Dark Secrets Brad Pitt Tried To Hide

As an actor, Brad Pitt has built an incredibly successful career. Appearances in movies such as 1995's "Twelve Monkeys," 1999's "Fight Club," and 2005's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" helped turn Pitt into a superstar. He's also netted two Academy Awards during his career. Pitt took home a Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" in 2020, and he also shared the Best Picture Oscar in 2014 for his role as a producer on "12 Years a Slave."

Alongside his glittering Hollywood career, Pitt has regularly found himself talked about in the tabloids, particularly due to his romantic relationships with fellow celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie. However, Pitt seems to be much more focused on the movies he makes rather than the stories being told about him in the press. "I'm one of those creatures that speaks through art," Pitt told GQ in 2022. "I just want to always make. If I'm not making, I'm dying in some way." 

However, the actor hasn't been able to escape every rumor and report made about him, particularly when it comes to more serious matters. These are some of the dark secrets Brad Pitt has tried to hide.

Thanks to that chiseled jaw and charming personality, Brad Pitt's love life has always been under the microscope. Understandably, after Pitt married Jennifer Aniston on July 29, 2000, fans imagined the two actors would live happily ever after. However, that all came to an end when they finalized their divorce in October 2005, after Pitt had met Angelina Jolie on the set of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" in the summer of 2004. While Pitt claimed that there was no overlap between his romances with Jolie and Aniston during an interview with W magazine (via CBS News), subsequent interviews would seemingly paint a more messy picture.

While speaking to The New York Times in 2008, Jolie revealed she was excited to one day show her children "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," explaining, "not a lot of people get to see a movie where their parents fell in love." Pitt seemed to confirm Jolie's version of events during an interview with Rolling Stone, also in 2008, telling the publication that "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" was his favorite movie of Jolie's, elaborating, "No, we've never seen it. I just mean because, you know ... six kids. Because I fell in love." Despite his initial protestations, both Pitt and Jolie have since hinted that they did, indeed, fall in love on the set of the 2005 action comedy, in spite of Pitt's marital status at the time.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's romance officially came to an end on January 7, 2005, when they released a joint statement to People saying, " ... we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media." While their initial PR suggested that their split didn't involve anyone else, it would later transpire that Pitt's connection with Jolie was perhaps bigger than he had led his wife to believe. 

During an interview with Vanity Fair in September 2005, one of Aniston's friends explained that the "Friends" star had accepted Pitt's insistence that Jolie wasn't a factor in the breakup. "She's not suggesting she didn't know there was an enchantment, and a friendship," Kristin Hahn told the publication. "But Brad was saying, 'This is not about another woman.'" However, it would later transpire that perhaps more had been going on between Pitt and Jolie than was initially detailed.

In 2006, Jolie revealed that she had been excited to get to work every day while filming "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" because of her connection with Pitt, via People. Aniston would later respond to Jolie's comments, telling Vogue in 2008, "There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening." She continued, "That stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool."

During her candid interview with Vanity Fair in 2005, Jennifer Aniston shared some revealing details about her relationship with Brad Pitt, including the fact that he seemingly moved on so quickly with Angelina Jolie. "There's a sensitivity chip that's missing," Aniston said of Pitt's decision to make his new relationship public so soon after their breakup. Discussing a photoshoot Pitt did with Jolie for W magazine in July 2005 titled "Domestic Bliss," in which the pair posed as a happy family with multiple children, one of Aniston's friends told the publication, "He's made some choices that have been tremendously insensitive."

Aniston also used the interview to explore her feelings about her divorce, and how Pitt's behavior in the press post-split was seemingly contrary to everything he'd told her prior. "There's a lot I don't understand, a lot I don't know, and probably never will know, really," she told the outlet. "So I choose to take away with me as much integrity and dignity and respect for what that relationship was as I can. I feel as if I'm trying to scrounge around and pick up the pieces in the midst of this media circus." Clearly, Pitt's behavior during and after his breakup with Aniston left a lot to be desired in the eyes of the "Picture Perfect" star and her close friends.

When rumors about Brad Pitt's relationship with Angelina Jolie started to swirl, many people started taking sides, which sometimes involved wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Team Aniston" or "Team Jolie." Tabloid reports also started to suggest that Pitt and Aniston's split was due to him wanting to start a family, which he did soon after with Jolie, while the "Friends" star was allegedly firmly focused on her career. Years later, the truth would come out, with Aniston revealing in a 2022 interview with Allure that she'd undergone years of IVF treatments, but was ultimately unsuccessful in having a baby. 

