Ep 18 Blake Lively's Just blew up her own case
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Summary
Blake Lively's contract with the Wayfair Parties has been unsealed, Jennifer Abel is suing her former employer, Stephanie Jones, and Angelina Jolie has filed court papers where she shares how emotionally difficult her split with Brad Pitt is, and how she wasn t able to buy a house.
Transcript
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So now it's not in Stephanie Jones' interest anymore to help Lake Lively.
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Hi and welcome to Flossom Talk. I'm Jashti Floor, journalist, Hollywood truth teller,
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and your voice of reason in a town built on delusion.
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Happy Friday, everyone, and welcome to new subscribers. Welcome back to old subscribers.
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And again, a reminder so you never miss an episode of Flossom Talk, hit the notification bell,
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and you can also join Team Flossom by clicking join under this video.
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Anyways, let's get right into it. There's so much to talk about, and I spent hours this morning
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trying to figure out all this legal stuff. It's not easy, and I'm going to try to explain everything
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in the best way possible. There's so much stuff here, you guys. First of all, Blake Lively's
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contract with the Wayfair parties have been unsealed. This could be a major game changer
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for Baldoni. There's also another filing that made me so joyful this morning. So as you know,
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Jennifer Abel is suing her previous employer, Stephanie Jones, and Jones' work. And it turns out
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that this has backfired tremendously on Stephanie Jones, who, as you know, is working with Blake
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Lively's team. Now it turns out that for her, it will be a catastrophe if Blake Lively actually wins
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this lawsuit. So everything is turned upside down for Stephanie Jones, and it actually really amuses me.
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What comes around, goes around. Also, there's a report that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have
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been living separate lives for years. And now Angelina Jolie has filed some new court papers
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where she shares how emotionally difficult her split with Brad Pitt is, and also the fact that
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she wasn't able to buy a house. Yeah, there's a lot going on in Hollywood, you guys. Let's get right
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into this Blake Lively contract. First of all, I have to say I was a little amused by reading this
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contract because it really shows what a diva Blake Lively is. I will go through some of her stuff,
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her demands in this contract as well. But first of all, what it legally implies for Baldoni's team,
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because this contract, according to attorneys, I watch a lot of attorneys talk about this as well,
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because I wanted to make sure that I didn't say anything that wasn't correct. And they're saying
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that everything in this contract implies really strongly that Blake Lively was not an employee of
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the Wayfair parties, or it ends with us, the movie. She was a contractor. And the fact that she was
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lent out to Baldoni and the Wayfair parties, and it ends with us, the movie, as a contractor,
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that gives her a lot more power. And that really weakens her claims of S.H. because she's been
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portraying herself as a victim here. You know, I didn't have any powers, blah, blah, blah. And then
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this contract is saying the complete opposite. So that is something that Baldoni could really use
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in his favor. And of course, this is not great for Blake in so many ways, because now people know
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how much she made on that movie. They know all her demands from this movie. And there are a lot of
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little things here that Baldoni could use in his favor. It also says here that if there's any conflict
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between them, this should be solved outside of court. It should happen in private arbitration,
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meaning that Blake Lively really didn't honor this contract. Another thing here is that she never
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signed this contract. There's been a lot of discussions if it's really valid, because she
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didn't sign it. And as far as I understand, that I've heard a lot of people talk about is that
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even if you don't sign a contract, if you act like it is in place, like here, she was paid, she went to
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work. The contract is also stating that she should keep production details confidential.
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And as we know, she even showed an unfinished cut of the movie to an audience without the knowledge
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even of It Ends With Us, the movie, and Wayfair parties. So that's another breach of contract.
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There's so many reasons here where Justin Baldoni could sue her for breach of contract.
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This contract really shows how much power Blake had in this movie. And the fact that she's been
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claiming to be this poor victim that's been S-aged and retaliated against doesn't really hold up.
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And the fact that she's tried so hard to use California Me Too law against Justin Baldoni here,
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and this contract really explicitly points out that this work is being done only in New York.
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And that also, of course, gives Baldoni's team more ammunition, saying, you know,
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you can't use California law because it suits you in this moment. I hope to get more insight in what
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this implies illegally and how Baldoni is going to use it. And I think there is a reason why they
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haven't attached this earlier. I think they've been waiting to use this against her team. And
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I've been waiting to actually unseal this for the world to see what actually happened here. And that
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Blake Lively was not this poor employee who only did what she was told on that set, but she had
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power. So just to dish a little bit about the details in this contract, which I thought was quite
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juicy, she made $1,750,000 on the film. And if the box office reached three times the cost of the
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budget of the movie, she would get an initial $250,000 bonus. And here comes the funny part, you guys.
