threatened to kill me at age 12. He is completing his second successful year in AA. Second chances are good things.
Or they keep things private until they have to say something. He may have had lapses she hoped would t happen again.
Most couples don’t let all their friends and strangers know they are having relationship issues.
People don’t share everything, especially public figures about their private lives.
My uncle was Father of the Year for 16 years until he became a drug addict.Fortunately he was arrested ,had a compassionate judge in drug court and was able to detox,anger management classes,support groups,etc.He is a great father and grandfather again.
This is the kind of thing that needs to happen more often.
Some people are garbage people who also have a substance problem. But I’m willing to believe that there are just as many, or more, people who are great people who have a substance abuse problem. There needs to be more focus on getting to the root of these sorts of issue instead of just automatic jail or whatever. There are so many people who don’t WANT to be the way they are, but don’t know how to get the help they need.
They don’t know how to get the help, they don’t have the money for treatment, they don’t have anywhere near enough clinics available. It’s a very uphill battle.
@Toni, he probably has been the best father. We don’t know the story behind, maybe he has been depressed lately and turned to drinking to self medicate. He probably hasn’t been doing this for their whole time they been together. I feel sure for him, addiction is a terrible disease, but I still think Angelina is right in putting their children first.
I hope he gets help and that they can find the way back to each other.
Brad will reach a day where he will cry rivers to get them back.
Brad please get some help, your family is worth your time than any movies to work on.
I take it back. The speculation was right and it was to do with the kids. It must have got pretty ugly that it left the kids upset, scared and traumatised. Brad really messed up big time. He needs to get his sh*t together and get help if he wants his family back. What an idiot. This is what probably the narrative was leading to and it explains the visitation in their divorce papers but no joint physical custody. What a messed up situation for these kids.
I don’t really understand why there was even speculation to begin with. It was obvious that it was about the kids since the divorce was announced.
Infuriating, eh? I don’t get why so many people are doggedly determined to see her as a demon.
She literally stated what this was about her her divorce filing. You know, the one everyone and their mother was demonizing her for on here for being “too public”?
I am not going to demonize him without facts, though I can believe he is capable of abuse. Anyone is, really. But it just gets me every time how easy it is for us to consistently throw women to the wolves because we don’t like them/how they do things/misogyny and the like. It’s just nasty. This was never going to be private because they are public figures and people have been waiting for years to tear her (and them) apart.
And Marion C. released a VERY clear statement on this. She says she is not involved and the baby is indeed her and her boyfriends.
I’m sure there will be a post on that shortly. People asked her to speak up and clear her name and she did. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Yes. Read her statement early this morning. Terrible that she was dragged into this. The promotional tour for that movie will be awkward! (With all this happening, maybe Brad will pull out of promo).
Super awkward! I have to think with this info coming out, he will check into a rehab, and not be available for promotion.
I feel so awful for her. What a mess to get dragged in to.
How sad that she was/felt compelled to do that during what should be such a happy time for her.
Brad Pitt has always struck me as a self-centred try-hard, with no real intelligence or identity of his own, but it blows me away that he could have ruined his life like this.
I never thought of him as a rage-monster, just a selfish frat-boy type.
I love how he tried to shift the blame for his substance abuse onto his ex-wife (because she was so boring and all). Now he’s a 50+ year old dad who has a freakout in front of his 6 kids. Idiot.
Well, that’s just horribly depressing.
Yes.
I really would have rathered an affair and a love child.
I can’t take pleasure in the folly of the beautiful and successful if the poor babies are involved and were getting hurt.
Exactly.
If I felt Mr Sixer had reached a point where a rage wasn’t a one-off and could be repeated without warning, I would remove the Sixlets from his orbit – at least until I could be sure he had got his problems sorted. And I would expect him to do the same if it were me.
It is very hard to imagine Pitt as a rage monster. It makes me very sad.
The things you are willing to put up with for love, they really change when kids become involved.
I admire her for leaving if this was the case. It is still a very VERY hard thing to do, especially knowing the world will be watching. You don’t want to out someone you love for addiction or abuse. No one would.
I also have a hard time seeing him out of control. I didn’t with Depp. It makes me wonder why I have that bias. I know both equally well, in the sense of not at all.
I think they do change irrevocably.
I’ve never followed either Depp or the Jolie-Pitts other than what I read on here but I’m the same. Depp has always looked as though instability was a possibility with him. Pitt has always come across to me as so laid back he’s in more danger of falling over than of throwing a rage.
Just goes to show that judging books by their covers is never a good idea. (Assuming the report is true, of course).
Sad, sad, sad.
Exactly.
Me too. This is awful. I always liked him but then again I liked Depp too so…Sigh.
Sixer, that is what is so unbelievable about all this, and so scary. While I’m sure there were probably private indications that something was up, I’ve never seen any public indication that he had gone off the rails! Has this side of him always been there, or is this a recent development? So scary.
Me too. Did not see this coming. But really I guess why would we? It’s just interviews and pictures and gossip. What the hell do I know. I still think of him as the guy from Thelma and Louise, so……I know him about as well as my neighbor 3 doors down. Which is to say not at all.
Very depressing.
I wonder if Angelina would have kept silent (in public) if the whole incident hadn’t gotten to LAPD and child services through external witnesses.
Is this going to be year of dismantling the public image of A++ list actors? We’ve already got Depp and Pitt. Who else is going down? Is Clooney running a secret dog fighting ring? Is Tom Hanks donating money to the Trump campaign?
