BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
Award-winning actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement, her lawyer said on Tuesday, bringing an end to one of Hollywood’s most contentious and closely followed celebrity splits.
Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, her husband of two years and romantic partner since 2005, eight years ago. The relationship between two of Hollywood’s most well-known actors had provided steady fodder for the tabloid media for years.
“This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago. Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over,” Jolie’s lawyer James Simon said in a statement, adding that a divorce settlement has been finalised, signed and filed with the court.
No details of the settlement were immediately revealed.
Jolie cited irreconcilable differences in the divorce filing. She subsequently sought full physical custody of their six children, then aged 8 to 15 with visitation rights for Pitt.
The filing triggered a bitter custody dispute, during which allegations of child abuse were made against Pitt and reviewed by the FBI, but no charges were brought.
Both sideds accused each other of trying to manipulate media coverage in their favour.
The couple initially reached a custody decision through a private judge, granting equal custody of their children. That decision was vacated after the judge handling the case was ordered to step down by a California appeals court following a complaint by Jolie that he was not impartial.
A source close to the actress was cited as saying in the lawyer’s statement: “She doesn’t speak ill of him (Pitt) publicly or privately. She’s been trying hard to be light after a dark time.”
The kids had wanted her to “speak up for herself, to defend herself over these years,” the source added.
Jolie, who won a best-supporting actress Oscar for “Girl, Interrupted” in 2000, was previously married to actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton.
Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston in 2003 when he and Jolie filmed “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” the story of assassins unknowingly assigned to kill each other. There were reports of an affair, but Jolie told Vogue they were only “very, very good friends” until Pitt and Aniston split in 2005.
