Brad Pitt has just been awarded joint custody of his children with Angelina Jolie, and it's
been alleged that Angelina will be appealing the judge's rule and continue to fight for
full custody of their 6 children.
Divorce is an ugly thing.
When you have kids and you add custody war into that mix, it becomes even more hideous.
Unfortunately, in the world of Hollywood, divorces tend to be a public matter that's
gobbled up by the press.
So that great big ugly divorce that's already so parents and children involved becomes a
festering wound that gets constantly picked at by the public.
One question we'd all like to ask, is how are their kids?
Amongst all the chaos their divorce has ensued, how are their children really doing?
Stick around while we take a deep dive into the lives of Angelina and Brad's kids.
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Things weren't always like this for Brad and Angelina, there was a time where the pair
seemed happier than ever, and their family didn't seem to stop growing.
However, Angelina was well on her way to starting a family of her own before she met Brad.
In fact, it was while she was still married to her second husband Billy Bob Thorton that
she adopted her first son, Maddox.
He was just seven months old when Jolie chose to become his mother and brought him home
with her from Cambodia.
Unfortunately, the actress and Billy Bob split 3 months following Maddox's adoption.
It seemed while she wanted to grow their family, Billy wasn't interested in having any more
children.
"Because we're actors, we go away for months at a time, and you grow and change separately.
I think one day we had just nothing in common.
And it's scary but … I think it can happen when you get involved and you don't know yourself
yet."
Angelina admitted about their relationship.
She raised Maddox alone until 2006, when Pitt was appointed as his adoptive father.
The couple had already made it official to the public in 2005 when they were spotted
together on a blissful holiday in Kenya.
However, it was clear that what was happening between them was more than just a summer fling,
but something serious because Brad stepped up and chose to adopt Maddox himself too.
There were rumors following the announcement of their divorce in 2016, that Maddox had
a strained relationship with Pitt, after an alleged altercation on his private plane.
The details of what happened on the plane have never been discussed, and Jolie has repeatedly
chosen not to comment about the incident.
However, it was serious enough to get the FBI involved, and it was all reportedly caught
on camera.
An insider reported, "Brad is seen yelling a lot during it, but nothing physical.
[Brad] got drunk and was fighting with Angie.
Maddox stepped in to defend Angie and got in Brad's face."
It was then reported that Pitt was under investigation after allegedly becoming "physically" and
"verbally" abusive toward Maddox while "wasted" aboard the plane.
Sources close to the couple claim that this incident led to Jolie filing for divorce.
Perhaps things between the two parents had been strained for some time, but once it began
to involve the children, that was when the actress drew the line.
Maddox worked with his mother on the film First They Killed My Father, a historical
thriller about a five-year-old child soldier in Cambodia.
Jolie co-wrote and directed the film, while Maddox was the executive producer.
In 2019, Maddox moved to South Korea for college, studying biochemistry.
When he was asked if his father would come to visit him in Seoul, Maddox said: "I don't
know about that."
Brad had always had a close relationship with his son, and the plane incident ended up causing
a rift between them.
The actor has been making an effort to mend things with Maddox, but it's been reported
that his son hasn't been very responsive.
The distance has been difficult for Pitt to process.
During court procedures for the couple's divorce, Maddox addressed the court as an adult.
An insider revealed, "It wasn't very flattering toward Brad.
He doesn't use Pitt as his last name on documents that aren't legal and instead uses Jolie.
Maddox wants to legally change his last name to Jolie, which Angelina has said she doesn't
support."
Maddox, now 19 years old, moved back to the US later in 2020, to stay with his mother
and continue his studies online so that he could spend more time with the family.
During the pandemic, all six children were living with Jolie at her house in Los Angeles,
and Brad was seen visiting from time to time.
Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt was the next to be adopted in 2005 from Ethiopia by Jolie and
Brad formally adopted her a year later.
Today, she's 16, but she was just 6 months old when she joined the growing family.
She had been abandoned by her birth mother when Zahara developed health issues as a baby,
and her mother couldn't afford to take care of her.
Zahara also had a small voice role on Kung Fu Panda 3 along with some of her other siblings.