If Hanks was giving money to Trump, that WOULD be truly tragic!!! Noooooooo
I was actually thinking this morning that Leonardo DiCaprio looks positively healthy and responsible now. At least his boozing seems to be of the good times (not angry rage monster) type and while he bounces from model to model, they are all adults. It is probably really smart not to marry and have kids if you are into the Hollywood lifestyle. He is being the mature one here.
And I never thought that I’d say any of that!
^^^^This!^^^ Perfect, Alyce!
There may be something else to come with Di Caprio, there is some scandal/investigation with his charity, such a serious problem that Clinton asked him not to host a fund raiser for her and Timberlake and wife took over at the last moment.
Yesterday my point was that her statement needed to be based on something criminal to justify the divorce not being dealt discreetly and now here it is. I wish I was wrong and that she was just being mean to him for stuff like cheating:/
I was thinking that too. And to ask for sole custody. Something bad, I was hoping not criminal though.
My reasoning for the criminal element was that it seemed irresponsible from Angelina to use their kids against Brad without anything really strong to justify it. I don’t even like her, so i’m not naturally defensive of her, It just felt really weird. I still see her as manipulative but I guess she is going to use her resources to protect her kids even if now they they are exposed.
The kids are not exposed so much as the alleged abuse. It is actually healthier for them psychologically to have it open and validated because they did nothing wrong. Poor kids. So confusing for them.
What I meant about kids being expose was focused on media attention, the vultures out there and having their father being outed as a monster, because that’s where this will lead. Obviously their safety is more important than the rest, but it’s still there.
I understand, Miss S, but it doesn’t seem like there was much of a choice. On the scale of awful things happening to these kids, the worst would be abuse by a parent, the next worst would be the other parent denying it. It’s awful as well to have it play out in public but at least — one small saving grace — they have one another. That will be a big factor in their emotional well-being because they can validate and support one another, especially as they get older. For each JP child there are 5 other people who know what it is like to be a JP child.
Oh God. I wish it were not true but I don’t think Angie would have gone so far if it wasn’t really serious. I’ve always loved and admired her and I support her. And I feel for the kids.
But Brad… He and Johnny Depp were my Forever Crushes since my teenage years. We’ve already lost Johnny, now Brad ? The teenager in me is sad 🙁
I feel you…I guess I should change my screen name….
I knew Something involving the kids were to make Angelina react this Way!!..Clearly other people saw the incident,so shame to those who were sooooo quick and ready to paint Jolie in a bad light….Brad has been looking “haggard”like late 2015…even wearing colored glasses to conceal a “rough night”..Angelina obviously couldn’t say Brad is a bad father,I suspect this incident after perhaps a warning Angie had,had enough coupled to other people were witness to this “Abuse”
Whenever there’s been a fight, he’s always reported to leave with his bike or to fly away or escape some other way. But being in a plane there was no escape and then this happened. Whatever happened to Brad.. how long this has been going on? Is this the reason why Angie was so hesitant to marry him in the first place? Wow.. this is going to be such a mess.
That’s what I was thinking. There’s always been rumours that he and Angelina would have really crazy screaming matches, literally since they got together, and during the promo for By the Sea she kind of confirmed that when they fight, they really fight.
This is maybe just the first time the kids have been around for it, or the first time they’ve been around for it and nannies couldn’t shuffle them off somewhere else. I could see one of the older boys getting in the middle and Brad pushing him out of the way, something like that.
My parents used to fight like lunatics, and while it was unpleasant at home, being trapped in a moving car with them while they did it was a whole other level of awful. If that’s the first time they’ve been stuck witnessing it like that I imagine the kids came off the plane looking pretty shell-shocked and distraught.
Wow I’m really sad for the kids alcoholism sucks. I hope he gets himself into rehab. And shame on all the misogonistic jerks who were/still are trying to pin this on Angie. I think he does love his kids and her but he clearly has a problem.
Yes, still trying to say she is complicit in the abuse because she praised him as a father.
@sushi, yes some people are beyond contempt, really.
He might not have been abusive until that incident so you really cannot say without more information.
@Who are these people
That would be an unlikely scenario for sure, firsthand experience.
It’s usually a thing after another, but you patch it up if you love each other until… you can’t stand it anymore. I doubt he was not abusive until that incident, he probably was behind doors (the abuse could also been infrequent before and so easily dismissed as a ‘moment’) and that escalated in the last months.
Just…super hard to know about the escalation rate at this point (or ever), and how much it was kept confined to the parents only or how much the children witnessed or were involved … so many sighs over this situation. If this report is confirmed, at least she finally took swift action.
I truly believe alcohol should be illegal…I have seen too many lives and families ruined by alcohol…
Didn’t work with Prohibition. However, reducing the social culture around drinking, including advertising and other forms of marketing (especially with alcoholic beverages marketed for young people), and further raising prices and taxes on liquor might help.
Is every movie star from the 90’s going to implode? What the heck?!
Good point. Who have we got left? They’re all abusing their wives and kids or joining the Church of Scientology.
Just not Denzel….
You haven’t heard the rumors of him cheating on his wife for decades?
Or perhaps, in this age of zero privacy, it is impossible to have a quiet mid-life crisis. Living in a magnified fishbowl for so many years must do terrible things to a person’s sanity.
In the age of classic Hollywood, none of this would have been public…we would have been fed some fiction about an extended vacation, or exhaustion, to cover for a trip to rehab.
Cheating seems so besides the point with all these DV incidents coming to light. I’ll forgive cheating before abuse any day.
The mid life crisis is real. So sad for the children. How embarrassing. Their dad acting like a crazy person on the plane. That’s scary because you can’t just walk away. You are trapped and have to just stand there and take it. His career, like depps, is going to suffer.
