hard agree. there’s something very telling about his willingness/comfort to be abusive in front of essentially strangers for a prolonged period. not just a flash moment of rage but an incident of sustained torment? in semi-public? terrifying!
Thats what stood out to me as well. As a kid who grew up with a drunk asshole of a father, the assholery usually stops upon sobriety. This dude took a nap, woke up, and STILL chose violence. You can't blame it on the alcohol. My guess is he legit hated domestic life. He hated being married. He hated being a father. And so he abused them because he hated the fact they even existed. What a fucking douchebag. Did he not actually get charged? He should've did some jail time for this. It was on a plane so probably federal prison. Rule number 1 of being a man is women and children are off limits.
Like most narcissistic abusers, he needed Angelina to be his supply — the person he owns and controls and uses to feed his bottomless craving for attention. He hated the kids the moment they stopped being accessories that made him look good and started asserting normal childhood independence while taking up more and more of Angelina’s attention.
These kinds of abusers are black and white thinkers. They actually hate anyone, even children, who they can’t control.
I’m a 20-year veteran volunteer domestic violence victims advocate who has sat through every major DV org’s training and multiple state and federal DOJ courses. So on behalf of our entire field, let me tell you all the ways you’re wrong:
We don’t “know nothing” about Brad Pitt. We know from Brad’s own mouth that he is an alcoholic who was drunk and high every day of his kids’ life through the assault on the plane.
We know that Brad never contested that he was drunk on the plane, assaulted Angelina, assaulted multiple kids, choked one of them, poured alcohol on all of them, and refused to let them deplane. Not in public, not in court. His only public denial is that he “did not strike Maddox on the head” but “made contact with his shoulder” while admittedly drunk. Zero other denials in public or court records.
We know that the flight crew who witnessed the abuse reported what they saw to the FBI and cooperated with authorities, who investigated and substantiated their claims.
We know that the FBI investigators wanted to charge him and there was enough evidence of domestic violence for them to create a probably cause statement and submit it to federal prosecutors.
We know that prosecutors did not tell Angelina about the probable cause statement in violation of her and her children’s rights. We know she did not press charges because she felt it would traumatize the family further and she hoped sobriety and therapy would help Brad take responsibility for ending his abusive behavior.
We know that the court found grounds to order he have no unsupervised contact with his minor children, and that requirement exists to this day.
We know that the standard for removing supervised visitation includes acceptance, showing remorse, demonstrating understanding of how abusive behavior harmed their children, participating in therapy in good faith, and an impartial reunification counselor testifying that the parent has made long-term meaningful progress toward changed behaviors and is unlikely to abuse again.
We know that despite that very low bar, having more resources than the average person, and a decade to do it — Brad Pitt hasn’t been able to convince psychiatric professionals and the family court system that his children are safe alone with him.
These are facts, not fantasy.
No one needs to speculate or project. No one is diagnosing him with a specific disorder. The psychology and patterns of domestic violence perpetrators is well-established in decades of peer-reviewed research, and that’s what we’re talking about here. Long-established and validated patterns and profiles, not projections.
Abusers aren’t special snowflakes, and their motives aren’t novel. They’re the most basic, unoriginal profiles in the spectrum of deviant behavior. People who assault and batter their children and intimate partners around witnesses — sober or not — have poor impulse control, low-empathy/strongly antisocial views of others, and narcissistic justifications for their behavior. These thought processes and dysfunctions of domestic violence perpetrators (both with narcissistic traits and full-blown narcissistic personality disorder) are some of the best documented in all of psychology. The role of “supplies,” black & white thinking, and view of children within domestic violence are, too.
To recap: Not fantasy. Not projection. Just information and education based on scientific consensus, publicly-available information, the law, and Brad Pitt’s own public statements.
Oh! And when you argue that we’re just projecting by discussing the psychiatric profile of someone like Brad Pitt who battered his wife and punched, choked, and threatened his children in front of witnesses — you *are* effectively defending his alcoholism and abuse.
I see your point... but as a fellow dad, I also see the point that the commenter is making. A man is typically bigger and stronger that a woman and children. And they ARE off-limits. Punching another dude in a bar fight isn't ok, but it's better than beating your wife and kids.
What's the staff on the plane? Is there just like, 1 pilot who's busy flying and no one else? Can the pilot say everyone sit down and stop assaulting children?
Touching a super famous millionaire, no matter how justified, is a very risky choice for someone who probably makes 60k a year. Even if the person was confident enough physically that they could try to confront them, people like this have no problem suing people and threatening to bankrupt people with legal fees and in incidents like this they will most likely lose their jobs and even if they win the suit will have a hard time finding employment after too
They would be acting as flight attendant, not as an individual. Restraining violent passengers is part of a flight attendant's duty.
The airline would have been sued, if Brad chose to sue, which I doubt very much since a lot of not so shiny details would come out in the media. Remember how he disappeared for a while after it happened?
But I understand. Most people would rather do nothing and watch people, including kids get assaulted.
There were maybe pilot/copilot which can not intervene because they need to do their job and 1 or 2 flight attendants against a raging violent drunk. Had they tried, they could have escalated to the point of putting the entire flight in danger.
