The new owners of Jolie’s share demanded access to “documents [that] would allow Nouvel to seek redress in France for Pitt and his allies’ mismanagement.” To Pitt, as spelled out in a memorandum, it was a blatant ploy to “intimidate them into surrendering the business they built.”
On March 4, 2022, Miraval was under siege.
Two court officers and an IT expert, armed with the French equivalent of a search warrant, drove through the gates and down the 2.5-mile road to Miraval. They had been dispatched by Nouvel’s new owners to conduct what French law, translated literally, calls a “spontaneous interpellation.”
To Pitt and his partners, it was nothing short of a raid, although the Stoli Group disputes that characterization. “It was not a raid,” the spokesperson says, but rather a “bailiff’s mission…precisely and narrowly foreseen by the judge.”
Lawyers for Shefler’s wine division had petitioned a commercial court in Provence to invoke article 145 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which enables businesses to enter the premises of their adversaries and seize evidence of suspected malfeasance. The filing before the court cited “mismanagement,” “misuse of corporate assets,” and a “blocking mechanism” by its other 50 percent shareholder, Mondo Bongo, the company that held Pitt’s Miraval shares, in conjunction with two associates at the winery.
“Given the existing links between the different protagonists, it is to be feared that they will consult each other in order to conceal” evidence, the petition read. It went on to say that only a “spontaneous interpellation, without the recipients of it being notified in advance,” would enable the court to collect the relevant evidence.
When their first request was denied, the lawyers petitioned the court again. In February 2022, the bailiff granted an order to proceed. Now the court’s emissaries entered the offices of the historic wine estate. They seized Miraval’s files and copies of “contracts, invoices, correspondence (including emails),” and turned it all over to the court, which would investigate and decide whether or not to pass the materials on to Nouvel. Neither Pitt nor Perrin were at Miraval at the time.
In March of this year, the president of the commercial court issued a ruling to “retract the order” for the search and ensure “the restitution of the documents.” Nevertheless, Miraval’s records remain in the hands of the court, as yet unopened. “This procedure is pending before the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence,” says a Stoli spokesperson.
In the years since the plane incident, Jolie has shifted her focus, according to a source familiar with the matter: “In addition to continuing her global humanitarian work, she began advocating for survivors of domestic violence. She spoke before members of the Senate and House and campaigned on behalf of the Violence Against Women Act; the Justice for All Act, which protects the rights of crime victims; and Kayden’s Law, also known as Keep Your Children Safe From Family Violence. She also partnered with Amnesty International to write a book for young people called Know Your Rights and Claim Them.”
Pitt and Jolie’s Vista Jet.BACKGRID.
Coverage of Jolie’s account of the plane incident prompted an outcry on social media as fans of both parties digested the shocking details. And yet, in Hollywood, Pitt remains golden. In 2019, he reteamed with Quentin Tarantino in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, costarring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio as a handsome, aging stuntman trying to make sense of the swinging ’60s. Pitt’s laid-back charm earned him critical acclaim and an Oscar for best supporting actor.
The battle rages on. On June 1, Pitt filed an amended complaint against his ex-wife and Nouvel’s new owners, continuing his campaign to have Jolie’s sale to Shefler’s company reversed. That kicked off another round of headlines, with Jolie’s attorney telling CNN that Pitt “has never publicly denied” the accusations of assault on the plane. (“Brad has owned everything he’s responsible for from day one, but he’s not going to own anything he didn’t do,” says Pitt’s attorney Anne Kiley.)
“This case has been covered as a celebrity divorce; it is really a story about abuse,” says a source familiar with the matter.
For some, it’s simply a human tragedy. “I hope you’ll give some grace to somebody who had a breakdown,” says one person who knew the family. “Everybody was shocked by the eruption on the plane, because Brad is not an abusive person. But even more devastating was what came afterwards: Brad being alienated from those he loves most—his children.”
In May, Miraval was named the “Most Desirable Provence Rosé Wine in the World,” number one in a Le Figaro magazine ranking of 33 top Provençal vineyards. And while the family that created modern-day Miraval is gone, signs of the happy life they lived here remain in an all-white bedroom with furniture designed by Pitt.
“This is for the kids. Everything was for the kids and the family,” says someone in the château, leading the way into the magical bedroom, located inside a building where the children were privately schooled by teachers who traveled with them from the US. Three of the children are now over 18, but the rest live with their mother, and Pitt shares custody and visits them. But their memory remains in this room, with its circle of white bunk beds adorned with teddy bears and other reminders of another time. Six bunk beds now lying empty where six kids once slept. None have returned to Miraval since they left in September 2016.
Mark Seal
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