Oh my. And here I was thinking that Brad was one of the wokest men in Hollywood for bringing diverse stories to the big screen etc. go to rehab dude, not for you but for your kids. He will be fine and have an apology tour and interview with Ellen, the public will forgive him.
I was completely wrong about this. I have never liked Pitt but I felt bad for him because I felt like she had kind of put it out there that he had done something bad to the children. I totally believed he was an awesome dad. That’s why I never understood my dislike for him. On paper, he is everything I should find attractive in a man… But something about him just always seemed gross. I guess the way I felt like he always took on the personality if whoever he was dating. It’s like he is a chameleon. I guess that’s the actor and it shouldn’t be surprising. Maybe he is tired of playing this part like he said he was tired of hanging out with Jen smoking weed. Maybe he will realize now… He is the problem, not the people around him.
Gah, I am really sad for the kids. I am sad for A too, unless she is just over him and wants him gone. I always thought she was too good for him anyway.
I wonder how long this has been going on. This makes me wonder if she looks like she does because she’s been dealing with him. A horrible breakup got me down to 95 lbs one time. I looked like I was dying. No amount of money, support etc makes it easy when your dreams for your family are unraveling.
I totally agree Lalu. I’ve said almost the same thing about Brad Pitt on a german gossip side years ago. You said it perfectly – he is like a personality chameleon. Although he also seems to adopt the hair style and/or colour of his partners at times 😉
I completely agree with you both, and have always thought the same of him.
Someone is saying that on his last movie set Pitt was getting involved with Russian Hookers and hard drugs. If that is true and this child abuse story is true, perhaps he really deserves this divorce.
Agreed.
7 years ago Celebitchy posted this http://www.celebitchy.com/82773/halperin_angelina_jolie_will_blame_brads_drug_use_when_they_split/ Coincidence?
Well, they sure got the ‘amicable split’ part wrong!
I have read the article. It is very spot on. Especially this part:
“Then you’re going to see unidentified friends leak stories how Angelina couldn’t put up with Brad’s partying and drinking and his pot smoking. She’s worried about the kids, and she’s afraid it’s not the right environment for them. Maybe he’ll even take part of the blame and go along with that.”
My guess is that Brad has lost the plot and gave her the easy way-out. And she is going to use it. I actually feel for him. He should have walked away sooner and not this way. Now, he is going to get thrown under the bus.
It is not “being thrown under the bus” when someone is actually at fault.
@Who ARE these people?:
I have worded it the way I did, because yes, she had many choices how to handle the whole situation. She could have ended it a lot sooner, if she suspected anything like that could happen. But she did not.
He is also at fault for not being able to either change or leave. But does not make her any less at fault that she handled it the way she did. And it does not make her any less a cold and calculating person. For the record, I am not a Jolie-hater or a Pitt-fan. I am just giving an alternative take on the situation.
@Bibi81
I guess your perspective comes from not having dealt with DV or abuse before.
There are not many choices as you think, especially if you have been trying to salvage the marriage/family for long.
And who told you she handled it the way she did because the reports were going public anyway?
I’m not even one of her fans but it’s awful, guys, that you’re so all ready to bash this woman (regardless of her image as a lunatic or unstable).
Depp/Heard all over again.
I’m no Angie fan either but come on. He brought this on himself. If she was setting him up, it would have happened at home not a plane. And honestly, I cant imagine any woman going to these lengths just to destroy a guy. Let him go, seriously.
@SilverUnicorn
She may not be but I am, as well as a victim of child abuse.
Complacency is just as bad. Had my mother got me out when she started to see signs of drug abuse lets just say my therapy bills might be a lot less. He was smoking pot when he was with JA, that should have been stopped before they became committed to raising kids together. These two came together so spectacularly, its not a stretch that their entire relationship was the same.
I don’t care for him as an actor (or man) at all, but I couldn’t believe that he is a raging monster. I thought Angelina had her reasons and that they would be good enough. But this is awful.
If Brad behaved like this in front of others. I can’t imagine what he could be like at home.
Welp, here I was, hoping that this was just an ugly divorce between two dysfunctional people, but unless there’s some stone cold proof to disprove the accusations, here it is.
Kind of makes you sad, doesn’t it? Many like to say that ‘this shit is hollywood specific’. No it isn’t. Happens every day to ordinary people, except their messes don’t get plastered all over the media. At some point you no longer think that “this happens, but it doesn’t have to be the norm”. Seems to me that the norm is dysfunction and abuse among people, and functioning relationships and functional parents are a rarity.
But then, bits of this whole story are still shady. Very shady, on both halves. i shall continue sitting about and watching.
I have a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s a mess, but it does happen to other families daily (unfortunately).
The term “dysfunctional family” is redundant.
Amen to that. It’s just the extent of the dysfunction and how it manifests. Makes me think of that Tolstoy quote about how all happy families are alike, but that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
People will still try to pin this on Angelina, like how he turned to the bottle after being with her when he’s never had substance abuse problems before. She drove him crazy and he couldn’t leave because of the kids so he drank. Trust.
I don’t think this is something that has been happening for years. Many articles stated that they’ve been having problems this past year. It could be due to drinking or it could be other things compunded by drinking.
I agree that she went public because the issue ended up in the DCFS and LAPD files and was going to leak eventually. Nothing will happen to him but she’ll probably get sole custody now as she should. He needs help. He effed up badly and will need to earn both her and their kids’ trust.
This is what I was dreading yesterday and I half hoped it was about the cheating, though really that was denied by them. So dissapointed in him. One of the sources said that she still loves him but turning on the kids was crossing the line for her. He has probably been abusive to her many times. Remember that balcony fight few months back? It all makes sense now.