One of Aniston's friends addressed the fact that Pitt appeared to fare better in the media during the couple's divorce, particularly when it came to the idea of having children. "When Brad and Jen were in the marriage, having a baby was not his priority — ever," the friend told Vanity Fair. "... whereas for Jen it was much more immediate. So is there a part of Brad that's diabolical? Did he think, I need to get out of this marriage, but I want to come out smelling like a rose, so I'm going to let Jen be cast as the ultra-feminist and I'm going to get cast as the poor husband who couldn't get a baby and so had to move on?" Unfortunately, the "Murder Mystery" star had to endure years of painful speculation, and Pitt never changed the narrative.

As well as allegedly starting a relationship with another woman while he was married to Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt was also reportedly emotionally unavailable during his marriage. According to Aniston's unforgettable interview with Vanity Fair in 2005, Pitt was apparently absent during some of the moments when the "Mother's Day" star needed him most. "He just wasn't there for me," Aniston told the publication, referencing times she had asked for support from her husband, but hadn't received it. 

Notably, Pitt allegedly missed the taping of the very final episode of "Friends," which reportedly shocked Aniston's close friends, especially as the event was such a cultural and personal milestone for the star. Speaking to the outlet, Aniston noted, "He was working," in response to Pitt's glaring absence from filming. However, the "Cake" star also reflected on her marriage, and suggested that she would have made some changes if she had the chance to do it all over again. "I'd take more vacations — getting away from work, enjoying each other in different environments," she told the outlet. "But there was always something preventing it; either he was working or I was." Sadly, that distance appeared to negatively impact Pitt and Aniston's marriage, and Pitt allegedly grew even more distant from his wife as time went on.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt appeared to officially confirm their relationship in January 2006, when Jolie's two adopted children, son Maddox and daughter Zahara, changed their surnames to Jolie-Pitt. In May 2006, Jolie gave birth to the couple's third child, Shiloh, and in March 2007, Jolie adopted the couple's fourth child, son Pax, from Vietnam. Finally, in July 2008, Pitt and Jolie welcomed fraternal twins, daughter Vivienne and son Knox. Six years later, in August 2014, Pitt and Jolie decided to tie the knot, surrounded by their six children. Sadly, though, the fairytale didn't last, and Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016, citing "irreconcilable differences."

It was soon reported that Jolie had allegedly filed for divorce following an incident that took place on a plane journey between France and California, which involved the couple's children. According to The New York Times, it was later revealed in a legal filing made by Jolie's team, "Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face ... grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her ... he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children." In FBI records obtained by Rolling Stone, it was ultimately determined by the United States Attorney's Office that Pitt wouldn't face charges for the alleged violence. According to further details revealed in the FBI report, the incident was so serious that Jolie said she felt like a hostage on the plane.

In 2022, court papers filed as part of a case between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt revealed additional details about the incident that occurred between the couple and their children during a private plane journey in September 2016. The filing revealed that Pitt had actually attempted to get Jolie to sign "... a nondisclosure agreement that would have contractually prohibited her from speaking outside of court about Pitt's physical and emotional abuse of her and their children," in exchange for Pitt buying Jolie's stake in a co-owned vineyard in France, per The New York Times. Instead, Jolie sold her stake in Château Miraval, which produces Miraval wine and champagne, to Stoli Group subsidiary Tenute del Mondo, owned by Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler, in 2021. 

In a statement to CNN, Jolie's attorney Paul Murphy said, "Still today and in the seven years since that fateful plane ride, he personally has never publicly denied that it happened. The reality is that Pitt refused to complete the Miraval sale with Jolie unless she agreed to being silenced about the abuse." Jolie, instead, chose to go public with the allegation that Pitt reportedly tried to get her to sign a non-disclosure agreement, seemingly refusing to stay quiet about what allegedly occurred between them in 2016.

In 2020, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's divorce proceedings hit a speed bump when the "Tomb Raider" star requested in a legal filing that Judge John W. Ouderkirk be removed from the case, citing conflicts of interest, via AP. Jolie's filing suggested that Ouderkirk was involved in other cases involving Pitt's attorney Anne C. Kiley, with the "Eternals" star suggesting that the judge wouldn't be able to remain impartial in her divorce case. 

Pitt's team responded to Jolie's filing days later, via Page Six, with their own papers, explaining, "Judge Ouderkirk has had a well-documented history with the parties to this proceeding their counsel, including, without limitation, being hand-selected by Jolie to preside over the couple's nuptials in 2014 and serving as a neutral in several matters involving attorneys on both sides of this case." Ultimately, the judge was removed from the couple's divorce proceedings in July 2021, as it was deemed that he hadn't disclosed some of his business relationships prior to the case.

