Angelina Jolie still refuses to stop fighting when it comes to her long custody battle with Brad Pitt. The two have been fighting in court for some time. But while Brad's team feels like Angelina is stalling the trial as long as possible, she just proved that sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
She's been open about her battle against private judge John Ouderkirk, feeling as if he may have had ulterior motives when it came to her battle against Brad. It turns out Judge Ouderkirk had worked with Brad Pitt's legal team before.
Angelina has been trying to get Ouderkirk off the case since last year. But only now has she been successful.
Before being ousted, Ouderkirk had awarded Brad Pitt more custody than Angelina felt he deserved. Brad and Angelina's relationship reportedly finally cracked apart after Brad had an altercation with one of his sons on a private plane. At the time, Brad was reportedly under the influence.
As a parent, that seemed to be the final straw for Angelina. Us Weekly even referred to the disturbance as the "flight that ended Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's marriage." Brad was reportedly drinking heavily on the flight, and Angelina had told him to "sober up."
Soon after, Angelina realized it was time for a divorce. Rumors swirled about Brad getting physical while under the influence, which is a huge reason as to why Angelina didn't want Brad to have the chance of having more custody. Us Weekly states that ever since the incident, Brad has seen a therapist and a sober coach to work on his issues.
While many people thought that Angelina's requests were unreasonable, Angelina had the Second District Court of Appeal on her side. The court also felt that it was a conflict of interest to have Judge Ouderkirk involved, which means that this is a win for Angelina. The situation must be even more frustrating, as the children are old enough to make their own decisions and fully evaluate the situation. But only Maddox is currently over 18. His brother Pax will be turning 18 this November.
"Judge Ouderkirk denied Ms. Jolie a fair trial, improperly excluding her evidence relevant to the children's health, safety, and welfare, evidence critical to making her case," stated the filing for California’s Second District Court of Appeal.
Angelina and her kids have utilized therapy to help them through these past traumatic years. "It’s been a traumatic situation," a source close to the family told People. It's important to remember that while the public knows of the plane incident, there are still a lot of details that fans don't know about. One thing that was made public was the fact that Angelina's attorney at the time said the split was "for the health of the family."
The publication also stated that Brad was in a tough spot after Angelina filed. Someone close to him stated that he "has been absolutely devastated and heartbroken by the events of the past several weeks, both in terms of how those events have been wrongfully portrayed and how they have threatened to jeopardize his family’s ability to heal and move forward."
Angelina was always fighting for sole custody, while Brad has been hoping for shared custody. "Brad loves his children more than anything in this world, and they matter more than anything else to him," said a source who's friendly with the actor. "He will do whatever it takes to be with them, now and always."
However, Angelina being set on having sole custody likely means she knows a lot that the public doesn't. While her family knows the truth about what happened that day — and what happened throughout the relationship — it has to be bad in Angelina's eyes for this to be such a big issue for her. She likely fears someone will get physically or emotionally hurt due to Brad's presence.
Even though Angelina seems to have a wonderful relationship with her children, many fans still doubt her account. And that's one of the hard parts about going through such a messy divorce as recognizable stars. Many people may side with Brad solely because they like his movies, or they feel like they know him through his characters. Angelina is also often blamed for splitting up Brad and Jennifer Aniston's marriage, after Brad and Angelina fell in love on the set of a film while he was still married to Jennifer.
But it's important to remember that Brad and Angelina are just people — and this trial and their separation have had a lot of impact on their lives and the lives of their children. It must be hard for the kids to avoid the nasty headlines about their parents while living through this situation firsthand.
While Angelina has the right to make the calls that are right for their children, both of them deserve the chance to avoid judgment from others who are only aware of the situation based on scandalous headlines. No matter what, a family is in the process of separately rebuilding, and it's a hard situation for everyone — regardless of what the verdict is.
