Vanity Fair is the first media outlet to even attempt to do a comprehensive look at Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s divorce fight and legal fight over Chateau Miraval. By now, we all know the basics: the plane drama in 2016, Angelina fleeing the airport and filing for divorce, the custody battle and Angelina selling her half of Miraval to Stoli/Tenute del Mondo. The sale of her half (Nouvel) has led to Brad suing Angelina, Angelina countersuing him and Stoli sending French police to raid Miraval over Pitt’s dodgy financial records. This is the first time, in this Vanity Fair piece, that anyone in the English-language media has dared to report on the extent of the police raid and Pitt’s huge legal/financial troubles in Europe. I would recommend reading the full article here, but here are some interesting highlights:

Brad’s sad defense of his violence against his family: According to a source close to Pitt, “Brad was drinking, and the confrontation got out of hand. He was absolutely wrong in how he behaved but immediately ​apologized and ​acknowledged that he had crossed a line, which he will always regret, and right away took steps to address this and try to make amends.”

Jolie’s investment in Miraval: Jolie had enlisted Christophe Salin, former CEO of the venerable Bordeaux wine brand Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite), as her adviser and representative, but her frustrations mounted all the same. “Over time, [Pitt] completely froze her out,” her attorneys would claim in court papers, adding that he “categorically refused Jolie’s requests to distribute any portion of the winery’s profits” to her, even though she said she had invested some $60 million of her own money into it over the years. (“Her investment was actually $38 million,” says a source close to Pitt. “All dividends were reinvested back into covering costs and further improving the property and the business.”)

Selling Nouvel to Tenute del Mondo: For Jolie, the sale was a business transaction she had every right to make. “In an effort to preserve her own mental health and well-being, she looked for and found what she believed would be a good business partner for Pitt,” according to a source familiar with the matter. For Pitt, it was a betrayal. “It is not a coincidence that she sold her interest in Miraval to an adversarial party, and part of the family home to a stranger, right after a judge granted Brad a huge win: 50-50 custody,” says a source close to Pitt.

Pitt’s war with Yuri Shefler: In his lawsuit, Pitt insists Shefler “gained notoriety through cutthroat business tactics and dubious professional associations” and said “the U.S. Treasury Department designated Shefler as ‘an oligarch in the Russian Federation.’ ” (A spokesperson for Stoli Group says the Treasury list identified “high net worth Russians and explicitly states that it does not indicate sanctionable conduct or involvement in malign activities,” adding, “Shefler categorically rejects the suggestion that his business practices or professional associations are anything other than reputable.”) Pitt argued that “the purported sale Jolie orchestrated behind Pitt’s back poses an immediate threat to Miraval’s business and carefully honed brand” by aligning it with a brand so “synonymous with Russia” that pouring Stoli vodka down the drain became a symbol of solidarity with Ukraine, according to Pitt’s complaint.

Yuri Shefler isn’t playing: One year after Jolie sold her share of Miraval to Stoli, the new owners of Nouvel filed a scorching cross-complaint against Pitt, Perrin, their associates, and companies, seeking damages “for the illegal and malicious actions of Pitt and his allies to injure Nouvel by devaluing its investments and depriving it of its proper role in the management of Chateau Miraval, the world-famous producer of rosé wine…Ever since his former wife, Angelina Jolie, filed for divorce from him in 2016, Brad Pitt has been waging a vindictive war against her and Nouvel, her former investment company,” the complaint began.

Shefler isn’t an oligarch: As for Shefler, the cross-complaint insisted that he wasn’t in any way aligned with Russian president Vladimir Putin; he was a leading critic. He and Putin were in such “open conflict” that “Putin’s people once even tried to kidnap Shefler.” “From exile, Shefler has repeatedly stood up to Putin and his regime,” the cross-complaint noted, adding that he had publicly condemned Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and had financed meals for the Ukrainian people through the World Central Kitchen. As for his company’s reputation in the wine and beverage world, the cross-complaint cited its partnerships with everyone from PepsiCo to Pernod Ricard and Diageo. Decrying the claim that Shefler is a Putin ally as “categorically false,” the suit demanded “damages in an amount to be proven at trial of at least $250 million.” Pitt’s demonization of Shefler was “an effort to further distract from—and excuse—his own misconduct,” Nouvel’s cross-complaint said. “It’s not Stoli Group or Shefler whose reputation poses commercial risk to Chateau Miraval—it is his own.”

The raid on Miraval: On March 4, 2022, Miraval was under siege. Two court officers and an IT expert, armed with the French equivalent of a search warrant, drove through the gates and down the 2.5-mile road to Miraval. They had been dispatched by Nouvel’s new owners to conduct what French law, translated literally, calls a “spontaneous interpellation.” To Pitt and his partners, it was nothing short of a raid, although the Stoli Group disputes that characterization. “It was not a raid,” the spokesperson says, but rather a “bailiff’s mission…precisely and narrowly foreseen by the judge.” Lawyers for Shefler’s wine division had petitioned a commercial court in Provence to invoke article 145 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which enables businesses to enter the premises of their adversaries and seize evidence of suspected malfeasance. The filing before the court cited “mismanagement,” “misuse of corporate assets,” and a “blocking mechanism” by its other 50 percent shareholder, Mondo Bongo, the company that held Pitt’s Miraval shares, in conjunction with two associates at the winery.

What this story is about: “This case has been covered as a celebrity divorce; it is really a story about abuse,” says a source familiar with the matter.

“Brad is not an abusive person”: “I hope you’ll give some grace to somebody who had a breakdown,” says one person who knew the family. “Everybody was shocked by the eruption on the plane, because Brad is not an abusive person. But even more devastating was what came afterwards: Brad being alienated from those he loves most—his children.”

[From Vanity Fair]

“Brad is not an abusive person” except that he was blackout drunk and he violently terrorized his wife and children for hours, strangling one of his kids and assaulting several others. He left Jolie with bruises and an injured shoulder and elbow. Nevermind the emotional terrorism – screaming at his family for hours, refusing to allow Angelina to leave the plane with the kids, all of it. But to sources close to Brad, the real devastation was what came afterwards? Bitch, shut your mouth. He hurt his kids and they don’t want anything to do with him. As for the Yuri Shefler stuff… as I’ve said, it’s interesting that VF is the first English-language outlet to really talk about the raid on Miraval and just how ready Shefler is for this battle. This is why Pitt has been selling off real estate and his stake in Plan B and all of that. Oh well.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.