He’s always had issues with substance abuse – he was a well known pot head BEFORE he got with her. Apparently he and Aniston used to smoke it together and it made her paranoid.
People change. He might have been a great dad a year or 6 months ago, but not anymore now. Doesn’t make any older statements untrue. Might have been it was the first time it went this far and she immediately pulled the plug.
Thank you! Why are people so anxious to get on the Hate-Jolie Bus? It’s entirely possible he WAS a good dad before, and now he’s not. There’s a reason the divorce is so sudden!
Why are people on the abuser Pitt bus then?? It is also possible that Jolie wants everything her way, does not want any input from Pitt regarding the kids and is really a control freak. Making everything public and blindsiding a partner of 12 years, who was known (by her own words, too) to be a great father sounds like a control freak with hate issues. Brad seems dumb and goofy, Angelina….we do not really know, do we? And if he were a real danger for the kids, would she not request supervised visitation? No parent is perfect and I do think most kids do get traumatized by the actions of one or both of their parents, but in most cases tearing the kids away from one of the parents is definitely not good for the kids.
@Sonja
Because the abuse report is against Pitt and not Jolie?
Yes, let’s defend poor Brad……
No, most children do not get ‘traumatized’ by their parents’ actions because trauma is something outside the norm, not within the norm.
She’s not ‘tearing the kids away’ if these allegations are true. If he has a drug-related violence problem, the cause of the violence becomes irrelevant and he cannot be around the children until or unless he is sober and in control of himself.
“Control freak” is a term used way too often to describe self-determined women. We really should stop it. Men with those abilities are called “highly paid executives.”
The problem in this situation appears to be that he lost control, not that she cares too much about it.
@Sonja: Because Brad Pitt is a grown man and he is responsible for his own actions. People are already trying to say Jolie drove him to act this way. I don’t care if Angie is a control freak or not, how Pitt behaves is totally on him.
“‘Control freak” is a term used way too often to describe self-determined women. We really should stop it. Men with those abilities are called “highly paid executives.'”
Preach!
Yes, thank you.
Exactly. I’m sure Brad is a terrific dad and devoted partner when he’s SOBER. This does not negate her praise of him in the past. This is about the future. Their kids well being and future happiness.
Well said.
Wrong spot.
If your doubts are relieved by confirmation of this report will you change your mind? What is reported here is “very serious.”
It’s incredibly serious and I was suspecting this already.
Why asking for sole custody without any proof of him being bad….. Legal suicide.
If anything, I even think that she tried to cover it up but external witnesses independently reported to LAPD and she had to make a decision.
Am I the only one who saw that her brother was the nanny of their kids since July? Hmm… why? Was some stuff already happening?
Yes @Silverunicorn! I saw that yesterday. In the report I saw, the kids had even begun to call him daddy, b/c he was around them so much while Pitt was away filming. However, that’s from the Daily Mail, so who knows. All of this is sad and I am glad Angelina is protecting the kids. Hopefully Brad can get the help he needs.
I always take the “calling someone else Mommy/Daddy” stories with a grain of salt, because my 2-year-old sometimes calls me Mama, sometimes Papa, sometimes “Mapa,” sometimes “Miss Ceci” (her teacher). And I live with her and see her every day and everything. 🙂
Being super wealthy sounds about as fun as a noose around the neck. It frees you up to not work or only work as you please. So you have all this time to indulge yourself, and you’re surrounded by people who are more than willing to indulge you.
I hope he gets it together. Something about his interviews over the years has always reminded me strongly of someone I know from the same culture. Good and simple people somewhat haunted by this malaise and anger.
My father once commented on how the combination of too much time and money can get some people in trouble. Dangerous habits, hobbies, etc.
I actually heard one of the worst stories of child abuse that I’ve ever heard in my life a few years ago on NPR in an interview with an author from the UK who’d been raised in a family with a title/wealth so no one worked. He commented that he thought this lack of work was toxic within his family dynamics.
Greenieweenie, can you remember if the BBC interview was with Edward St. Aubyn by any chance? I tried reading the Melrose books a while back but whoa, did things get dark real quickly. i vaguely remember hearing they were semi autobiographical.
Check mate.
All the stuff about how “she said he was a wonderful and caring partner for years so OBVIOUSLY she’s just pissed….” really bother me.
I was abused. By my mother, not my father. My father worked his ass off to pay the bills and put me in private school, and my mom stayed at home. He adored her and thought she was a wonderful parent (she was when he was around). Everyone at school, the PTA, the soccer moms, the neighbors all adored her. It was vastly different when we were alone. I never told anyone until I was an adult, because a) most children do not realize they’re being abused, and b) most abusers flip the script on young children so that they feel they must protect their abuser, forgive them and keep their secret.
Abuse is overlooked by many, even the so-called shrewd and hawk-eyed. Abusers are not stupid.
Furthermore, addiction (and the behavioral fallout) escalates.
“He can’t be an abuser b/c nobody complained before” is not how this works.
Totally agree. I had the situation reversed (dad abusive, mum enabling him, but not abusing) and even after 30 years I had people telling me ‘Your father was such a generous, good man in our community. Sure you’re not too strict towards him?’
See, that’s what we have to stand for all our lives.
Rachael, your story broke my heart. I hope you are in a good place now dear. Cyber love and hugs.
Rache, I´m sorry. I hope you are OK now.
Saying that because he was a good father before it makes it impossible to be nasty now is the same as saying that because a guy wasn’t violent with his exes, the present one must be lying.
This explains why she is so publicly dragging his ass out to the desert. She is SUPER PISSED.
