Brad Pitt recalls ‘failed relationships’ amid Angelina Jolie abuse allegations

Brad Pitt has opened up about his past “failed relationships” nearly a week after Angelina Jolie made several abuse allegations about the actor amid their ongoing legal battle.

While speaking to the Financial Times about his series of sculptures on display at the Sara Hildén Art Museum in Finland, Pitt explained how reflecting on his own relationships inspired some of his artwork.

“I was looking at my own life and really concentrating on owning my own sh*t: where was I complicit in failures in my relationships, where have I misstepped,” he shared. After seemingly acknowledging Jolie’s allegations of abuse, Pitt explained how his sculpture work was born out of what he calls a “radical inventory of self” and from “taking account of those I may have hurt.”

The Fight Club actor said he began sculpting six years ago, around the same time as his highly-publicised divorce from actor Angelina Jolie. It was then that Pitt connected with artist and exhibition collaborator, Thomas Houseago, as they bonded over their “mutual misery”.

“Out of this misery came a flame of joy in my life. I always wanted to be a sculptor; I’d always wanted to try it,” he explained, adding that he’s found how to “walk with the pain I experience”.

Brad Pitt’s comments come amid his ongoing legal battle with ex-wife Angelina Jolie over the French winery the former couple once co-owned. On 4 October, the Maleficent actress filed a cross-complaint, which contained allegations that Pitt had “choked” one of their children onboard a private jet in 2016.

The court filings, which were obtained by The New York Times, claims that Pitt “choked one of the children and struck another in the face” and “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her.” The filing also states that, at one point, “he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children.” Jolie filed for divorce just days after the alleged fight took place on a flight from France to Los Angeles.

According to Jolie’s lawyers, negotiations to sell her share of the Château Miraval winery to Pitt had broken down after he allegedly demanded she 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 October 2021, Jolie sold her stake in the French winery to a subsidiary of Stoli Group, which Pitt claims was without his approval and a violation of his “contractual rights”.

Following Jolie’s most recent allegations of abuse, representatives for Pitt refuted the claims, calling them “completely untrue”. The actor’s lawyer, Anne Kiley, added that Pitt had been on the receiving end of “every type of personal attack and misrepresentation” but would not “own anything he didn’t do”.

“Brad will continue to respond in court as he has consistently done,” Kiley said.