Divorce can be hell. Divorce involving 6 children and hundreds of millions of dollars, more so. But sometimes it’s necessary.
Except that, right now, it looks like the divorce between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt has slowed down a little as they continue their private negotiations over custody.
And, according to this report, Brad is hoping to get a little more out of these discussions than a custody arrangement … but it might cost him.
Apparently, Brad Pitt wants Angelina Jolie back.
And he wants to use the divorce negotiations as a way to win her over.
Divorce talks themselves are on hold while they figure out the hardest part — custody arrangements.
Generally, you want to be able to work that out amicably instead of have it court-ordered, for the sake of everyone involved.
In fact, it sounds like they’re holding these particular conversations in private.
“She has invited Brad over to her new Los Feliz mansion, which is close to his house,” an insider revealed.
“Part of him hopes they can resume their lives together there and have a new beginning.”
Friend of Brad’s, who have for whatever reason taken his side even though Angelina is one of the most amazing human beings on the planet, worry that his optimism is going to make him lose majorly in the divorce.
“Brad has blinders on when it comes to Angie.”
That makes sense — he’s still in love, it sounds like.
That’s not so uncommon in a divorce.
“His friends are very concerned that she is using him to get the divorce agreement changed, and once he realizes that, it could send him spinning.”
Well, if the divorce agreement isn’t finalized, he might make concessions in an effort to show how good of a person he is.
But characterizing him as a hapless victim in the thrall of some siren seems like a bit of a stretch, right?
If he didn’t want his family to fall apart, maybe he shouldn’t have done something that made Angelina report him for child abuse.
Yes, we know that Brad Pitt was “cleared” after the investigation.
But we also know exactly how the US legal system works — being cleared of this kind of charge means essentially nothing, one way or the other.
The Constitution does a lot of great things, but it was written at a time when children, like women (and most black people) were essentially property.
Our legal system barely has protections in place for children.
The details of Brad Pitt’s altercation with Maddox have never been entirely clear.
But we have to admire Angelina Jolie’s zero-tolerance policy.
A lot of spouses try to “make it work” after something that might be or definitely is abuse happens, to them or to a child.
They think that if they talk about it, it won’t happen again.
That is so rarely the case.
We don’t know the details of what happened on that plane.
But it seems pretty clear that it broke Angelina’s heart.
Even if Angelina Jolie now believes that Brad Pitt isn’t a danger to their children, it’s hard to see them getting back together.
But it’s easy to believe that he would want to see that.
From his point of view, he just made a mistake and she isn’t letting him fix it.
We don’t imagine that this is how Angelina sees it, however.
The moment that they had their first child, she became a mother, which must always come first.
It’s likely that, from her point of view, Brad crossed an unacceptable line and proved himself to not be the man she thought she knew.
And to not be the man she loved.
(It’s fair to say that a lot of fans did a total 180 on their opinions of him after we heard about the plane incident, so she’s not alone)
Still, we wouldn’t rule out them getting back together.
They have six kids.
Given that Brad’s likely to be awarded joint custody anyway, Angelina may decide that it would be best if they just set aside the divorce and get back together.
But it’s hard to see things ever returning to the way that they were.
Not in their household and certainly not between the once-legendary couple.
Most big houses these days come with two master bedrooms anyway, right?
Every ethical divorce attorney’s first piece of advice is usually going to be to try to reconcile.
In general, divorce negotiations aren’t exactly the most romantic context to rekindle what once was.
Somehow, legal documents and one of the most stressful events in a person’s life just don’t set the mood.
Who knew?
Some of the conflicting reports about the plane incident that started all of this mentioned that Brad may have been intoxicated.
Brad Pitt says that he’s sober now, so he might be looking to impress Angelina with that.
Showing her that he’s a different person now — or the same person he was when they met and a different person than he was last year — might be his last hope.
But we’re not gonna hold our breath.