Brad Pitt filed new papers in Los Angeles in late October asking a judge to force Angelina Jolie to hand over private emails tied to her 2021 sale of Château Miraval. The filings argue key messages were withheld and aren’t protected by attorney-client privilege.
According to HELLO!, Pitt’s team says Jolie is “abusing the privilege to bury critical documents,” while a hearing around the discovery dispute was scheduled for early November. Page Six reported the motion landed on October 27 and centers on communications about the Miraval deal.
When things went wrong
Multiple outlets including People and Vanity Fair noted Jolie’s October filings described an “extremely painful” period and said she and the children have not returned to Miraval since 2016 because of its connection to those events. She also wrote that she left Pitt control and full residency of their homes in Los Angeles and at Miraval without compensation, hoping to reduce conflict.
“Abusing privilege” was the sharpest line. As HELLO! put it, Pitt’s lawyers claim it’s Jolie’s burden to prove non-attorney conversations are privileged, not his job to disprove it. That’s the crux of this discovery fight.
The fallout continues
A Lawyer Monthly report notes that Pitt is specifically targeting emails that were sent between Jolie, her business manager, British publicists and two financial advisers. The claim is that emails sent across this network does not fall into privileged conversations, as they are non-lawyers. It’s reported that only one internal email about the 2021 sale has been produced.
Alongside this dispute, and according to Entertainment Tonight and Page Six, Pitt wants Jolie’s request for him to cover $33,000 in legal fees to be denied. People and Vanity Fair both trace this dispute back to the Miraval sale to Stoli’s wine arm. This sale allegedly violated a mutual-consent understanding, which was countered by Jolie as there was no binding agreement.
The broader lawsuit has been grinding since February 2022 and long-after the divorce was finalized in 2024.
Where this leaves them
A report from the National Enquirer, described the fight as “costing a fortune” and in regards to Jolie specifically, “draining her mentally.” This is a tabloid-sourced claim and should be taken as such. Yet, it potentially captures how bruising this entire ordeal has become.
The reports from Page Six and HELLO! Suggest that the judge will have to determine how far privilege stretches. If those emails come out, it’s likely the Miraval timeline becomes clearer for news media to dissect. If not, discovery will remain jammed. People and Vanity Fair note the winery began as a shared passion, then turned into a legal slog. It’s a reminder that when romance and a business collide, a clean break rarely stays clean.
I’m weary of how modern celebrities turn every family rift into a running courtroom serial. Still, it matters, because precedent on privilege and third-party communications could ripple far beyond celebrity news.