UPDATED: Brad Pitt Under Investigation of Child Abuse

Brad Pitt is allegedly under investigation for child abuse related to an incident that took place on a private plane.

UPDATED: The LAPD deny that they are investigating Pitt. TMZ shoots back that that’s because it has been referred to the FBI and the LAPD don’t have jurisdiction. Well then.

Original Story:

Various publications are reporting that Brad Pitt is under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services. The investigation came as a result of an anonymous report that Pitt had become verbally and physically abusive towards Angelina Jolie and one of their children on the tarmac last Wednesday, the day before Jolie filed for divorce. According to information given to People magazine by an unnamed source, Pitt and Jolie’s other children were present during the incident.

These allegations offer a more likely explanation of Jolie’s sudden divorce filings. Initially, gossip and speculation of an affair with Marion Cotillard was the reason for the breakup. However, Cotillard shot those rumors down in an Instagram post in which she revealed that she is expecting a second child with her partner Guillaume Canet.

TMZ had first reported several days ago that Jolie’s decision to file for divorce was related to Pitt’s parenting methods. One source told Lainey Gossip that the reason was related to something “very delicate, a really sensitive thing”. Yet another insider told Us Weekly that “the final divorce decision was only made one week ago” and that “an incident took place and prompted [Angelina] to act and file.” This insider also indicated that the incident was something that affected the entire family. With the revelation that Pitt is accused of verbal and physical abuse, the pieces are beginning to fit.

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 17: Actress Angelina Jolie, with her sons Knox Jolie-Pitt and Maddox Jolie-Pitt are seen on June 17, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by XPX/Star Max/GC Images)

However, it’s important to consider when and how all of the information related to the Jolie-Pitt divorce has come to light. As Lainey Gossip points out, Jolie’s lawyer is Laura Wasser. Wasser also represented Johnny Depp in his high-profile divorce from Amber Heard. In spite of the fact that Heard had accused Depp of physical abuse and released photo and video evidence, much of TMZ’s coverage leaned in Depp’s favor. Keeping this in mind, we can expect that TMZ’s coverage will favor Jolie.

The timing of the divorce announcement was also carefully planned. Jolie filed for divorce on September 15th and news like this is often made public on Friday afternoons in order to improve the chances that a scandal can be buried. Jolie and her lawyer waited until after the Emmy news had died down and released the information on Tuesday morning when it was likely to get more attention. This is a very strategic move, especially considering that Pitt was reportedly blindsided by the news.

Once the news had started to spread, reactions online were mostly shock and sadness. The Jolie-Pitts were impossible to ignore. From the moment rumors first started circulating that “Brangelina” was a thing that really existed, their relationship was always under the spotlight. Their efforts to manage media coverage and keep control over their private life were fairly successful with rare glimpses of the Jolie-Pitt children — Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Vivenne and Knox. They lived a quiet life, most of it in France, with their six children. As Lainey describes it, this was performative parenting.

"The Brange children were introduced to the world at a time when motherhood was reintroduced as a publicity strategy, coinciding too with the rise of the mommy blog….They made sure we didn’t want to look away. Brange gave us performative parenting, performative parenting while they were together and, now, performative parenting even while they break apart."

And here’s the picture we’re now being given. Jolie is the concerned, protective, doting mother who still has love for her partner of 12 years, while Pitt is the drug-using, abusive adulterer. (And, unfortunately, Jennifer Aniston’s name is still being dragged into all things Pitt as if she hasn’t moved on long ago and married Justin Theroux. Aniston’s BFF, Chelsea Handler, resorted to her usual hateful rant about Jolie because apparently Handler is still in high school.)

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in the days and weeks ahead. Will Pitt respond to the abuse allegations? Will Jolie win full custody of the kids? Regardless of how the divorce proceedings go, there’s no denying that this all must be very hard on the children.

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