Brad Pitt ‘choked’ our child and ‘grabbed’ me by the head, Angelina Jolie claims

Brad Pitt allegedly “choked” one of his children and “grabbed” Angelina Jolie by the head, his ex-wife has claimed as she disclosed details of their infamous 2016 plane flight for the first time.

In a court filing in Los Angeles, Jolie, 47, claimed Pitt, 58, became angry and abusive during the private plane flight from France to California after accusing the actress of being “too deferential” to their six children.

“Pitt grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her... before pushing her into the bathroom wall,” the filing states.

When one of the children came to Jolie’s defence, Pitt lunged at the child, Jolie's lawyers state in the filing.

Pitt “choked one of the children and struck another in the face”, during the altercation, the filing said.

“At one point, he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children,” it stated.

Jolie filed for divorce days after the September 2016 flight.

Pitt’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but sources close to the actor have emphatically denied he was physically abusive in previous press reports of the flight.

At the time, an FBI report into the incident concluded that the parties involved had decided not to pursue criminal charges, according to US media.

Jolie said she felt forced to “publicly defend herself” for the first time after her ex-husband filed a lawsuit “seeking to reassert control over Jolie’s financial life”.

The court filing on Tuesday is the latest salvo in the years-long legal battles that have played out between Jolie and Pitt.

The most recent court battle relates to a lawsuit Pitt filed over a French winery, Chateau Miraval, that the former couple once shared, but reveals new details about the acrimonious end to their marriage.

Pitt alleges that Jolie violated his contractual rights by selling her stake in the winery to an international beverage company without his approval.

In her counterclaim, Jolie denied any “consent” agreement exists.

Her lawyers further claimed that Pitt had refused to buy her out unless she signed “a non-disclosure agreement that would have contractually prohibited her from speaking outside of court about Pitt’s physical and emotional abuse of her and their children”.

“She has gone to great lengths to try to shield their children from reliving the pain Pitt inflicted on the family that day,” the actress’ lawyers wrote of the 2016 flight.

“But when Pitt filed this lawsuit seeking to reassert control over Jolie’s financial life and compel her to rejoin her ex-husband as a frozen-out business partner, Pitt forced Jolie to publicly defend herself on these issues for the first time.”

Jolie also said the FBI investigation of the 2016 altercation on the plane “concluded that the government had probable cause to charge Pitt with a federal crime”.

Pitt has not been charged with a crime. An FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.