Brad Pitt makes demand to Angelina Jolie after actor's claims in bitter legal battle

Brangelina was once the biggest celebrity power couple in the world but it's all come to a messy end.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie share five children together but announced their divorce back in 2016, and things have been far from smooth sailing since then.

It would take eight years of legal battles before they eventually reached a final divorce settlement in 2024 but that doesn't mean that the arguments have stopped.

Jolie claims that she retreated from acting jobs during that eight-year period and recently suggested that she had 'no choice' to accept acting projects again as a way of earning money, but it seems as if Pitt and his legal team do not agree.

In the latest twist, the Once Upon A Time in Hollywood actor has demanded that Jolie produces records showing her income between 2017 and 2021, but so far she has only shown off her earnings in 2020 and 2021.

Jolie's complaint alleges that after their separation she put her career on hold, 'forgoing years of compensation', and that Pitt therefore had 'substantial leverage and control' over her due in part to her financial condition, despite reportedly having a net worth of over $100 million.

However, back in February, Jolie withdrew her agreement to provide declarations for full 2017-2021 period, with plaintiffs proposing that Jolie stipulate that she was not under economic pressure before 2020 and that Pitt did not exert economic coercion over her, but the Maleficent actor declined this request.

Pitt is now dating Spanish jewellery designer Ines de Ramon (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

Miraval, the wine estate co-owned by Pitt, is also prevalent throughout the legal negotiations.

The documents state: "At the IDC, the Court then separately proposed limiting the scope of Jolie’s testimony concerning her earnings and compensation. Again, Jolie declined the proposal. Instead, Jolie confirmed at the IDC that she may argue at trial that Pitt used Miraval as leverage to control her and that her decision to put her career on hold bears on why the proposed NDA was allegedly abusive. The parties therefore did not resolve the dispute.

"The Requests seek information directly bearing on financial assertions Jolie pleaded: that she forwent 'years of compensation,' that Miraval was her \most important asset,' and that Pitt’s control over Miraval distributions gave him 'substantial leverage and control' over her during the period leading to her 2019 decision to sell her stake in Chateau Miraval.

"Request No. 81 seeks documents sufficient to show Jolie’s earned income during the period between her separation from Pitt through 2019— the year Jolie allegedly decided she needed to sell Miraval—while Request No. 82 seeks documents sufficient to show Jolie’s earnings from the profit-sharing bonuses she received during that period from her earlier acting and directing roles.

"Jolie may be able to establish from public information that she held fewer acting or directing roles from 2017–2019 than she did in prior years. But paragraph 23 of her Cross Complaint goes further: it alleges that she forwent 'years of compensation'. Documents showing the earned income and profit participation payments she received during those years will permit Plaintiffs to test the accuracy and context of that allegation."

Four of their five children have dropped Pitt from their surnames (Marc Piasecki/GC Images)

However, one of the key distinctions made by Jolie is that she was not in financial distress, and that she simply wanted to 'untangle her financial life from the ex-spouse she was divorcing'.

One of the most alarming allegations sees Jolie state that she was simply trying to make herself financially independent as she looked to escape 'her controlling and abusive ex husband'.

Pitt and Jolie initially met on the set of the 2005 film Mr and Mrs Smith and they would become Mr and Mrs themselves nine years later at a wedding in France.

They went on to have three children together, adopting two more, and four of them have since acted to drop Pitt from their last names.

LADbible has contacted the representatives for Pitt and Jolie for comment.