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If she would, to be nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in It Ends With Us,
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she would get a bonus of $100,000. And if she would win an Academy Award, she would get another,
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she would get $200,000. Just to even put that in the contract is so funny, especially when you know
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Blake Lively's acting skills. To be honest, they're not really up there. She's never been nominated for
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any awards as far as I know. And they're also pointing out if she would get nominated for a
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Golden Globe, she will get $75,000. And for a win, she will get $100,000. And the same if she gets
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nominated for a SAG Award. Well, none of that happened. And then, of course, she has a private
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jet to travel in. Isn't that kind of ironic how Ryan Reynolds has been out there so many times
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proclaiming that he's such an environmentalist and he signed this contract with the UN for his
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soccer team. He's been donating money to environmental causes and then they're flying
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private jets. That's like the worst you can do to the environment. And it says here that the
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company will provide one private jet for round-trip air transportation, which she has the right to
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approve. So she can also approve this private jet. The jet is for her, her four children, her assistant,
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two nannies, and her security personnel. Oh, it's hard to be a celebrity, you guys. Then hotel
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accommodations. The company will provide one mutually approved suite for her and her children,
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plus four standard rooms for her assistant, nannies, and security personnel. And it says about
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the premiere here that she and one guest will be invited to the first U.S. celebrity premiere,
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or the picture, if one is held. As we know, she at least brought Ryan, and I think he was allowed to
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bring his BFF, Hugh Jackman. Maybe that was because there was extra space at this premiere, because they
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put the director in the basement with his wife. So then they got two extra tickets. Maybe that's what
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happened here. It doesn't say anything that if she doesn't agree with the director on anything,
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that she has the power to put him in the basement of his own movie premiere. But as we know, that's
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what she did. Here's another fun fact. The contract strongly implies that she may be wearing a wig.
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It doesn't explicitly say that the character wears a wig, but in a paragraph 13 of the agreement,
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it outlines that Blake Lively's approval right list is, amongst one thing, the wig maker,
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Peter Owen. So she pre-approved the wig maker for the movie. So if all of Lily Bloom's here in the movie
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was a wig, which I think it was, that makes it even funnier that she was promoting her hair products
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during this promotional tour. I mean, it doesn't get better than this, you guys. Anyways, I will keep
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you posted on this contract. As I said, I am not a legal expert, so it's not that easy for me to figure
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out how to read a contract like this. I think you need to be an employment attorney to know exactly
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what this means. But if I find out more, I will keep you guys posted, obviously. Also, we have to talk
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about this Stephanie Jones situation. This is so funny. This is like the best of karma ever, you guys.
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let's talk about Stephanie Jones and Jennifer Abel here. You know that Stephanie Jones is the owner of
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Jones' work, who was the company who was hired by Baldoni and the Wayfair to do publicity for It
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Ends With Us, and one of the employers there at the time was Jennifer Abel. And then, as you know,
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Jennifer Abel left, and Stephanie Jones teamed up with Blake Lively. She took Jennifer Abel's phone,
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gave the text messages to Blake Lively's team, who gave it to New York Times, and yes, the rest is
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history. Anyways, so now Jennifer Abel has sued Jones' work for breach of contract, and she is
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saying that all of this stuff that she's getting sued for now by Blake Lively happened while she was
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an employer at Jones' work. Jones' work should really pay for her legal fees to fight Blake Lively.
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This is where it gets so great, you guys, because now it looks like, most likely,
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Stephanie Jones has to pay Jennifer Abel's legal fees if Blake Lively wins the case. So now, for
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Stephanie Jones, she definitely doesn't want Blake Lively to win her lawsuit anymore. So she's really,
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really screwed right now. I feel that she's proved so many times that she's not a good person, and the
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karma of this just really makes me happy. So now it's not in Stephanie Jones' interest anymore to help
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Blake Lively. It doesn't get better than this, you guys. I feel like always karma will come around and
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people will get what they deserve in the end, and this is really what Stephanie Jones deserves. I love that
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Judge Lyman is allowing this to happen. I think his rulings lately have been much more in the favour of the
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of the party that we want to win here, you guys, and I really applaud him for doing the right thing.
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I'm so happy that that contract was unsealed, and I'm so happy that Jennifer Abel is now allowed to pursue
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her discovery of that whole Van Zandt-Sham lawsuit. Yeah, Stephanie Jones needs to find another job.
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All right, you guys, so let's just jump into this Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban story here.
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It says here that they reportedly lived separate lives for years before she pulled off a divorce
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sneak attack. I find it actually quite believable that they have been living separate lives for a
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while. You know, when you've been together for that long, 19 years, it's not like you'd spend two
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months thinking about, oh, should we get a divorce now? Or, you know, it doesn't happen that fast. I think
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even if someone is off sneaking around with someone else, you want to try and make things work.
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And here, this is a very interesting twist, you guys. Here it says that Nicole and Keith's fairy
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tale love story might have been a lot more complicated behind closed doors. New whispers claim
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the couple lived separate lives under a mutually consenting arrangement for years. But when Keith
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allegedly wanted to go public with his real romance, Nicole flipped the script. I find it a bit strange
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that Keith wanted to go public and then stay married to Nicole. That makes no sense to me, I have to say.