She also launched her own jewelry line, which she wore on the red carpet for the premiere
of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
All proceeds from her jewelry sales went to shelters for victims of domestic violence.
Jolie revealed in a 2020 Time essay for International Women's Day that Zahara had spent two months
in and out of surgeries, however she didn't go into detail about the "medical challenges"
her daughter was facing.
Pitt had also skipped that year's BAFTAs to be with Zahara during her recovery.
Shiloh, Jolie and Pitt's first biological child, was born in 2006 and is now 15 years
old.
There was so much press around the couple's pregnancy that they decided to fly to Namibia
in order to avoid the intense media.
Naturally, the tabloids went bonkers for Brangelina's new baby, in fact, the first photos of Shiloh
were sold for $4.1 million, and she became the first-ever infant to be immortalized in
wax by Madame Tussauds.
It seems as though Shiloh has had a lot more media attention as she's grown up, and her
parents have faced quite a bit of backlash for their choices.
However, Jolie has always stood by and supported her children's choices.
From a young age, Jolie explains that Shiloh, quote, "wanted to be a boy.
So we had to cut her hair.
She likes to wear boys' everything.
She thinks she's one of the brothers."
She added in a later interview, "She only wants to be called John.
John or Peter."
Pitt and Jolie appear to have done their best to let their child be who she is — and although
gender ideology was obsessively put upon Shiloh by the outside world, the family didn't buy
into it.
Shiloh's parents just let her be a kid.
Jolie said, "Shiloh, we feel, has Montenegro style.
It's how people dress there.
She likes tracksuits, she likes suits.
So it's a suit with a tie and a jacket and slacks, or a tracksuit."
At age 15, Shiloh's personal style is still evolving, and she's not afraid to experiment
and change things up.
It seems she's undergone quite the makeover while in lockdown, if these new photos are
anything to go by.
Sporting denim cut-offs, pierced ears and long locks tied up in a bun, it's a far cry
from the gender-bending tomboy outfits Shiloh has sported over the years.
Pax Jolie-Pitt was the next to join the continuously growing family in 2007.
Pax, who is now 17 years old, was born in Vietnam in 2003, where he was abandoned by
his biological mother soon after birth.
He was adopted by the couple when he was three years old.
In 2016, he had a small voice role in Kung Fu Panda 3, along with his sister Zahara.
We don't know much else about Pax other than the fact he's recently begun learning Vietnamese,
which he used to speak as a child.
Knox and Vivienne, who are both 12 years old today, were born in 2008.
The first photos of them were sold for a whopping $14 million, which was donated to the Jolie-Pitt
Foundation and they remain the most expensive celebrity photos ever taken.
The fraternal twins are spitting images of their sibling Shiloh.
Jolie used the words "elegant and delicate" to describe her youngest daughter, Vivienne,
who she refers to as Vivi, as a "girly girl".
She likes to get her nails done and loves the color pink.
Meanwhile, Knox is just the opposite, according to Jolie, who described him then as a tough
little "dude" who likes dinos and swords.
In 2014, Vivienne starred alongside her mother in Maleficent as the younger version of Aurora.
Knox also recorded animal noises for Kung Fu Panda 3.
Angelina and Brad announced their separation in 2016 and were declared legally divorced
in 2019, but their custody arrangements are still raging years later.
Brad is reportedly seeking 50/50 custody of Shiloh and her five siblings.
However, Angelina is apparently fighting it tooth and nail, and might even bring the kids
into it.
While there is a separate filing concerning testimony from the former couple's youngest
children, both Brad and Ange need to grant permission from the court to involve minors
Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne in their divorce proceedings.
According to court records, Angelina has filed various documents making it clear that she
is willing to offer "proof in support" of alleged domestic violence.
Brad has spoken about how he and Jolie have worked together to co-parent their six children.
"We're both doing our best.
I heard one lawyer say, 'No one wins in court — it's just a matter of who gets hurt worse.
It's just very, very jarring for the kids, to suddenly have their family ripped apart."
There's no doubt that their kids must be feeling the pressure of the divorce, but both Angelina
and Brad only have their best interests at heart for their children.
When parents go their separate ways, it's never easy on the rest of the family; fans
only hope that the rest of the process goes smoothly and that things soon settle for them
all.