Somewhere, Brad Pitt is weeping into a dusty beret.
Lawyers for a company founded by his ex-wife Angelina Jolie, 48, filed court papers Monday that merciless mock the “Ad Astra” star for his claims to have “built” their French wine business, painting him as a Hollywood dilettante who — despite his claims — has at most “visited the vineyards to admire the work of the French laborers who actually made the business.”
The superstar has styled himself as something of a gentleman farmer in recent years, more concerned with the terroir of their Château Miraval estate than the foibles of Tinsel Town.
“I’m a farmer now,” Pitt, 59, told Wine Spectator back in 2014, “I love learning about the land and which field is most suitable for which grape, the drama of September and October: Are we picking today? Where are the sugar levels? How is the acidity? Is it going to rain? It’s been a schooling for me.”
He added that in the off-months after the harvest, “I enjoy cleaning the forest and walking the land.”
But on Friday, attorneys for Nouvel — a holding company Jolie set up to carry her shares in Miraval, and sold in 2021 — lodged a cross-complaint in the endless legal battle over the winery, which they bought together in 2011.
The papers lay into claims, previously made by Pitt’s attorneys, that Jolie’s decision to sell off her share in the business has threatened to ruin the project that Pitt has poured so much of himself into, calling the idea that Pitt “built” the business “ludicrous.”
“Pitt is an actor, not a winemaker,” it scoffs. “He deals in illusions, not dirt and grapes.”
It goes on: “During the years that he allegedly ‘built’ the business, he filmed and appeared in dozens of movies, not to mention making countless promotional appearances, jetting-setting [sic] around the world for movie premieres, and attending Hollywood parties.”
It somewhat savagely added: “While he no doubt visited the vineyards to admire the work of the French laborers who actually made the business successful, Pitt is no vigneron.”
As the French say: Ouch.
The complaint claims that Pitt “looted” the business, spending millions of dollars in profits on frivolous projects, including renovating a recording studio.
Nouvel’s attorneys says Pitt’s business owes the company $350 million.
He has accused her of selling off her share in the company, contrary to an agreement they made while married, to spite him after their marriage collapsed.
The pair separated in 2016.