I haven’t seen it on here today but did anyone see what Chelsea Handler said about the split? I’ll paraphrase: That people are saying Brad turned to booze and pot but who can blame him, because he married an effing lunatic and is stuck with 85 kids who speak 15 languages.
The part about the kids?
Chelsea Handler is vile. And BFFs with Aniston BTW. I’m sure they will have a great laugh about this next time they are cackling together in their bikinis in Cabo, desperately pretending they’re 25.
Edited to add: sorry I see that this has its own post today!
Wow. Everything makes sense now.
She did the right thing.
I’m not on his side, but….
He has SIX kids. Can you imagine being stuck on a plane with six children and not losing it once in awhile and being verbally abusive ? I would lose it every single time (maybe that explains why I have no children ! LOL).
But seriously I have a
QUESTION : What constitutes BEING physically abusive ? I’m sure it’s more than just hitting or kicking.
In other words, is it physically abusive if I threw a stuffed toy at my 12 year old ?
iF i grab my child ‘s shoulder and lead him off a plane while yelling at him because he did something wrong, is that physical abuse ? Just wondering
“Just” hitting and kicking? Yes, that is abuse. I hope you don’t think of that as normal or acceptable.
Easy enough to look up the definitions of child abuse by the way. It is not usually a grey area…unfortunately.
I choked on that line. I mean I have never looked up the definition but wouldn’t it be intuitive that “hitting and kicking” IS abuse? I worry about what happens in some peoples homes.
I assume the poster meant ‘just’ as in only those two things, nothing else, not that hitting and kicking are minor things as in ‘just a sandwich for me’!
Dear lord you sound awful! He signed up to have 6 kids and could’ve stopped at 4 if he can’t handle it. He wanted a football team initially. It’s not their fault that they’re here. And yes, kids can be annoying. Very annoying. Of course. Again, not their fault that they go through that stage. Pitt is an adult and should learn to control himself and control his kids in a responsible manner but when you’re drunk already, you have no chance to do either of these things. If they were on a private jet, he also had to space to go somewhere else, even the toilet!, and count to 10 before coming back. Drinking before a flight is also stupid. Stupid choices all around with him.
And what??? ‘Just’ hitting or kicking? I was grabbed by the collar by my carer and my shirt ripped, also classed as physical abuse. I had a towel and ashtray thrown at me. Also physical abuse. I was pushed into the stairs, also physical abuse. I was a child then and it traumatised me. Hitting and kicking are usually what comes afterwards when the other things aren’t as threatening anymore because you get used to it.
Anytime you abuse your power over somebody, you’re abusing them. Throwing a stuffed toy at your kid while playing around is not abuse but throwing it while yelling ‘I wish you were never born, you’re nothing but trouble’ IS abuse. Context is everything my dear, educate yourself.
Who cares anyway whether it’s physical or emotional? It leaves scars regardless. Research says emotional abuse causes more damage than physical but imo that doesn’t matter.
If you have such a loose concept of abuse and you ‘would lose it’ and be (verbally) abusive with children, I suggest never starting with them. Sorry not sorry.
@Debutante
Yes it’s all abuse. I got even shiners due to slippers thrown at me. How is that NOT physical?
Agree with Artemis’ post (again!) and my advice is not to have children at all if you believe that.
It doesn’t matter if he has 6, 1, or 10 kids. Irrelevant. His behavior is wrong.
And for anyone needing further information to assess any situation further:
https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse/
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/ccaps-spcca/chi-enf-eng.htm
http://www.redcross.ca/how-we-help/violence–bullying-and-abuse-prevention/educators/child-abuse-and-neglect-prevention/definitions-of-child-abuse-and-neglect
Most modern societies have reporting laws. You can learn them.
https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/laws-policies/statutes/manda/
The system is imperfect and overwhelmed, but it’s the system that we’ve got. To improve it, we need to continue to highlight the problem of abuse, its lifelong health impact, its criminality and the immorality of allowing it to persist. And shifting resources to social services and away from corporate welfare would probably help as well.
GTFO here, seriously. I have kids and I’ve been on planes with them – commercial, not private which is like comparing apples and oranges, btw – and never lost my shit to the point of getting physical with them. Let’s not excuse what is allegedly abusive behavior with a ‘well, flying with kids is stressful lol’ comment, please.
This story has gone from being super juicy to just depressing me. Im gonna avoid brangelina posts like I did the depp/ heard posts after the abuse allegations
Wow. It’s almost as if that is what she alleged in her divorce filing to begin with. Weird. Maybe we should, I dunno, wait until it plays out more before we begin witch hunting everyone involved.
If the situation truly escalated to a point where an outsider felt it necessary to inform the authorities, I think it’s safe to say that it was BAD. The threshold for people to interfere with other people’s lives and families is very high, let alone a family that’s this well known.
Angelina did the only responsible thing. She was not willing to subject her children to any more abuse, in any form whatsoever. And I find it disturbing that people seem to truly question her motives. This whole situation reminds me of Depp&Heard, with his fans unwilling to see anything wrong with his drunken, terrifying behaviour.
I have to wonder why it had to get this bad. You know? If she has BPD and he is abusive, those poor kids have never stood a chance.
So, how come no one is talking about the Baroness??? How is that not a possible reason and clue — because the story is tucked in the Brit press?
Because it is the actual clue, who is in control of the story.
The Baroness is pinging for me big time.
Count me in on the “ping.”
I don’t know about a romantic relationship but it has been rumored that she’s interested in pursuing a political career in England (which I think is probably outside her bailiwick) and that Brad doesn’t want to sell the Chateau and follow, etc.
