Angelina Jolie encouraged her children with Brad Pitt to shun their father during custody visits, a US court has heard.
Claims the Hollywood actress tried to drive a wedge between her estranged husband and their six children were yesterday set out in a declaration made by a former bodyguard at LA Superior Court.
The ex-couple are tangled in a poisonous dispute dubbed the “War of the Rosés” over Ms Jolie’s 2021 sale of her stake in a French winery they co-owned.
She filed for divorce in 2016 but it is yet to be finalised.
In the latest bitter twist, former SAS soldier Tony Webb, claimed his ex-colleague Ross Foster overheard Ms Jolie discouraging the children from spending time with their father.
His statement reads: “He [Foster] also told me he would testify about statements he overheard that Ms Jolie made to the children, encouraging them to avoid spending time with Mr Pitt during custody visits.”
Mr Webb, who set up SRS Global Security Ltd after leaving the military and still works for Pitt, was fired by Ms Jolie after it emerged Mr Foster and a second contractor he hired were planning to give evidence in the court case.
Describing his work with the family, he claimed before his contract was terminated Ms Jolie’s PR Patrick Viera begged him to stop the two men testifying.
He alleged that Mr Viera threatened the star would sue them.
His account reads: “I explained to Mr Viera that I had no power to stop them because they were independent contractors and not employees of SRS Global.”
The bodyguard’s claims are the latest chapter in litigation which has gripped Hollywood.
Pitt is asking the LA Superior Court to unwind Ms Jolie’s 2021 sale of her stake in Chateau Miraval to Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, claiming it breached an agreement the pair had to offer the other first refusal on a sale.
Ms Jolie claims she backed out of selling to Pitt as he asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of the deal which she found “unconscionable”.
