This month is only half-way through and already we’re knee-deep in Brangelina shenanigans. You know what started everything this month? It was Brad Pitt’s team running to TMZ to claim that Angelina Jolie’s warrior-mode bitchery had alienated her divorce lawyer Laura Wasser. Looking back on it now, I think Brad and his team knew that Angelina was tired of the status-quo pro-Brad leaking from his camp. Team Pitt knew that Angelina had added new lawyers to her team and they were freaking out, so they went to TMZ. For what it’s worth, I believed Jolie’s carefully worded denial – Wasser is still part of Jolie’s legal team, but Angelina felt like she needed some additional lawyers who specialize in bitter, acrimonious divorces and custody disputes. What’s funny is that Brad’s team is still trying to make it sound like… I don’t even know, that Bitchy Jolie Hired Bitchy Lawyers and Now Poor Brad Is So Overwhelmed. So overwhelmed that his team keeps running to every tabloid media outlet to talk sh-t about Jolie.
While Angelina Jolie has denied ditching her powerful divorce lawyer Laura Wasser, the “Maleficent” actress’ fiery new turn in her ugly divorce from Brad Pitt coincides with her beefing up her team with further fierce and formidable divorce attorneys.
Jolie’s aggressive [child support] filing states Joseph Mannis of top Beverly Hills family law firm LA Hersh Mannis LLP is on her team. His partners Neal Hersh and Judy Bogen (who now has her own firm) famously repped Kim Basinger in her bruising divorce from Alec Baldwin — which was rocked by the sensational leak of the “rude, thoughtless little pig” voicemail he left in 2007 for his then-11-year-old daughter, Ireland. Baldwin had accused Basinger and her lawyers of leaking the tape, which they denied.
Legal sources speculated — after a long period of relative peace between Jolie and Pitt as they put their public divorce on hold to discuss custody of their six children in front of a private judge — that Wasser may not have been onboard with Jolie’s decision to light a match under the proceedings. One source added, “So Jolie hired other lawyers who would attack Brad. This strategy doesn’t make sense. If Jolie went ahead, she must reveal her financial records.”
Other sources close to Jolie have explained that new “experts” were brought on to signal a “new phase” in the divorce. Jolie lawyers Wasser, DeJean, Mannis and Hersh didn’t respond to requests for comment. Reps for Pitt declined to comment.
Here’s my take, since I can’t stop giving my take on this years-long battle. My take is that at one point last year, Angelina probably hoped that they would be able to settle this quietly and somewhat peacefully for the sake of the kids. She held her tongue when Brad’s side sniped at her in the media over and over. She held her tongue during the Neri Oxman shenanigans. But I think what really opened her eyes was how Team Pitt made it sound like she was an alienating parent when she was following the temporary custodial arrangement she and Brad had worked out immediately following his drunken, abusive plane incident. Then all bets were off. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if she asked Wasser to push back on the mountain of bullsh-t Brad’s team was spinning and Wasser was like “take the long view, just let him say whatever.” And Angelina was like “no, I think I need to bring some additional people on this.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.
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