Angelina Jolie II

[eveschmeve]

I know their relationship and the custody and divorce issues are a whole big messy mess, but reading the details of that flight was awful. If it really happened like that I can see why Angelina would fight for custody, I would too. To say “oh, but he had an alcohol problem, it’s fine now he’s sober” really dismisses what those types of experiences do to kids. I hope he’s in a better place and can work through his issues with the kids, but he’s the one that damaged the situation, the kids don’t owe him anything including their forgiveness. Some of them are old enough to make their own decisions and if they’ve cut off contact with him that’s an indication right there.

[natalie]

Aug 18, 2022 12:37:57 GMT -4 Ginger said:

Dec 12, 2006 1:21:32 GMT -4 natalie said:

This is so disturbingly flippant. The rest of the report says he did not just bruise her elbow, he did that while trying to lunge at one of their children. The rest of the report also says he separately shoved her and spent a considerable amount of time elapsed where she and the children could not leave the plane either due to the plane being in motion or him preventing them from doing so, essentially keeping them captive while he violently attacked their surroundings and causing thousands of dollars of damage. It is certainly an interest to me why someone would not get charged for this behavior, which encompasses assault, property damage, and possibly false imprisonment depending on the facts of why she felt they were unable to leave the plane.

Not to say that the incident wasn't abusive, horrible and incredibly traumatic to the family.

But in terms of chargeable offenses, Angelina suffered (according to her as the documents only relate her side of the story and not the complete investigation) a bruise on her elbow, a scrape resembling a rug burn on her hand, and an unspecified injury on her back that she says she showed to the FBI. Those are minor injuries that would warrant a misdemeanor assault charge.

But under federal jurisdiction, there is no such thing. They only have felony charges to choose from, and those are major crimes like stalking someone across state lines with a weapon. It just doesn't fit with what happened.

Property damage from the spilled red wine is n/a; that's up to the airplane company and they chose to be reimbursed. False imprisonment is beyond a huge stretch for what was described as 20-minute argument during which there was no physical restraint or threats made (other than the threat to leave her).

Saying that what Brad did doesn't merit federal felony charges is not the same as saying what he did wasn't bad.

My apologies for misunderstanding your point, but you didn’t couch that original quote as just looking at what’s a federally chargeable offense, so it certainly read as a dismissive description of an abusive situation by focusing solely on a bruised elbow and failing to mention the severe psychological and emotional abuse inflicted. I also did not read anything that described the property damage as mere spilled wine. I read that he punched the ceiling multiple times and the damage was estimated in the thousands but I guess if it’s not a federal offense it doesn’t matter to the focus of your discussion of this.

Actually seeing as how this thread seems to be more interested in analyzing what warrants federal charges at the apparent cost of acknowledging what now seems to be a clearly abusive relationship I guess I’ll just step back from this conversation. I just think the implication that a woman is supposed to get over her abuse because hey six years have passed and it was just a bruise is revolting but what do I know.

[Ginger]

My point was really that Angelina to be 6 years later still trying to pursue federal charges against Brad when it doesn't seem to have been a reasonable remedy for what happened is a sign that she's not trying to move forward in a healthy way.

There were a number of other consequences Brad faced, aside from charges, that protected Angelina and the children and should have improved the health of the family. Angelina obtained a restraining order, DCFS opened a case and investigated, and Brad went through (at least) two years of family therapy and supervised visits with the children, plus rehab and AA.

So is it about healing, or is it really about revenge? And if she is stuck on revenge after all this time, I have to believe that's carrying down to her children and guiding her actions in the never-ending custody battle.

She has the right not to forgive him, especially if he hasn't earned forgiveness with her. But I don't think trying to permanently sever his relationship with the children is the right thing to do.

Dec 12, 2006 1:21:32 GMT -4 natalie said:

Actually seeing as how this thread seems to be more interested in analyzing what warrants federal charges at the apparent cost of acknowledging what now seems to be a clearly abusive relationship I guess I’ll just step back from this conversation. I just think the implication that a woman is supposed to get over her abuse because hey six years have passed and it was just a bruise is revolting but what do I know.

Well yes, the impetus of this conversation was Angelina's federal lawsuit pursuing federal charges against Pitt so that is specifically what I was discussing. And yes, I do think Brad serving time in federal prison on felony charges for what happened would be unwarranted. I certainly would have supported appropriate jail time for what he did had it been possible.

If you want to call it revolting and flounce off that's your choice, but I'm a little tired of this "With us or against us, no deviations" mentality.

[americanchai]

None of us should presume to know what either Brad or Angelina are going through. I give my sympathies to her mainly because I think she is the most maligned in the press while also shouldering the actual burden of raising the kids and probably trying to keep her shit together. And Brad continues to get some sort of hero's return as if his divorce was Odysseus returning from the war after ten years of messing around with a harpy (or harpies).

Publicly, it's a whole mess; legally, it's a whole mess. We don't know what happened between them. I can see why the FBI can't or won't do anything to Brad, legally.

It sounds like B+A had a lot to untangle and probably haven't been face-to-face since that day. It's easy for things to spin out of control with two of the most famous people in the world only speaking to each other through the courts. There's so much that can be inferred and inserted and of course they both need/want to look out for their own images because of egos/jobs. I'm going to wait until one of the kids writes the tell-all book from their perspective because out of six of them, at least one will do it (Maddox, I'm looking at you.).

[Oxynia]

Everything OK in here? Staying respectful of your fellow Greecies? Aiming snark at celebs and not each other?

Good. Carry on.

[kali]

I'm just not sure how seriously to take all the claims of sobriety and that he's been working on himself, all based on basically one sob story interview he gave right after the seperation. Based on just powers of observation, he's never appeared to prioritize his kids to me. I don't think his response to this coming out would be essentially "how dare you expose my abuse" if this was something he's worked through with his kids. I'd expect a little more shame and claims of not being that person anymore. He still seems way more concerned with winning a pr war than with taking accountability. And so I can imagine if I was one of the kids, every hit job on my mom would just kind of reinforce to me that his image/career were still more important to him than owning his actions and actually trying to mend relationships.

[Binky]

Well, I think we know there was a period of court enforced sobriety, at least. And court ordered supervised visits and therapy.

We really don’t know the status of things now. Just because his ex-wife still hates him (for good cause) and he only escaped criminal charges because of where he happened to commit domestic violence, I’d choose to hope that he is doing better. I have low expectations that he’d admit to any kind of public accountability, though, for multiple PR reasons.

[save lilo!]

If I still had kids under 18 and an ex-husband who showed aggression towards one of my other children even if it was for one day 6 years ago, combined with unlimited resources, I’d likely try to keep the kids protected for as long as possible.

I seriously can’t believe the older kids are so grown they’re in college!!!

[ahah]

Is there a reason I am missing in Angelina being the party that filed to make the report public, or was that only done so the public knew what happened on the plane? If it was only to make sure the public knew, I have a hard time embracing the notion that she's looking out for what is best for the children. How are the kids lives made better by the entire world knowing and dissecting what happened in their family? This does NOT absolve Brad of his actions or the consequences he's faced and any more he should face if the laws allowed it. It just calls into question for me the martyr glow being placed on Angelina for being the hard working single mom having to do everything to take care of her children.

[tiggertoo]

I agree. I just saw photos of her bruise have now been made public. Why do we need to see and know about this? Except to shop up hate from her fans against zebras. Plus I feel like this would be hard for her kids to open it all up like this.