Yahoo Finance Brad Pitt Source: Angelina Jolie 'Trying to Inflict the Most Amount of Pain' By Reviving Plane Incident
Brad Pitt thinks ex Angelina Jolie is setting out to hurt him by making details public from the 2016 altercation that led to their divorce, a source close to Pitt tells PEOPLE.
PEOPLE obtained the redacted FBI report that Jolie anonymously submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for earlier this year. In the documents, the actress alleged to authorities that Pitt, while drunk, was menacing toward her and their six kids on the Sept. 14, 2016, flight from France to Los Angeles. The investigation closed by November and no charges were pursued.
A source close to Pitt claims that both he and Jolie have had the documents in question for six years, and Jolie likely meant to "revive an issue that was painful for everybody and was resolved six years ago."
"They investigated it. They prepared materials, reviewed it together and decided not to charge him," says the source.
For more on Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.
"What are the motivations of a person to take up court time and public resources in filing an anonymous FOIA request for material they have had for years? There's only one: to inflict the most amount of pain on her ex. There is no benefit to this. It is harmful to the children and the entire family for this to be made public."
Jolie had alleged to the FBI that Pitt grabbed, pushed and shouted at her on the plane, scaring her and their kids with his behavior. Both parties reported injuries, and she claimed there was $25,000 of damage done to the private jet.
Says the Pitt source, "This is not a factual document. This is what she claimed happened. It was investigated and there were no charges brought. It's standard for these types of things to not be released."
RELATED: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's 2016 Airplane Fight Detailed in Explosive FBI Documents
Samir Hussein/WireImage; Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.
Pitt and Jolie were declared legally single by a judge back in 2019. They are parents to Maddox, 21, Pax, 18, Zahara, 17, Shiloh, 16, and 14-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox. Their custody battle is ongoing.
The source adds that Pitt is "generally in a good headspace considering the frustrations around these circumstances."
"It's wave after wave of attempts to hurt him," says the source. "He has remained virtually completely silent other than to acknowledge things he could do better. He has remained silent on this issue because he knows that's the best thing for his kids, what's best for everybody. He has maintained that stance despite a never-ending barrage of attacks and attempts made to use the courts against him."
Jolie has not spoken publicly about the details of the plane incident.
Amy Sussman/WireImage; Steve Granitz/WireImage
Last year, Jolie reflected on her divorce while speaking with The Guardian, saying, "I'm not the kind of person who makes decisions like the decisions I had to make lightly. It took a lot for me to be in a position where I felt I had to separate from the father of my children." Jolie — who mentioned "there's a lot I can't say" — said she felt "broken" by her experiences, and that she wanted her family to find a way to move forward, "including their dad."
In a May 2017 interview with GQ Style, Pitt said "it is a drag to have certain things drug out in public and misconstrued" and expressed concern for his children: "I worry about it more for my kids, being subjected to it, and their friends getting ideas from it. And of course it's not done with any kind of delicacy or insight — it's done to sell. And so you know the most sensational sells, and that's what they'll be subjected to, and that pains me. I worry more in my current situation about the slideshow my kids have. I want to make sure it's well-balanced."
