Brad Pitt’s estrangement from all six of his children appears to be complete after his 16-year-old son Knox Jolie-Pitt walked the red carpet with the actor’s ex-wife Angelina Jolie at an Academy Awards event Sunday.
A new report in the Daily Mail contends that the actor has long had “no communication” with Knox, after his bitter, eight-years-long divorce battle with Jolie. The report said that Pitt, 60, only ever sees Knox and his other children when they walk a red carpet with their mother at some entertainment industry event.
Brad Pitt attends the “Wolfs” red carpet during the 81st Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 1, 2024 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Annalisa Ranzoni/Getty Images)
Jolie, 46, has in fact been “trying to get under (Pitt’s) skin” with these high-profile outings with their children in recent years, a Pitt “insider” told the Daily Mail.
This report comes after a tuxedo-clad Knox made a rare public appearance on Sunday, walking arm in arm with his glamorous mother at the Governors Award for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Jolie certainly has a reason for hitting red carpets in recent months. She’s promoting her new Maria Callas biopic, “Maria,” and she’s clearly campaigning to be nominated for a best actress Oscar for her performance as the legendary opera singer.
“Maria” has given the actor and director her first chance to be considered for an acting prize in more than a decade. (Jolie is a previous Oscar winner, for best supporting actress for the 1999 film “Girl, Interrupted.”) She turned up on the red carpet in September at the New York Film Festival — accompanied by her three older children, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, and Maddox, 22.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 29: (L-R) Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Zahara Marley Jolie and Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt attend the “Maria” screening during the 62nd New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on September 29, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for FLC)
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But to Pitt’s associates, the timing of Knox’s appearance with his mother at Sunday’s event was especially “suspicious,” in light of the latest turn in the couple’s long-running divorce battle. These insiders believe there was more going on than a devoted son simply turning up to support his mother
They argue that Jolie has been looking to aggravate her ex-husband, as the former super Hollywood super couple have another court fight coming up. Next year, Jolie and Pitt face off in a trial over the disputed sale of their French winery, Chateau Miraval — in what’s become known as the “War of the Rosé.”
“Brad only gets to see his children when they walk on the carpet with their mom and the timing of this could not be any more suspicious considering it was just decided that he and Angie are headed to trial,” the Pitt insider told the Daily Mail.
Pitt is suing Jolie over her effort to sell her $62 million stake in the winery and estate to Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler. Pitt has argued that her sale to Shefler violated a verbal agreement they had, which was to give him the right of first refusal if she sought to sell her half of the estate, which produces award-winning rosé.
The couple purchased the picturesque estate in the South of France together in 2007. With its historic stone buildings, olive groves and private lake, they reportedly hoped to make it a European base for their family, a retreat from the “celebrity of Hollywood.”
Jolie recently lost a motion to dismiss Pitt’s lawsuit, with a judge saying that the case would proceed to trial. But if Jolie is trying to get back at Pitt after his recent court win, “using Knox to do so is odd,” the insider told the Daily Mail.
“Knox wants nothing to do with Hollywood and has no communication with Brad,” the insider said.
But the insider also argued that Jolie’s appearance with Knox is more evidence that Jolie has fully “turned” their children against him. Jolie has long been accused of trying to drive a wedge Pitt and their children in the aftermath of their split.
“She did this while they were all young and they didn’t even get a chance to make up their minds about him,” the insider said. “He believes that, in time, his children will come back into his life.”
Jolie and Pitt have been locked in one of Hollywood’s longest-running and most contentious divorce battles. Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016, alleging that a heavily intoxicated Pitt was verbally and physically abusive to her and several of their children on a private plane trip to the United States from France. They family had been vacationing at Chateau Miraval, prior to boarding the plane.
The alleged abuse was graphically detailed in a FBI report that became public in 2022. Pitt has never directly addressed the abuse allegations, but sources close to him have denied them on his behalf. He also was never criminally charged in federal or state court.
Still, the abuse allegations have reportedly contributed to the actor’s estrangement from at least several of his children.
In late August, Pitt’s second oldest daughter, 18-year-old Shiloh, received news that a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge had granted her legal petition to officially drop her father’s last name. This news came around the same time that Pitt was trying to promote his own new movie, “Wolfs,” co-starring his long-time friend and collaborator George Clooney.
When Pitt learned in May that Shiloh had filed the petition to change her last name, he was said to be “blindsided” and “upset” by her choice, People magazine reported. “He’s never felt more joy than when she was born. He always wanted a daughter,” a source told People.
US actress Angelina Jolie and her daughter Vivienne Jolie-Pitt arrive for the 77th Tony Awards at Lincoln Center in New York on June 16, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Pitt’s other daughters, Zahara and Vivienne, Knox’s twin sister, also have stopped using their father’s name in public settings. Indeed, Jolie made a red carpet appearance with Vivienne in June, when mother and daughter attended the 77th annual Tony Awards in New York City.
Meanwhile, Pitt has “virtually no contact” with his two older adult children, Maddox, 22, and Pax, 20, People magazine reported in July.
Now, a source close to Jolie told the Daily Mail that Knox was happy to accompany his mother at the Governors Award this weekend. But the source insisted that his attendance had nothing to do with an effort to “get under” Pitt’s skin.
“Knox chose to attend the awards with his mom, and they had a nice mother-son evening,” the Jolie insider told the Daily Mail. “Their decision to attend together did not have anything to do with Brad.”