Brad Pitt Awarded Joint Custody Of Children With Ex-Wife Angelina Jolie

May 27, 2021

The '90s catapulted Brad Pitt to stardom, as he appeared in movies such as "Interview With the Vampire," "Legends of the Fall," "Seven," and "Fight Club." It was around then that he also began dating equally beautiful actresses, the most famous of whom were Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston, the latter of which he went on to marry. In a very public situation, his marriage to Aniston ended as rumors abounded that he and Angelina Jolie got together after working on the film "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." The rumors turned out to be true, and Brangelina, as they were dubbed by the press, became the most beautiful couple in Hollywood, but their pairing wasn't without scandal. Because Brad Pitt was with Jennifer Aniston at the time that he met Angelina Jolie, rumors were flying everywhere. Despite the drama, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt ended up building a family together.

While the public doesn't truly know what happened between Aniston, Pitt, and Jolie, the fallout was a considerable scandal in Hollywood. 

After Jolie and Pitt built a family together, it wasn't long until Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. Now, after years of court hearings, the question of child custody in the divorce has been finalized. After the judge's ruling today, Brad Pitt has officially been awarded joint custody of his children along with his soon-to-be official ex-wife, Angelina Jolie. 

Read on to learn more about Brad and Angelina's love story, along with details regarding the long divorce process and Brad's win on joint custody of their children. 

Jolie was accused of breaking up Aniston and Pitt's marriage, and while the situation wasn't discussed by any of them, Jolie did make a few comments later on. She admits that she fell in love with Pitt during the making of "Mr. & Mr. Smith," but that they weren't intimate, later saying in an interview: 

"To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn't be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife."

Nevertheless, Brangelina became an item, and just as suddenly as they got together, their family grew. Jolie adopted a second child around this time, a girl from Ethiopia named Zahara, and it later turned out that Pitt was also involved in the decision. Soon after, he legally adopted both Maddox and Zahara as his own children. Following this, Jolie became pregnant with the couple's first biological child, who would be named Shiloh. Assigned female at birth, Shiloh now goes by the name John. Initially, assuming the preference to be a phase, Jolie and Pitt took it in their stride. The couple also adopted another son in 2007, a boy from Vietnam named Pax. In a matter of two years, Pitt and Jolie began dating and added three additional children to their family, which already consisted of Angelina's first child. A family of six is by no means small, but the couple wasn't done yet.

At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, the couple confirmed that Jolie was pregnant once more, this time with twins. Just a few months later, on July 12, she gave birth to Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline, who were born one minute apart, with Knox, the elder of the two. Knowing how much media interest there would be around the twins' birth, the couple sold the rights to the first images of them to People and Hello! for $14 million, making history as the most expensive celebrity photos ever taken. They donated the money to their nonprofit organization, the Maddox-Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

According to Vanity Fair, Jolie first filed for divorce from Pitt back in 2016, and the entire divorce process has lasted longer than their actual marriage. Because of a domestic violence incident in 2016, an investigation Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Child and Family Services was opened but closed the same year, only a few short months after Jolie filed for divorce. Now, private judge John Ouderkirk has awarded Pitt joint custody of his children along with Jolie. According to the BBC, Jolie filed for divorce due to "irreconcilable differences" and said there were "other issues of concern" other than joint custody regarding the divorce. 

According to Harper's Bazaar, Jolie left Pitt on the grounds of the general "wellbeing" of the family. She said:

"It was the right decision. I continue to focus on their healing. Some have taken advantage of my silence, and the children see lies about themselves in the media, but I remind them that they know their own truth and their own minds. In fact, they are six very brave, very strong young people...I would love to live abroad and will do so as soon as my children are 18. Right now I'm having to base where their father chooses to live."

What do you think about the joint custody ruling? Let us know your thoughts, and be sure to pass this on to other Brangelina fans you know!