Angelina Jolie’s Domestic Violence Allegations Against Brad Pitt
[Source: KNXAM]
https://omny.fm/shows/knxam-on-demand/angelina-jolies-new-domestic-violence-allegations
Celebrity lawyer Christopher C. Melcher, who is ranked as a best family law attorney in California, discusses Angelina Jolie‘s new domestic violence allegations against Brad Pitt in their ongoing celebrity divorce battle on KNXAM podcast.
Right now, though, Angelina Jolie making allegations of abuse against ex-husband Brad Pitt in a new court complaint. She claims in September of 2016, Pitt choked one of her children, hit another in the face, then grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her. Chris Melcher, celebrity divorce lawyer, is with us now. Chris, thanks for being here. So, yeah, we’ve heard some of this because we got reports of what apparently happened on this private jet flight. But 2016, that’s five, six years ago now, so this has been dragging on for a while.
Chris Melcher:
That’s right, Mike. And the allegations are not being made in the divorce case.
It’s regarding a dispute over Angelina’s sale of her half of a winery business that they had together. And it looks like she’s just using this lawsuit that they have over the winery as an excuse to rehash these allegations that she made six years ago.
Charles:
Why is the public so fascinated in these sort of issues between celebrities? I mean, this kind of stuff happens, sadly, for all kinds of couples, but why do people get fascinated and hooked on celebrities in this way?
Chris Melcher:
Well, Charles, I think it’s because we put these people on a pedestal. They’re role models. And we kind of think that they don’t have the rest of the problems that we have, but they do. Now most celebrities are sensible enough to resolve their disputes quickly.
And I find myself resolving celeb divorce cases within months rather than other divorces that could go on for a year or two because this exposure is toxic to their brand and reputation. So this is remarkable that there would be this level of fighting for this long and then to have two major celebs going at it.
Mike:
When they come in, the celebrities, is that already on their minds, like, “Okay, let’s just try and keep this as quiet as possible. People are going to know, headlines are going to be written, but it could be way worse if everything gets out and we start airing all the laundry.”
Chris Melcher:
That’s right, Mike.
It’s well integrated with the legal strategy to have a PR team involved because the spread of news, especially over social media, is so rapid that people will speculate. So it’s good to get ahead of the story to figure out what is this message and to resolve things quietly as possible. But then there are times when the couple can’t agree, especially on important things like custody, and they’ll have to go to court. But if they’re sensible about it, they can get that message out there and go to court in a public proceeding without damaging their brand.
Charles:
I’m guessing celebrities wish for the days a long time ago when big movie studios would control pretty much the flow of news. And if celebrities had domestic issues, nobody ever was the wiser.
Chris Melcher:
Yeah, it is remarkable how that has changed. And some will use these opportunities to exploit this message that they want. And I do think we see a little bit of a flavor of that here in this case because this document that we’re talking about, I believe, was leaked. It’s not publicly available on the LA Superior Court‘s site, so how do I and other people in the media have it? Normally you would want to keep this quiet, but then we see some people actually going and promoting these stories about themselves.
Mike:
Yeah, when was the last time you saw something like this where the allegations from what would be the divorce case are now being used in a business case saying, “Hey, let me off the hook. I sold the end of the winery, and maybe there were all these different ways I was supposed to do it, but I don’t want the business partnership with this guy because look what I say he did physically to me in the relationship.”
Chris Melcher:
