Angelina Jolie says Brad Pitt physically attacked her and their children on private plane days before she filed for divorce

Angelina Jolie has accused Brad Pitt of physical abuse in newly-released court documents, claiming that the US actor attacked their family on a plane in 2016. 

The Changeling star claimed that her ex-husband assaulted both her and their children during a flight in new court filings, marking the latest shocking development in the former Hollywood couple's lengthy legal war. 

The incident allegedly took place in September 2016, just days before Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt.

New details about what happened between the couple have been made public in Tuesday's court filing in Los Angeles, with Jolie's legal team claiming that Pitt was physically and emotionally abusive to his then-wife and their six children during a flight from France to Los Angeles. The documents have emerged as part of Pitt's lawsuit over a French winery the couple once owned. 

In the filing, Jolie says that Pitt "grabbed" her "by the head and shook her" before "pushing her into the bathroom wall." The Fight Club star then "punched the ceiling of the plane numerous times, prompting Jolie to leave the bathroom."

When one of their children tried to verbally intervene, Pitt allegedly "lunged at his own child." At this point, Jolie "grabbed" the father of her children "from behind" to stop him. 

"To get Jolie off his back, Pitt threw himself backwards into the airplane's seats injuring Jolie's back and elbow," the filing continues. 

Pitt also allegedly "choked one of the children and struck another in the face", "poured beer on Jolie" at one point, and at another, "poured beer and red wine on the children." When the altercation was over, Jolie's lawyers claimed she and her children "sat still and silent under blankets" until they had landed in the US. 

Pitt was investigated by the FBI for child abuse in 2016, but the bureau closed the inquiry after "a review of the circumstances" and decided not to file any charges against the actor. Angelina Jolie filed an anonymous lawsuit against the FBI in April 2022 to "better understand" its investigation and to "obtain information necessary for her children to receive medical care and trauma counseling." 

The couple's divorced was finalized in 2019 and a judge awarded them joint custody of their children last year. 

"I'm not the kind of person who makes decisions like the decisions I had to make lightly," Jolie told the Guardian in 2021, in a rare public comment on the situation. "It took a lot for me to be in a position where I felt like I had to separate from the father of my children."