It's been eight years since Brangelina went back to being just Brad and Angelina. The couple – arguably the most famous in the world at the time – filed for divorce in August 2016, but all these years later that divorce is still yet to be finalised.
The most recent update on the state of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's relationship has come in the form of their daughter Vivienne, who has seemingly decided to follow in her siblings footsteps and drop 'Pitt' from her surname, now calling herself simply Vivienne Jolie.
But despite Vivienne's recent decision, Brad and Angelina are still - at least technically - married. So why is Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's divorce taking so long? Just what happened with Chateau Miraval? The answers to these questions are not straightforward - and the story of Brangelina's divorce is far darker than it first appeared to be.
When did Angelina Jolie file for divorce from Brad Pitt?
On 20 September 2016, Angelina filed for divorce after just two years of marriage to Brad, citing irreconcilable differences in her filing and asking for physical custody of their kids - Maddox, Zahara, Pax, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne – whilst granting Brad visitation rights.
Brad responded to Angelina's divorce petition by asking for both joint legal and physical custody of their six children in his filing.
Who has custody of the Jolie-Pitt kids now?
According to an in-depth Vanity Fair article, later that same month the couple reached a temporary agreement. The magazine claimed, 'Jolie would have full custody. Pitt could visit but only on several conditions. He had to agree to counselling and testing for alcohol and drugs, and the first meeting would be monitored by a therapist.'
As things stand, three of the children - Pax, Maddox and Zahara - are now over 18, but the rest live with Angelina in the US. If the decision of most of the kids to drop 'Pitt' from their surname is anything to go by, tensions with Brad and his kids are running high.
Shiloh filed to become simply Shiloh Jolie not Shiloh Jolie-Pitt on her 18th birthday in May 2024, whilst Zahara seemed to indicate that she had done the same last year when she referred to herself as Zahara Jolie in a sorority video. For his part, Maddox is also thought to have dropped Brad's surname from his moniker.
Perhaps the biggest indicator that all is not well between Brad Pitt and his kids comes from Pax however, who regularly complains about his father on Instagram - including on Father's Day back in 2020 when he called Brad a 'f**king awful human being'.
What is the Miraval vineyard lawsuit?
After a few weeks of 'helicopter-hopping' in 2008, Brad and Angelina bought a vineyard for $60m - as you do - as a French hideaway and an opportunity for their kids to frolic about in the meadows, keep peacocks and chickens and make a small fortune off the local grapes.
Over the years, the vineyard saw the couple garner enormous commercial success as wine suppliers. But now the current legal battle over ownership of the vineyard is stalling their divorce.
At the time of their wedding in August 2014, Brad had 60% control of the vineyard, while Angelina had 40%, and sales had grown by 300%. It had an estimated worth of $164m, with Brad later transferring 10% to his wife so they were equal partners.
The rosé war commenced shortly after, when the asset proved to be a problem in their marriage. Angelina - according to Vanity Fair - viewed the estate as a place for their family to spend time together and for her to hold UN meetings, whereas Brad had taken on a new identity as a farmer.
'He’d sit on a rock with his guitar and a smoke, his vineyards spreading out in all directions before him. He had a vision of turning Miraval into something beyond wine: an artist’s colony centred around Miraval Studios,' the article explains.
But things swiftly changed in September 2016 – supposedly after a year of built up tension – when the couple had an explosive argument in front of their kids on a plane back to California.
Brad, who had allegedly been drinking on the flight despite maintaining that he 'stopped boozing' once he started a family - and Angelina were arguing when he reportedly became aggressive. The interior of the plane was damaged (with repair bills said to cost $25,000), wine and beer were spilled and the children were reportedly terrified. Brad denies Angelina's allegation of abuse on the plane.
When the incident was reported, Brad was investigated by the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, as well as the FBI because the alleged abuse took place on a plane. Five days later, Angelina filed for divorce. While nothing ultimately came of the investigation, the couple remain separated and a judge ruled that the children have experienced 'lasting physical and mental trauma' as a result.
A bit more background to the debate over ownership of Miraval wines comes in February 2021 when Brad opted to buy Angelina's half of Miraval and they agreed that he would pay Jolie $54.5 million for her entire interest, including undistributed profits.
This deal may have gone ahead if it weren't for Angelina's cross-complaint claiming that she and the children had been victims of domestic violence as per her claims about the plane incident. Brad denied all claims of abuse and demanded these details were tied up in a non-disclosure agreement and Angelina reportedly refused.
That October, Angelina sold her shares to Tenute del Mondo for $67m. At the same time, Brad was granted 50:50 custody by the court.
Fast forward to February 2022, and Brad has filed a lawsuit against Angelina and her holding company Nouvel regarding the sale. He claims that her actions prior to and post selling have been to deliberately inflict harm on him and threaten the business. Meanwhile, the buyers have claimed the opposite and said Brad 'has been waging a vindictive war against her and Nouvel, her former investment company'.
Just one month later, 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 and the property was under siege.
As of March 2024, the 'procedure is pending before the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence'.
As things stand, the future of Miraval and its shareholders, the outcome of Angelina's abuse claims, and the finalisation of their divorce, all remain unresolved. However, their mutual decision in February to disclose their finances to each other may speed up the process slightly.
What did Angelina accuse Brad of in the FBI report?
In August 2022, a redacted version of the notorious FBI report circulated online when someone called Jane Doe (who some believe is an alias for Angelina) filed a Freedom of Information request to access the FBI report and led to explosive allegations.
Angelina's complaint states that after an argument between Brad and one of their children took place, the actor called Angelina into the bathroom of the plane and 'grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her, and then grabbed her shoulders and shook her again'. It also states, 'Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face. Some of the children pleaded with Pitt to stop.'
Are Brad and Angelina still married?
In April 2019, the couple were ruled legally single, but not yet divorced due to a lack of decisions when it comes to the custody of their five children and ownership of the Miraval vineyard which is being battled in a completely different - but obviously related - legal case.
Miraval may have been named the Most Desirable Provence Rosé Wine in the World, Brad's representative may have denied all claims of abuse, but Brangelina's legacy has been tarnished with tales of violence, vitriol and feuds over the profits of a vineyard that ultimately came to destroy their family.