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But anyways, according to an insider spilling the tea to do more, the podcast, their marriage wasn't
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exactly picture-perfect romance. It was allegedly more like a carefully managed arrangement. The source
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claimed that this has been an open secret in both the film and country music scene that Nicole and Keith
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had lived amicably separate lives for years. Their alleged philosophy, it says here, what happens on
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film set and or music scenes stays there. Essentially, both parties were free to have their own entanglements
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as long as they kept things low-key, meaning basically that they had an open marriage. I don't know if this is
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trustworthy information, but it says here that Keith Urban reached a breaking point. According to the
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source, he allegedly grew tired of the mutual consenting arrangement and decided he wanted to
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live like an actual single man again. No pretense, no carefully curated PR image. As we've learned so
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much from the Blake Lively Justin Baldoni legal feud here, we know that a lot of what we see from
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celebrities are just like PR. It's just like a created image. So nothing surprises me anymore.
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That's what I'm going to say. It says here that Nicole wanted to stay in this arrangement and she
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allegedly wasn't clinging to some romantic fantasy, but rather wanted to maintain the stable facade.
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Cynical, maybe. Calculated, definitely. And then it says here that Keith was really surprised by this
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divorce sneak attack that came from Nicole. I don't think I believe that he was so surprised
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by that. He says that the original plan, according to Whispers, was for a calm and diplomatic joint
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statement to be released on a Friday. Nice and quiet. You know, when they announce things on a Friday,
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they know the press is going to go easier on them because people don't really work that much during
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weekends. So if you release something on a Friday afternoon, you know that it's going to get a little
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less attention than it would if you released it on a Monday or on a Tuesday. But I will say this,
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the fact that they didn't come out with a joint statement is proof that there's something that we
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don't know here and there is a lot of tension going on. Yeah, so according to this source,
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Keith was really blindsided by Nicole here, who dropped this news on a Tuesday, which is really one of the
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the best days to drop a big story. And he says that she did that to maximize the attention.
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So yeah, he's accusing her of using this for more headlines. Yeah, I don't know. We don't know yet.
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We don't know where the truth lays yet. I will just keep on reporting in this and maybe we'll get to the
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truth one day. Anyways, there's also a story here about Angelina Jolie and how she felt it was so
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emotionally difficult to split from Brad Pitt and they're still fighting over this vineyard.
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It's been nine years since their divorce and they're still fighting. I just don't understand
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why people want to spend so much energy instead of moving on. They want to feud with their ex
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and they both have so much money. I just don't get it. But apparently this is a really weak spot for
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both of them because both of them had such a strong connection to this chateau. As you might
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remember, Angelina Jolie sold her part of the vineyard without telling Brad and without his
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permission because she's saying that she could do that without his permission. They didn't have an
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agreement on that. And she sold her part to Alexei Olenek and the Stoli group. And Brad Pitt is furious
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about that. And in this new filing that she filed on Monday, she is saying that she was forced to do
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that because she needed the money. I don't know. I thought Angelina Jolie was really rich, but she's
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saying here that she had to sell that because she couldn't afford to buy a new home in LA. And she said
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that she let Brad Pitt have their LA home and she also let him use Chateau Miraval in France because she
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couldn't bear to be back there again because that place, she had so many memories there and it was
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really difficult for her to go back. And she wanted to protect her children from that. And so she's
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saying in this new filing that the events leading to my need to separate from my ex-husband were
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emotionally difficult for me and our children. And she says here that upon filing for divorce,
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I left him control and full residency of our family home in Los Angeles and Miraval without
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compensation, which I hope would make him calmer in his dealings with me after a difficult and
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traumatic period. Post-separation, I immediately began to look for a new house for me and our
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children, initially renting a home while looking for a more stable solution, she added. As you know,
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Brad Pitt has sued her, saying that she wasn't allowed to sell her part of the vineyard without his
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permission. And she's saying that she didn't even ask Brad for alimony or any other financial support.
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So she was in the right when she did this. And she says that I was also very concerned about the
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health of our children. And so for approximately two years, I declined work so that I could focus
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my attention on caring for our children and their recovery. It's a little bit heartbreaking to read
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this. She says that Miraval was one of the first major investments we made together, and it was a focal
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point of our family life. We were married here, I spent part of my pregnancy here, and I brought our twin
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children home there from the hospital. To have such a sudden break from my home and memories has been
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hard, and it was especially difficult for the children to have their lives so disrupted." She's
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telling the court here that she wants $33,000 from Brad Pitt because he filed this motion for her to
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turn over her text messages in relations to the sale that she did of this estate. And she's
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saying that she spent $33,000 on defending herself against this, and now she wants Brad to pay that.
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I'm like, $33,000 is just so little money for these people. I just don't understand why they would fight
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about this. I feel in some sense that they're not over each other completely because they know that
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as soon as they just leave this, they're out of each other's lives forever. And now there's still a
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little bit of connection here. I don't know if I'm wrong about that, but I just don't get it.
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Why wouldn't Brad Pitt just sell his part, get out of there, find another chateau?
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There are so many chateaus in France, and you can just start up another winery.
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Anyways, you guys, that's it for me on a Friday. I hope you can enjoy your weekend,
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and you have some amazing plans. I'll probably be giving you another update this weekend as well,
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as I always do. So yeah, take care of each other. And again, if you haven't subscribed,
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please do, and hit the notification bell, so you never miss an episode of Blossom Talk. And