Fans were shocked when Angelina Jolie filed court papers accusing Brad Pitt of attacking her and her children while he was drunk on a private jet from France to LA in September 2016 this week. ‘Pitt grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her, and then grabbed her shoulders and shook her again before pushing her into the bathroom wall,’ the document said. ‘Pitt then punched the ceiling of the plane numerous times, prompting Jolie to leave the bathroom.’
According to the document, Pitt shouted at Jolie for being ‘too deferential to the children’ and ‘pulled her into the bathroom’ at the back of their jet. When one child spoke up, Pitt allegedly ‘lunged at his own child’ before Jolie ‘grabbed at him to stop’.
‘To get Jolie off his back, Pitt threw himself backwards into the airplane’s seats injuring Jolie’s back and elbow,’ the filing continues. ‘The children rushed in and all bravely tried to protect each other. Before it was over, Pitt choked one of the children and struck another in the face.’
Jolie and her children then ‘sat still and silent under blankets,’ until the plane landed, according to her lawyers. ‘Pitt periodically emerged from the back of the plan to yell and swear at them… At one point he poured beer on Jolie; at another, her poured beer and red wine on the children.’
Since the filing, Pitt has denied all allegations and when the incident was investigated by the FBI, they decided not to press charges. However, the alleged abuse returned to the headlines this week after new details were given by Jolie’s legal team during an ongoing lawsuit over a vineyard the former couple own together.
For many, these A-list allegations are reminiscent of another case that captured public attention earlier this year: ‘Is anyone else getting Amber Heard vibes?’ questioned one Twitter user referencing the actress’s volatile defamation case against Johnny Depp over an op-ed she wrote in 2018 discussing her experience of domestic abuse. ‘Yes, actually I do get Amber Heard vibes from a woman getting vilified for speaking up about the abuse of a powerful man in Hollywood perpetuated against her,’ hit back another.
To assimilate instances of alleged abuse is dangerous given the nuances that differentiate every case. And for ‘Amber Heard’ to become shorthand for purported incidents of assault is especially terrifying due to the fact the actress wasn’t believed by many members of the public—and ultimately the US courts.
Even recently, 35-year-old Sean Lloyd was jailed in the UK after assaulting his girlfriend who he’d kicked, hit, strangled and nicknamed Amber Heard in his phone.
‘He was on top of her with his hands around her throat. She tried to get him off her but was unable to do so and unable to scream for help,’ the court heard. ‘He was squeezing so tightly, and she was scared that—in her words—"That was it” and he was going to kill her.’
After the backlash Amber Heard faced earlier this year, it's no wonder her name has emerged as a punch line in a domestic violence case. People attacked her looks, called her a ‘liar’ and sent her death threats. It was a masterclass in how to victim blame and intimidate survivors from speaking out against acts of violence.
'Whichever "side" commentators took, the trial raised important questions about survivors of abuse being believed, how they are treated, and the level of victim blaming that exists in our society, culture and political systems,' Filomena Sterkaj, Senior Associate at Stowe Family Law tells Grazia. 'Many domestic abuse charities, rightly raised, concern that survivors of abuse who watched the trial may not share their personal experiences in the future, for fear of being disbelieved, shamed, and ostracised.
This is very troubling, and the continuing use of this case as a shorthand for all alleged incidents in the media is causing harm to the critical work that needs to be undertaken to tackle domestic abuse and help survivors...The Depp v Heard trial was a trial to determine if someone was defamed, not if someone was domestically abused.'
Now that Heard’s name carries the weight of what she faced, to apply it to other accusations of abuse is to infer they’ll face the same vilification and vitriol. And, seemingly, Jolie already has: ‘She continues to rehash, revise, and reimagine her description of an event that happened six years ago by adding untrue information each time she fails to get what she wants,’ a source claimed to the BBC. ‘Her story is constantly evolving.’