Angelina Jolie: Brad Pitt Divorce Papers Sealed Because Pitt ‘Is Terrified The Public Will Learn The Truth’

Angelina Jolie claims that ex-husband Brad Pitt is intent on having their divorce records sealed because he is “terrified that the public will learn the truth,” according to a review of court filings published by E! News‘ Samantha Schnurr.

The Oscar-winning Jolie and Oscar-nominated Pitt have had a particularly contentious and public divorce.

“The development comes on the heels of a motion filed by the Allied actor’s lawyers asking a judge to seal records Jolie filed involving their temporary custody agreement for their six children,” Schnurr writes of Pitt’s latest efforts to have the divorce records sealed. “Weeks earlier, his camp filed a request for an emergency hearing to seal the documents, though a judge denied the request as it was not considered an emergency.”

Pitt’s and Jolie’s divorce filings against each other have been full of accusations of overt and negligent abuse of their children.

Brad Pitt accuses Angelina Jolie of “placing her own interests” above children in divorce https://t.co/HBTe2z71I4

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) December 26, 2016

For instance, Pitt’s lawyers claimed that Jolie and her divorce attorneys “exposed the children by making public the names of their therapists and other mental health professionals” in one filing. They further alleged that Jolie “appears to be determined to ignore even agreed upon standards relating to the children’s best interest and she is attempting to clear the way to put in the public eye any allegations she can, without regard to the impact on the minor children,” according to Schnurr.

While Pitt argues that Jolie jeopardized the children’s privacy and, by implication, their mental health through clumsy divorce filings, Jolie has countered with suggestions that Pitt was somehow directly abusive to the children.

“There is little doubt that [Brad] would prefer to keep the entire case private, particularly given the detailed investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Dept. of Children and Family Services into allegation of abuse,” Jolie’s most recent divorce filing states.

Jolie has since agreed to make the divorce filings private but notes that Pitt’s accusations that she exposed some of their children’s personal information is nothing more than an effort to “deflect from [his] own role in the media storm which has engulfed the parties’ children.”

It must be acknowledged that no child abuse charges were ever brought against Pitt.

“He has been cleared after thorough investigations by both FBI and Child Services, which included [Jolie’s] cooperation,” a source close to the actor told E! News. “Clearly her claims were considered in reaching those conclusions and if she held back information, which she didn’t, then isn’t she then not representing the best interests of her children by holding it back?”

The source added that, from the source’s perspective, Jolie agreeing to have the divorce documents sealed is a move in a positive direction.

“Thankfully, after four months of on record statements, leaks and unnecessary and intrusive filings, she is coming around to realizing that confidentiality is actually in the best interests of her children and family,” the source told E! News.

The vicious divorce battle between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt just got nastier https://t.co/NhmJ72yOzw pic.twitter.com/b4kVBleMtF

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) January 5, 2017

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt met while filming the action-comedy-romance film Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2004. Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston at the time, and Jolie had recently been divorced from Billy Bob Thornton. Both Pitt and Jolie initially denied anything was going on while the movie was being filmed but later admitted they fell in love on the set, according to a timeline of the couple’s romance published by Entertainment Tonight.

It was not until January of 2006 that Pitt and Jolie publicly admitted that they were dating when Jolie acknowledged that she was pregnant with Pitt’s child. Brad also legally adopted Jolie’s two adopted children, Zahara and Maddox, and added Pitt to their surname around that time.

The two married in August of 2014, and Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt in September of 2016.

[Featured Image by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images]