Could they have been spending the last year bitterly disagreeing about this? Brad drowning his sorrows inappropriately in some substance abuse he was predisposed to? It’s all speculation, though.
Because it is in the Daily Fail and the Telegraph?
@Bibi81
It might be but your dislike towards Jolie is ridiculous.
Are you assuming she’s faking an “incident” to get divorced and have a romantic relationship with one of her advisors and close friends? An enormous stretch.
Not outside the realm of possibility that she would have a relationship with a woman again, but that that would be the root cause of possible child endangerment being used as the excuse? The end of the marriage possibly, but not the “incident” being used.
OH SH!T.
Sad. He’s an alcoholic or substance abuser. They may all love each other. But she has to leave him. The love of the substances and addiction are overriding his love for them.
My uncle died of 53, lovely person couldn’t shake the disease of alcohol. He tried rehab. AA. Hope Brad can clean up.
If these claims are upheld, it would be consistent with the mode of announcement as a message not so much to Pitt as to the children as they grow to validate their experience.
I agree.
Incredibly important. Take notice, people.
The fact That people are making a case about brad’s looks to conclude substance abuse is so freaking rich.
It’s like nobody learned from the Depp thing that these kind of situations are possible.
Well this is really sad for everyone concerned, most of all the kids.
Hope Brad doesn’t do a drawn-out ugly Depp and instead takes stock, accepts that he needs help and takes himself off to rehab.
I think it’s normal to question the motives of a woman who has been a bit of a wild card before, plus I question all celebrity announcement because we get so much conflicting information from them vs gossip outlets. A lot of articles on this site are doubting what celebrities say, I really don’t think this is a woman thing!
Wonder how long it will be before Brad goes to rehab…
But why don’t you question a man who has copped up to spending the late 90s self medicating? Why is it so hard for some people to understand that a nice guy can do bad things when he has substance abuse problems. Why didn’t most of you question that?
Wow. It’s Thursday… 2 1/2 days since AJ made the announcement (on TMZ) and hired Johnny Depp’s lawyer to make statements that say little but insinuate much.
For some reason, witnesses of Pitt’s (alleged) freak out on the tarmac are being used to somehow back up a child abuse story that happened out of site on an airplane.
It is way to early to be sending Pitt to rehab with a sign saying “child abuser” slung around his neck. Slow down – and remember that any divorce playing out in gossip mags, websites and TMZ and reported by people whose goals are far from objective and whose emotions are running high nay not be the best, most accurate witnesses themselves.
Give it a minute before rushing to judgment. On both of them.
Unless the Jolie Pitt family was flying the plane itself, the alleged violence was not out of sight, there was a flight crew and pilot and make copilot.
Exactly *big sigh* Lots of witnesses, but nothing, let’s not offend a goodlooking male celebrity…
I even like Pitt, more than I always liked Jolie.. Legends of the fall anyone? Joe Black?
So there were witnesses on the plane, witnesses out of the plane who reported him, child services are involved and…. it’s all a lie?
We should send Pitt to rehab, period. No signs or anything. But he needs to get help, stat.
If someone called child services, Angie would have to pull the trigger or it would reflect badly on her.
This!
Poor Brad – Angie neglected him
Poor Depp -Amber drove him to drink
It’s always the women’s fault.
I can add Sheen, I’ve seen people even making excuses for that POS.
Always women’s fault, yep.
I really hate how the posters are getting upset with each other and name calling. Whether you are a DV survivor or not, you can have an opinion.
My own is that this is TMZ and somebody’s leaking. I kind of don’t doubt that this happened but the details? Who knows.
I also know that Angelina has more resources than some Third world countries. She is not a trapped and indigent victim, who can’t leave or has no money to support her children on her own. If this had been on-going, I have no doubt she would have separated, packed up and moved half a world away with the kids. Marriage wasn’t crucial for them, divorce is probably equally irrelevant.
What I would suggest is that whatever happened was reported and went through normal CPS channels and would have come out. So Angelina, who I admire, got ahead of the narrative, hired Laura Wasserman and filed. This is a pretty uneqivocal statement about being done BEFORE the CPS story broke. Image control. She can protect her kids and remain the concerned parent in the Media.
Actually I feel sorry for them both and the kids. Celebrity may have screwed up dealing with Brad’s issues earlier.
DV survivors comment because people leave this sort of sentence around “She is not a trapped and indigent victim, who can’t leave or has no money to support her children on her own. ” and my message, as DV survivor would be:
Stop making assumptions and generalising about situations you have no clue about.
Yes you can have an opinion, but hopefully you correctly inform yourself before talking about something you don’t know and you write your opinion after having obtained correct information.
And anyone who think that all DV victims are trapped doesn’t have the correct information, I’m pretty sure about that.
I deal daily with the consequence of DV-including the ER and sadly, the ME’s. I am informed. I just don’t think my experience is general and I won’t look at this story through that lense.
I don’t claim my experience gives me special insight into what may be a very different situation.
Absolutely, SilverUnicorn. I was astounded to read that! No one who makes a statement like that is “informed” about the realities of DV.
Right? On the plus side, it took a whole 24 hours for people to start lecturing each other lol.
Sure she has more resources than most, but she also has 6 kids with him and a lucrative public image to deal with, so it’s not always so easy as just up and walking away because you have money. I would imagine this has been a gradually escalating situation and she’s probably been trying to manage it for some time now, but this incident was a breaking point.
There are reports that they weren’t together much this summer, maybe she was trying to put some space between them.
We just don’t know.