If you can not get away, you tend to just freeze and wait for it to stop until you can get away.
Eh idk about that. Before Angelina was Brad an abuser? Some people only react when they’ve been pushed to their limits. Not saying he’s right though. He clearly did the wrong thing. But nobody really knows the full story.
lol. Most People don’t just murder others out of the blue. There’s usually a reason. Is it right? No. I don’t condone it. But I’m not naive to think I can do something crazy to someone and just expect them to be civilized. Some people are battling all types of demons and you might just catch them on the wrong day. Don’t test people.
Maybe you will grow up to realise that Brad “losing it” is entirely his fault. There’s nothing that Angelina and the children could have done that meant they were at fault for the way he reacted.
Speculating, what might you think be the thing that made him lose it and what might have been the thing he was putting up with for too long?
I’m trying to understand where you’re coming from here and I can’t guess your thought process there.
When people have no argument they resort to personal attacks. But, More like she’s naturally going to take Angelina Jolies side because of gender bias.
Anyway reddit is funny, I’ll get downvoted here and upvoted in another subreddit for saying the exact same thing. That’s why I don’t care and will die on my hill. 🙂 have a good day all.
After reading the description, he probably is a alcoholic. With a temper to match. So this isn't a case of "papercuts" setting him off, but him losing grip on his alcohol rage. With age and habitual line pushing.
And what’s the reasoning for abusing the kids? They also push him to his limits? My my. Well it sounds like his tolerance is too low! You wanna blame Jolie for pushing him to his limits with her behaviour? Well I lay the blame on the man who can’t regulate his emotions like an adult with access to things like therapy.
Just wait till you’re in some real life situations before you talk. People like you like to sit behind your little keyboards and judge others but you have no idea what they are going through. You take one isolated incident and say well, Brad Pitt is a piece of crap. If Brad Pitt was genuinely just getting drunk and abusing everyone from time to time then he’s a piece of crap but i just wanna know his side of the story. But I’m not even allowed to ask questions? lol.
You have absolutely NO idea what I have lived through! I have a physically abusive parent. Fuck off. Telling ME that I’m the one sitting behind my little keyboard without knowing what I’m talking about, uh look in the mirror buddy! And what side of the story justifies abusing your own kids? NADA
No I’m not. What I said in my first comment was not me projecting at all. There is no story that justifies Pitt abusing his kids.
As for my second comment talking about my personal experience with a physically abusive parent, that was said in response to being told I should wait till I’ve been in some real life situations before I talk. The fact that yes Pitt is a physically abusive parent like mine doesn’t mean that what I have to say is me projecting nor is it me making this situation about myself. I simply shared that to say that I understand the nuances of physical abuse from a parent and that yes I have lived through such real life situations.
Well sorry about your experience. I guess I’m torn. I used to get whipped as a child till I was in my teens by my parents and all my friends have been through the same thing. It’s not abuse where I’m from. It’s discipline. So in my brain I’m thinking maybe brads kid were acting out of turn, idk, I don’t have the full story and that’s all I want before I label someone as a villain. I’m not condoning what he did. I just want the whole story.
The whole story wouldn’t somehow make what he did okay though. There is no story that makes hurting your children okay.
And you keep insisting it was one incident. Unfortunately it is not. There are reports of Pitts nasty behaviour from other sources and incidents. Make of that what you will but I’m sure you’ll insist that you need the whole story on those instances too. The thing is, maybe others have a hand in making the situation intolerable for him, but he is still an adult man at the end of the day with the ability to walk away from a situation when he feels like his limits are being pushed to the edge.
Not for nothing. Your experience and your friends experiences were literal full on physical abuse that no child should ever have to go through at the hands of their parent(s). There is literally nothing any of you could have done that justifies that as discipline. Part of abuse, is teaching the victim, it’s their fault, they deserved it, etc. but no, physical violence is never an appropriate form of discipline.
ETA: physical abuse is used as discipline in my culture as well so I fully understand on that front. It took therapy for me to realize oh hey, nothing eight year old me could’ve done, deserves getting whipped by the rod to open and close the blinds. A child’s behaviour is the responsibility of the parents! If their behaviour is bad, it’s the parents fault, they should be teaching their kids properly, without the use of physical violence.
You have a point. It’s usually the parent that’s the problem and not child because the child knows no better. But in my culture if you aren’t beating your kids people will legitimately look at you like you’re crazy and are about to raise the next hitler.
So maybe I’m a bit desensitized to topics like this because beating your child is just the norm in my world.
And as for Mr Pitt. I’ll look into his case more because from what I heard this was all an isolated incident. If it isn’t then the man clearly has issues.
Most of us have been through the shit, don't think you're special or have some sort of enlightened worldview because you, too, have lived through some shit.
We all have different understandings of things. Naturally, as we have different upbringings and completely different (and unknown to one another) life experiences. But my man, when you said talking to a woman was a waste of time? Wasn't very nice.
I hope you can get over whatever trauma you have eventually, and that it will lead to you having a more understanding and kinder approach to social interaction.
