Judge rejects Brad Pitt’s request to have documents sealed in custody fight with Angelina Jolie Pitt
Brad Pitt can’t keep his custody battle with Angelina Jolie Pitt private — at least not for the time being.
L.A. County Superior Court Judge Richard J. Burdge Jr. on Wednesday declined to hear the actor’s emergency request to have details of his and Jolie’s custody arrangements sealed, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. The request, presumably sparked by Jolie’s days-ago public filing of their previously private temporary custody agreement, didn’t meet the requirements for locking down the information, the judge said.
“I am extremely concerned that if court records regarding custody are not sealed, information contained therein will cause irreparable damage to our children’s privacy rights,†Pitt wrote in a sworn declaration, according to AP.
Meanwhile, in its response, Jolie’s team characterized his emergency move as “a thinly veiled attempt to shield himself, rather than the minor children, from public view.†Pitt appeared to be laying the groundwork for privacy before seeking a change in the existing custody and visitation agreement, the filing alleged.
The pair of Oscar winners, who’d been together since 2005, struck a temporary custody deal a couple of weeks after divorce filings in September.
Details of the arrangement were leaked at the time, but Jolie’s recent filing put it all on the public record, including the fact that when and how Pitt spends time with his kids is, according to TMZ, solely in the hands of the psychologist who’s working with the couple. The “Thelma & Louise†actor has also reportedly agreed to random drug and alcohol testing at least four times a month, though a person familiar with the negotiations said in November that although Pitt offered to undergo such testing, it wasn’t required.
Jolie filed for divorce from her husband of two years in September after Pitt had a dust-up with one of their kids on a private jet. She requested the unusual combination of sole physical custody of their six children and joint legal custody. In his response, Pitt countered by asking that both legal and physical custody be shared.
The former couple have six children together: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne. A reported Department of Child and Family Services investigation into the incident on the plane, which involved 15-year-old Maddox, was closed in November with no finding of abuse by Pitt, a source familiar with the inquiry told AP.
Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ.
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