Hasn’t Wasser been Jolie’s lawyer for a long time? If so, then hiring her doesn’t mean much about Jolie’s motivation. It might not be about hiring a barracuda as much as hiring the lawyer she already trusts who happens to also be a barracuda…. aka very effective lawyer that you wish you could afford!
If he was doing something to one of the Children, what kind of abuse ever it might be, than i am glad Angelina is not playing easy.
I’m just saddened by the reaction of people (women!) I talked to about this divorce (before today). Almost everyone shrugs this off as “well, the woman is a crazy, she used to wear a vial of blood around her neck, what did you expect???”. I’m actually not even a fan of Angelina per se, and I don’t care about Brad at all, but that was quite shocking to me. I guess it shouldn’t be, as it’s just gossip, but man… Benefit of the doubt? Female solidarity?
+1,000,000
My friend had the same reaction: “well she’s always been kind of coo-coo, right?”
Sigh.
I’m like “yo, I’m telling you that he’s being accused of abusing his kids, so why is her character being called into question again?”
Sad that a woman who’s accomplished as much as Jolie has and with the exception of a few odd but easily-forgivable transgressions in her youth, has largely remained a class act, is still being diminished and degraded.
Really gross, actually.
Me too. I didn’t comment yesterday. Because I wanted to see. It’s crazy that there are still people making excuses for him.
I am keeping an open mind because this is the same scorched earth tactic used by Halle Berry (also represented by Wasser) against Gabriel Aubrey she wanted to take their daughter to live in France. Who contacted CPS–could it have been one of Angelina’s people acting for her? I don’t rule out that Brad may have anger issues/substance abuse but that may not be the whole story.
Someone’s entering rehab in 3…2…1…
Let’s hope so. Otherwise he’s gonna be out promoting a stupid movie??? How is THAT gonna go?
He wanted an entire baseball team of kids. Maybe he bought into the Waltonesque romanticism of it all.
The reality of big families is that – even with endless resources – there is a tremendous amount if work that falls on parents. Teen years can be particularly challenging.
Mix it in with substance abuse issues and that is a combustible situation.
AJP hired Wasser for a reason. I think we are getting a glimpse of that reason. I really hope that both AJP and BP protect the kids as best they can. And here I thought the 2016 celeb gossip year was over after the Tiddlesbanging had fizzed out lol………..
Well, at least Tiddles won’t be fighting for custody of the cats….
Laura Wasser doesn’t mess around. Look at how she managed to have Depp come out ahead in regards to Amber Heard. Pitt will sign divorce papers real soon, maybe by the end of this week or next, and suddenly all will be quiet from TMZ
WOW! I’ll bet none of us saw this coming!
I’ve never been a fan of Angelina but I applaud her decision to come forward about child abuse. It’s often overlooked, sometimes by the parties involved.
It took strength and courage to come forward. I feel her pain because this really had to hurt.
As a survivor paternal abuse and a mother that needed a long time to get on my side, I AM REALLY GLAD that Angelina is acting swift and hard if her husband was abusing their Children.
That is what a mother should do for her Children.
Everybody speaking so protective for Brad Pitt, please remember, you don’t know him
When you think of him as the nice romantic sweet guy or whatever, remember it was an acting rote
Said it had to be something major with the kids for Angelina to divorce him. And it was. I hope he gets the help he needs and is able to be the good dad he once was to those children.
This is very sad. My heart breaks for the children, and their parents. I wish the best for them.
I have to wonder what else Brad had in his system at the time to go that bat **** crazy.
believe me…alcohol alone can cause this amount of craziness…I’ve witnessed it first hand…
Just my two cents; people didn’t doubt her because she is a woman. People doubted her because SHE has always talked about him being a caring father and loving partner even though they had some issues. So when this story broke it seemed out of nowhere and hard to believe.
This is not me defending his alleged behaviour btw. If these events did take place then she has every right to do what she did and I applaud her strength. I hope he gets the help he needs and I hope they shield those poor children as much as possible.
Oh, it’s absolutely a woman thing. The man in this scenario gets excuses made for him every time. Depp. Sheen. Brown. Gibson. It’s always, “What did she do to set him off?” Or, “It was a setup!” Or, “She’s crazy.”
This time it’s children. And if there is one thing we know for sure about Jolie, it’s that she loves her children fiercely – they, not Brad, are the love of her life.
It is not her job to protect Brad from the media. It is her job to protect her children from an abusive man.
Co-sign this a million times.
It’s insidious! The other day, while kids were discussing wounds, I mentioned an incident years ago where my husband had *accidentally* hurt me. My teen daughter responded with, “Wow, mom, what did you do to make him do that?”
My heart broke. It struck an extremely triggery chord for me since I grew up with constant abuse — and my children know that, and I would’ve sworn I had taught them better than that! We had some serious discussions after that comment. How is that always everyone’s gut reaction?????
Yesterday’s responses to Angelina’s motivations and the especulation around it reminded me so much of the Amber Heard thing. I said yesterday to wait and see when more facts became public and to give them both the benefit of the doubt, and now this. I knew she could not be that petty to imply something that wasn’t there. That’s not ehat ee know of her character. This is all so disturbing.
I don’t know if we want to go too far in speculating what it was that happened. Isn’t the only known fact that there is an investigation and that the rest of the details are simply TMZ and their ‘sources’? Or have papers been provided stating what exactly the investigation is?
Harvey Levin was on the KTLA morning news via telephone and stated he believed that the incident took place at an airport outside of California.
That’s a very carefully worded statement? It sounds like an abject denial.
Right? I mean, it leaves open the possibility they’re investigating him for something else, but it’s very clear that they’re not looking into child abuse, which is the only allegation that’s been made (other than perhaps disturbing the peace, but if they were going to follow up on that they would have already).