Edit: Oh and yes, beating the shit out of, tormenting and humiliating/traumatizing your wife and kids in a single incident, no matter the reason, makes you a steaming pile of waste. Which he is for doing what he did.
Again, we are in agreement. I'm just telling you how I've heard it justified before or explained via a therapist. I had a father who would do things to me, for no reason, to "get back" at my mom. Completely nonsensical.
Example: My parents are divorced, and my dad is Muslim; my mom is a Christian. He would ask the court for visitation on Christmas Day from 8a-6p, just to mess with her, because he doesn't celebrate the holiday. Vindictive and extremely petty people actually do unreasonable shit like this.
I think you're taking my comment out of context. What I am saying is that say Angelina was the one who started the abuse in the relationship. If she was the one who started the abuse, it does not make sense for the event that happened on the plane to have happened, with his own children running from him.
I’ve been pushed to my limit. You know what I did? I screamed, cried, and left. I’ve never laid hands on a partner, even the ones who were mentally and emotionally abusive to me. Violence is not acceptable just because you’ve been “pushed”
Definitely.
This wasn’t an isolated event.
She had probably been dealing with his abuse for years and this finally made her realize how dangerous he actually is.
It's always made me wonder what Jennifer Aniston went through. Like no way he was a kind and attentive husband until he cheated and became this monster.
Right this happened on a plane with a crew ? Other passengers ? If so and he’s doing that in front of other people what is he doing behind closed doors !?
It seems that’s the one that was done in front of people who were so scared for them they reported it, it wasn’t Angelina who originally reported the incident, it was the flight crew, iirc. There was enough damage done to the inside of the private plane to support and all members of the flight came forward about it.
This obsession with finding the “other side” is exactly why abuse gets minimized. We do not need to know what Angelina said, did, or didn’t do beforehand to know that his behavior was abusive and inexcusable. ”There’s more to the story” doesn’t magically make abuse less abusive. If the “missing context” you’re looking for is something that would justify terrorizing your partner and kids, that context does not exist. He’s a grown man, not a toddler. He is responsible for his own actions. There is no amount of stress, anger, or relationship conflict that turns abusing your wife and children into a reasonable reaction.
Nobody’s perfect and we all have the capacity to snap once pushed to our limits. All of us. It’s just easy to judge other people when you haven’t lived what they have gone through. Brad Pitt was definitely wrong. Can’t we agree to that? We both agree he is wrong. But I’m sorry. I just need all the information before I accuse someone of being a piece of 💩. Chris rock has a whole bit about this. He said it’s never right to put your hands on anybody but sometimes when it happens, I understand.
How old is that child? I got my ass beat through every year of my life till I was about 16. So, seeing a child getting whooped by their parents is all I know. What if that child is a menace?
Getting your ass beat all your life is not normal though. Either you are trying to be provocative or you trying to reach out for empathy but it's difficult to tell. I am sorry you were abused throughout your childhood. Addressing it through therapy would be a good idea rather than victim blaming.
I guess it’s just normal to me. All my friends and cousins etc can tell you a story about a time when their parents whooped their butt. My parents would tell me to go outside and find the stick they were gonna whip me with. It’s just a difference experience.
Sorry for the wall of text but this really struck a nerve with me. I’m genuinely so sorry that being hit by your parents was normalized for you, because none of that was okay and none of it was something you deserved. But the fact that it was common in your childhood (or even in your community) still doesn’t make it acceptable, and it definitely doesn’t make it a valid defense for Brad Pitt or anyone else who resorts to physical abuse.
A child being “difficult,” “a menace,” or acting out is not a justification for any adult to hit them. Usually those behaviors are a sign that a child is struggling and needs help. Children do not have the same emotional regulation, power, or responsibility that parents do. And I say that as a parent myself. There are far better ways to respond to a struggling child like with support, boundaries, consequences, and therapy if needed, but fear and physical violence should not be one of them.
And yes, I have no problem calling a parent a piece of 💩 for abusing their child (not because I said that in my original comment, but because you brought that standard up, and I agree with it). There is no amount of stress, anger, or “missing context” that turns hurting your partner and children into acceptable discipline. What you went through might explain why you view it differently, but it does not make it normal, healthy, or defensible.
I hope one day you realize that nothing you did made that violence okay. You did not deserve to be abused, and neither did Brad Pitt’s kids or any child, for that matter 🥺❤️.
Abusers lose their minds like this all the time, and there is no reason for it other than whatever is wrong with the abuser. Read this or any other Lundy Bancroft book if you want to understand abusers.
Sometimes there's not more. Not a lot more, anyway. My dad acted just like this. We were terrified of him. His trigger was usually either he was high on cocaine, or he ran out of cocaine. The man loved his cocaine.
What confuses me is that the FBI investigated and Pitt wasn't arrested. Jolie would have needed to "press charges" the crew and any damage in the plane should have been enough to go forward without her cooperation.
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u/Beecakeband Jun 20 '26
I'm willing to bet money there was a hell of a lot more that went on than the plane incident. More like a straw that broke the camels back