He says she never actually stopped working. She says her earnings are none of his business. A judge now decides who is right, and the answer runs through four years of paychecks. The California born actress has spent months refusing to produce one set of documents, and on the last day of July her ex-husband asked a judge to make her.
Brad Pitt wants Angelina Jolie’s movie contracts.
His lawyers went to Los Angeles Superior Court asking a judge to compel Jolie to turn over records of what she earned between 2017 and 2021. She has produced 2020 and 2021. She will not produce 2017 through 2019, and those three years are the ones that matter, because they cover the stretch between the couple’s 2016 separation and her 2021 sale of her stake in Chateau Miraval.
The request is specific. Upfront acting fees. Brand sponsorships. Profit participation statements.
What Pitt is attacking is a claim Jolie made about her own career. She has said she sold her winery share to gain financial independence from him. His side reads that as an assertion she was squeezed, and wants the paychecks to test it. Coverage of the filing notes she kept working throughout, releasing Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in 2019.
Her lawyers say he has misread the sentence entirely.
“Jolie does not allege that she was seeking financial independence in the abstract; she alleges that she was seeking financial independence from her ex-husband.”
They pushed further in a June filing, arguing that separating from an ex is categorically different from claiming general financial distress. One of her attorneys put it plainly to TMZ.
“That distinction makes all the difference.”
Her team has also called the demand a serious invasion of her privacy and, per TheWrap, framed it as more controlling conduct on his part. They argue Pitt already obtained extensive financial information during the divorce itself, finalized in December 2024 after more than eight years.
Pitt’s position is that her Hollywood income bears directly on the winery case, and that she agreed to produce the 2017 to 2019 material before reversing course.
No ruling has come down. The judge has not decided whether she has to open the books.
Readers Went After Jolie And A Few Argued The Actual Case
Reaction ran heavily against Jolie, though the loudest replies attacked her character rather than the filing. Underneath that, a smaller group argued the actual question. One of the highest rated on topic replies took Pitt’s side: “She should have to disclose her financials. Brad had to.” Another pushed back on the framing entirely: “Their divorce is final. This is a civil case against her selling half of the vineyard” A third was just tired: “It’s been 10 years since they separated. 10 years!!”
What is striking is how narrow it has become. Two of the most famous people alive, a decade past the end of their marriage, arguing over the meaning of one phrase and whether three years of paperwork can settle it.