So tmz says the lapd are investigating….,and the update says the lapd don’t have any open investigations of abuse on Mr. Brad Pitt?!?! What the fork is going on?! That’s bullshirt for him. (The new show the good place is where I got that, very funny you should watch!)
“LAPD is not handling any report of allegations of child abuse for Mr. Brad Pitt.”
Does this mean the case was turned over to another agency?
Nevermind. It seems the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services is still working on it.
I actually thought the LAPD statement was quite definite – they mentioned that BP was not being investigated nor have any claims been brought forward at all, and that he wasn’t being questioned for anything. Sounds like a strongly worded statement to me.
This whole affair is starting to become very strange. I feel so sorry for the children.
I don’t know if this means he actually got physical abusive at the kids, but getting in a rage so bad that the pilot had to land the plane is really endangering them, and everyone else. They must have been so scared.
I really hope he goes to rehab and that they can be good together again some day in the future. I really liked them as a couple.
Re: the update, maybe he’s not being investigated for *child* abuse, but it’s possible he got physical and violent with another adult(s) on the plane
If Pitt has been abusing the kids and/or substances, Jolie needs to change the wording in the divorce filing: if Pitt is a danger to the kids, then any and all future visits must be supervised. I’m only hesitant to jump on the bandwagon and bury Pitt here because of how the filing is worded, not because of any gender bias.
Abusive parents shouldn’t be allowed to have access to their kids unless it is supervised.. Charlie Sheen doesn’t. And in my honest opinion, someone like Charlie Sheen should never be allowed to have unsupervised visits. If Brad Pitt falls in that category, then Jolie does need to do whatever she needs to do to protect her kids. Parents who abuse drugs or alcohol shouldn’t be allowed to visit with their kids unless it is supervised as well. And they must complete a program, pass drug tests before being allowed unsupervised visits unless they are also abusive to kids. Is Brad Pitt only abusive when he drinks or is he using alcohol as an excuse? Sometimes abusive people use alcohol as a scapegoat, I know many of my family members did, I know I used alcohol as an excuse for my behavior. To really change your behavior, you really need to look at yourself and generally you need a therapist’s help, a program, something and you need to keep at it. The problem with Depp, Sheen, & Pitt, they are actors, so you will never know if they are who they really say they are. Same with Angelina Jolie. None of us know these two.
I’m hesitant here to immediately to throw Pitt under the bus and drive over him due to what I know about abusive behavior, divorce proceedings, CPS investigations, etc. If any of this is true, we will now soon enough but dlisted has this update:
UPDATE: Officer Jenny Houser, who is in the media relations department of the LAPD, tells KTLA that they currently aren’t investigating Brad Pitt.
“The abuse child unit with LAPD has no open investigation on Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie.”
As victim of a malicious CPS report 13 years ago, I am keeping an open mind. I had a crazy alcoholic neighbor that called a complaint after I filed a theft report. After an exhaustive investigation that almost cost my nursing career, I was fully cleared to the point that the case worker advised me to “keep my eyes and ears open”. I have seen many articles on her permissive parenting. I have seen articles on Maddox being a spoiled jerk. It is just barely possible that the 6 of them got really out of control on the plane and Brad snapped. Not defending him at all. But I do think there is a lot of dirt on both of them that we’ll never. know. Still think she should have worded her statement more carefully and just filed for divorce and been done.
Oh my, wow!!
All I can say right now is..HOLY HELL. Who knew??
But I will say..Salma Blair did this and the FBI did not get involved. Her kid was right there, a single parent so there was not a sane one to take care of him..
And the collective opinion was..Wow..girlfriend needs help. NOT that she was a bad parent.
AND..If he was abusive to those kids..I hope he gets squished like a bug.
It’s like all my 90s male fantasies are turning out to be total losers… growing up sucks.
I hope this keeps being said, PD doesn’t ever investigate this kind of thing – they de-escalate and pass on. It is always a DCFS issue first and depending on the outcome of their investigation, the DA can choose to pursue or not – and it is 90 days usually that they keep it open. Most states offer assistance or mandate things depending on findings. You can get around this with private services and reporting. All of this is not public record.
DV survivor. The DCFS is at your house nanoseconds after an incident. They have guidelines that vary by state but are easily accessible online. This one would likely be a 24 hour period to determine if the children are to be removed or if the offender vacates the primary residence. The investigation is not public information and actually, if there had been an arrest, they parties involved can’t see any of the documentation, even when it is over.
I’m pretty darn sure Brad did a stupid thing (or a lot of stupid things) and DCFS is now involved. Beyond that, I won’t speculate or judge. I’ve been to the rodeo. My prayers are with the kids. My daughter was only 4 but they have older children who certainly can understand what is going on to a greater degree. Just lots of prayers on all sides. I’d feel this way if this were them or my neighbors or friends/family. If he has an issue with anything, I hope he seeks treatment and follows through not just until his image crisis is over but until he is well. I can only say been there. It sucks, but it can get better. Make the decisions that are right for your family and move. Not move on, just keep moving and doing.
First Depp now Pitt.. all my favourite celebrities crushes are going straight to hell. #alwaysTeamAngelina
If this is legit, it’s really sad. There are no winners when you watch somebody lose to addiction that way. I’ve heard rumblings of him having a drinking problem before but you would hope his kids would have helped him clean up. I hope the kids are being properly cared for and she’s well supported. Maybe this is the wake up call he needs.
I cant believe he was acting like such an ass and they let him back on to fly to LA. Usually TSA don’t play around when it comes to unruly passengers!