Brad Pitt is suing his ex-wife Angelina Jolie for selling her stake in the French vineyard they bought together.
The former couple purchased a controlling interest in Chateau Miraval in 2008 and according to Pitt, agreed that they would not sell their stakes in the venue unless they had each other's permission to do so, the Independent reported.
However, the lawsuit states that Jolie had sold her shares of their winery to a Russian oligarch named Yuri Shefler without Pitt's knowledge.
"She sold her interest with the knowledge and intention that Shefler and his affiliates would seek to control the business to which Pitt had devoted himself and to undermine Pitt's investment in Miraval," the lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles claimed, according to BBC.
Pitt's lawyers said the sale was intended to cause "gratuitous harm" to Pitt, who had "poured money and sweat equity into the wine business.
According to the Independent, Jolie pursued the cause of selling her shares of the winery in court in July 2021 but did not provide a name of the buyer, and while Pitt agreed for Jolie to pursue the sale in September 2021, he clarified that he did not consent to the sale. So when he learned that Jolie's share in the winery was bought in October 2021 by a company named Tenute del Mondo, controlled by Shefler, he was shocked.
Pitt and Jolie dated for 10 years before marrying in 2014. Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, and they have since been in and out of court, fighting various cases including a bitter custody battle over their six children.
Pitt, meanwhile, has plans for Chateau Miraval, where he plans to re-open the iconic music studio located on the premises where the likes of Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Wham!, Judas Priest, The Cranberries, The Cure, Steve Winwood, and others recorded music, according to the Daily Mail.
Miraval Studios was founded in 1977 by French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier, who owned the estate at the time. It was there that Pink Floyd recorded their iconic album "The Wall."
Over the years, several bands would travel to the facility, which includes three houses where artists would live, as well as a live-in chef and swimming pool, before it was sold in 1998 to Tom Bove.
The last band to use the studio was Muse, who recorded Black Holes and Revelations back in 2006. The studio then fell into disrepair but Pitt is planning on transforming it.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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