Angelina Jolie Allegedly Encouraged Kids Not To Spend Time With Dad Brad Pitt Amid $350M Legal Battle, Fired Bodyguard Claims
Angelina Jolie allegedly encouraged her six children not to see their father, Brad Pitt, during his custody visits, according to their former family bodyguard.
Tony Webb, a former British SAS special forces solider and founder of SRS Global Security, who worked for the family for over 20 years since 2000, claimed in his declaration that the "Maleficent" actress tried to drive a wedge between her ex-husband and their kids. The former couple share six children -- Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 17, and 15-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.
In his declaration, Webb said Jolie fired him after two of his personnel sided with Pitt following their split in 2016. The two agreed to testify against her in custody hearings. At the time, Webb said he received a call from Jolie's personal assistant, Michael Vieira, ordering him to stop the pair from testifying against Jolie. But he refused and said he had "no power" because they were independent contractors.
"Mr. Vieira then told me that his call should serve as a reminder that those individuals had entered into non-disclosure agreements with Ms. Jolie and that I should remind them of that, and that if they testified in the family law case, Ms. Jolie would sue them," Webb said, per The Sun. "I communicated this message to the two individuals over the phone and they both told me that they planned to testify."
"One of those two individuals, Ross Foster, specified that he intended to testify regardless of the NDA if he received a court subpoena," his declaration read.
"When Mr. Foster told me this, he also told me that if asked, he would testify about statements he overheard that Ms. Jolie made to the children encouraging them to avoid spending time with Mr. Pitt during custody visits."
Read also: Shiloh Jolie-Pitt Allegedly Wants Parents Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie To 'Become Friends': Report
Vieira allegedly repeated the threats during a follow-up call. He reportedly said they would sue the bodyguards if they testified against the "Tomb Raider" actress.
The outlet noted that Webb's statement may be legally problematic to Jolie because NDAs should not stop witnesses from coming forward to court proceedings.
According to Webb, despite the alleged threats, the pair continued to testify under subpoena. Jolie eventually decided to terminate SRS in June 2021. The Falkland War veteran wrote a letter to Jolie on June 16, 2021, thanking her for the two-decade employment.
"I also wrote that I was sad that we had become distant over the past few years and that I knew that she blamed me for what my independent contractors had done but that because they were self-employed, I could not control what they did or said as they were not employed directly by SRS Global," Webb said.
"Take good care. As ever. Angie," Jolie's reply reportedly read.
Webb's claims are the latest in Jolie and Pitt's $350 legal battle over the Chateau Miraval winery dubbed "War of the Rose." Pitt is asking the Los Angeles Superior Court to reverse his ex-wife's sale of her stake in the vineyard in Provence, France, to Russian tycoon Yuri Shefler in October 2021.
In April, Pitt filed a new motion to release Jolie's other NDAs with third parties. The "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" actor wanted to know if Jolie gagged her staff.
"If Jolie conditioned her continued employment of an individual on that individual's agreement to an NDA covering what they witnessed in her home -- including her treatment of her children and Pitt -- that would be highly probative of whether she truly believed the provision requested by Pitt was an 'unconscionable gag order,'" Pitt's lawyer John Berlinski said in the court documents.