In August 2017, it was revealed that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were being sued regarding some work carried out by an interior designer at their French estate Château Miraval, The Guardian reported. Designer Odile Soudant claimed to have worked on an ambitious lighting project at the home, but that Pitt had stopped paying her following a disagreement regarding delays and expenses. As a result, the Paris court of appeal ordered Jolie and Pitt to pay Soudant €565,000, which included €60,000 for allegedly damaging the designer's reputation, the publication reported.

Speaking to the newspaper, Soudant revealed that she was disappointed not to be recognized for the hard work she'd carried out at the former couple's estate. And as for the "Ocean's Eleven" actor, Soudant seemed less than impressed, saying, "Of course, people think Brad Pitt is right, that 'he's the good guy and she is wrong.'" It would appear as though Pitt has lost a fan following this particular fallout. 

Brad Pitt co-starred with Marion Cotillard in 2016 movie "Allied," which tracks the relationship between a French Resistance fighter and a Canadian intelligence officer during World War II. It wasn't long before rumors started emerging about Pitt's relationship with his new co-star, despite the fact that Pitt was married to Jolie and Cotillard had been in a committed relationship with French actor Guillaume Canet since 2007. After news broke that Jolie had filed for divorce from Pitt in September 2016, speculation started to swirl that Pitt's alleged affair with Cotillard may have contributed to the split.

A source alleged to Page Six that Jolie had gone so far as to hire a private investigator to spy on her husband. The source also alleged that the investigator had discovered that Pitt was cheating on his wife, which led to the couple's divorce. However, a source close to Cotillard staunchly denied the affair rumors to the publication, and Canet defended his partner against the allegations in an Instagram post. While it seems highly likely that the rumors regarding Pitt and Cotillard were, in fact, untrue, Pitt's reputation precedes him.

Brad Pitt founded the Make It Right Foundation in 2007, with the aim of providing homes to people in need. Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Pitt was inspired to help rebuild the community in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, by providing housing for people who had lost their homes during the tragic event. 

Sadly, Pitt's plans weren't completely successful, and in 2018, it was reported that a class-action lawsuit had been brought against the actor and his foundation, citing unfair trade practices, breach of contract, and fraud, via Nola.com. As noted by the site, Pitt's lawyers attempted to get his name removed from the lawsuit, despite the actor's involvement in the project. According to Dezeen, the homes built by the Make It Right Foundation suffered from a number of serious issues, including foundation problems, water leaks, and black mold.

In 2022, Pitt and his foundation agreed to pay a $20.5 million settlement to residents, which equated to approximately $25,000 for each of the 107 homeowners on the site, via Nola.com. It was also revealed that California-based nonprofit Global Green would be footing the bill for the settlement, with the organization having close ties to Pitt and Make It Right. In a statement via Dezeen, Pitt said, "I am incredibly grateful for Global Green's willingness to step up and provide this important support for the Lower Ninth families."

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's lengthy divorce and unsettled custody battle meant that Jolie retained sole custody of their six children, with Pitt receiving visitation rights only, the Independent reported in September 2023. Following allegations that Pitt may have verbally and physically abused Jolie and their children during a flight in September 2016, per Vulture, it's perhaps unsurprising that Pitt allegedly doesn't have the best relationship with some of his kids.

In November 2023, it was reported that Jolie and Pitt's son, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, allegedly posted a scathing message aimed at his dad on his Instagram Stories on Father's Day in 2020, per the Daily Mail. "You have made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell," he reportedly wrote. "You may tell yourself and the world whatever you want ... but the truth will come to light someday." Pax reportedly ended the post by writing, "So Happy Father's Day, you f****** awful human being." Pax also alleged that the children were scared of Pitt, and wrote (via The Standard), "You time and time and again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person."

In reaction to the post, sources claimed via Yahoo! News that Pax's statements were untrue and that Pitt has nothing but respect for his six children. In October 2023, it was reported that Pitt had reconciled with all of his children except for his eldest son Maddox.

While engaging in a years-long custody battle, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's split only got messier. In August 2018, the pair hit the headlines once again when Jolie and her attorney alleged that Pitt had avoided paying as much child support as he should have, via NBC News. "As of present, [Pitt] has paid no meaningful child support since separation," Jolie's attorney wrote in a legal brief, the publication reported. However, Pitt's lawyers were quick to refute Jolie's allegations, and they filed their own brief in response.

"[Pitt] adamantly disputes the contention that he has not paid significant child support," the actor's lawyer wrote in a court filing, via Us Weekly. "[Pitt] has previously loaned [Jolie] $8 million to assist her in purchasing her current residence and has paid over $1.3 million in bills for the benefit of [Jolie] and the minor children." Considering Pitt's sometimes challenging relationships with some of his children, it's likely that Jolie's lawsuit hit a sensitive nerve. Unfortunately, the claims were simply another step in the couple's already contentious divorce.