Earlier this year a judge in Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s vicious custody battle ordered Jolie to stop trash talking her ex-husband to her kids.
At the time, the injunction on Jolie, which specified that she was required to tell their children that the “court has determined that not having a relationship with their father is harmful to them,” and that they were “safe with their father,” seemed utterly bizarre.
Now, however, comes a possible explanation. It has emerged that Jolie allegedly told their 15-year-old son Pax that Pitt “never wanted to adopt him,” according to the new issue of Us Weekly magazine. Jolie also allegedly told Pax, described as his mom’s “closest confidant,” that Pitt “was angry” she had gone ahead with it.
Pitt denies having specifically said he did not want to adopt Pax, but a source tells Us Weekly that Pitt did express concern about adopting a 3-year-old who didn’t speak English less than a year after their child Shiloh was born, in what was a “very difficult time for the couple.”
The tension over another adoption “almost ended the relationship, but Brad stayed,” the source added.
The divorce battle between Pitt and Jolie was triggered after Pitt allegedly got into an altercation with his eldest son Maddox on a private jet flight from Paris to L.A. in September 2016.
Jolie shocked Hollywood by filing for divorce days later, citing the “health” of her family.
Pitt was widely portrayed as having drug, alcohol, and anger issues in the months that followed, and subsequently told GQ magazine that he had stopped drinking and entered into intensive therapy.
In November, it was reported the couple had come to a custody-sharing agreement regarding their brood: Maddox, 17, Pax, 15, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 12, and 10-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.
However, Us Weekly says that Pitt accepts his relationship with Maddox is likely irreparable.
Us Weekly adds that both parents were criticized by social workers. Pitt, “had trouble accepting personal responsibility and often blames others for his actions,” while Jolie’s indulgence of the children created, “an unstable living environment.”