Brad Pitt was seen holding hands with girlfriend Ines de Ramon at JFK Airport in New York City on Friday, days after his ex-wife Angelina Jolie spoke publicly about her close relationship with their children amid the couple's ongoing estrangement from him.
The 62-year-old actor, who had attended a screening in Los Angeles on Tuesday, wore a grey cropped jacket and matching baggy pants, a yellow checked flannel with a fringed hemline over a grey T-shirt, yellow sneakers, a backwards cap and metal-framed aviator sunglasses. De Ramon, 33, wore a silky white flowy blouse and matching bottoms, with her dark hair worn down in a middle part and dark aviator sunglasses of her own.
The pair were also seen at the US Open women's final between Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka and Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, where they cuddled up in the stands.
Jolie's comments on family life
The outing came after Jolie, 51, described an idyllic picture of her relationship with her children in an interview with L'Officiel USA, saying they "know me pretty well" and "know all sides of me." Asked about sons Maddox and Pax working as assistant directors on her films, she said: "Obviously it's nice for me to be around them, but I am just Mom, wanting to be around her family." She called her children "definitely individuals," adding that "one of the most important things, I think, is to basically not get in their way."
Jolie also said: "As a parent, you try to do many things, but you also try to not get in the way of this human being who has a life separate from yours and so much potential in their own mind. You want to make sure that you support them."
She clarified earlier remarks that she had hidden her tears from her children until making her 2024 Maria Callas biopic Maria, saying: "To be clear, I don't think any mother has never cried in front of their kid. If they give me a birthday card, I cry. I'm kind of famous for quickly crying. But that wailing emotional pain is certainly what I would hide from my children until Maria. It's upsetting to see somebody you care about in that much pain."
She also recalled a "wonderful shoot" with her children while directing her 2024 war drama Without Blood, starring Salma Hayek, in Italy, saying they lived in a "dorm-type situation" while exploring Europe. Jolie further described visiting daughter Zahara, whom she adopted from Ethiopia, at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and learning of her induction into the historically black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, calling it an "extraordinary place." With her children now adults, Jolie said she was "looking forward to more connection and community," adding: "Get my motorcycle back, get back in a plane. I don't know. That's definitely what my kids want! They had Mom when Mom needed to be Mom. Now, they'd like me to call them from Tunisia having just landed a plane to meet with local artists."
Children dropping Pitt's surname
Brad Pitt and Jolie share six children: Shiloh, 20, twins Knox and Vivienne, 18, and adopted children Maddox, 25, Pax, 22, and Zahara, 21. All except Pax and Knox have filed legal paperwork to drop Pitt's surname, with Vivienne the latest to formalize the change.
Pitt was dealt a fresh blow last month when Vivienne took out an ad in the Los Angeles Daily Journal announcing she had filed a petition to change her surname from Jolie-Pitt to Jolie. Court documents obtained by the Daily Mail state the change was for "personal" reasons, formalizing a switch Vivienne had already been using for years, including being credited as Vivienne Jolie in the Playbill for a 2024 Broadway production of The Outsiders, on which she and her mother served as producers.
A source close to Jolie told People: "If people knew the whole truth, they would have more sympathy for the children and respect them. The fact they aren't speaking ill or sharing things publicly only shows their decency. Angie hasn't been fighting and isn't angry. She just wants everyone to heal." Separately, an insider told the Daily Mail that Pitt "believes Angelina's role in how things unfolded is the ultimate betrayal."
Background of the split
Pitt and Jolie fell in love while making the 2005 film Mr & Mrs Smith, while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston. Jolie, the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, has maintained she did not have an affair with Pitt during his marriage, telling Today: "To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that."
The couple married in 2014 and split two years later, sparking a legal battle over money and custody that continues today. Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016 following a dispute on a private plane in the presence of Maddox, then 15. The FBI investigated allegations that Pitt became "physical" with Maddox on the flight but closed the case with no charges filed. In a 2022 court filing, Jolie alleged that Pitt "poured beer on Jolie" and "poured beer and red wine on the children" during the flight. A source close to Pitt told CNN: "All parties have had this information for nearly six years and was used in previous legal proceedings. There is nothing new here and serves no purpose other than being a media stunt meant to inflict pain." In court papers filed in April 2024, Jolie accused Pitt of being abusive to her "well before" the plane incident.
Pax's accident and the Miraval dispute
In July 2024, Pax was involved in a serious accident when he crashed his dirt bike into a car in Los Angeles while not wearing a helmet. Sources told the Daily Mail that Jolie was "by his side in hospital," while Pitt was "distraught and worried over Pax's accident, but he is unable to reach him." The crash came four years after Pax posted a social media tirade calling his father a "world-class a**hole" and a "terrible and despicable person" who caused his younger siblings to "tremble in fear." A source told Page Six this summer that Pax still meets with his paternal extended family and has not filed to remove Pitt's name from his own.
Pitt and Jolie remain locked in a legal dispute over Chateau Miraval, the winery they once shared in the South of France. The feud stems from Jolie's 2021 sale of her half of the property to Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, who owns Stolichnaya and once sold a superyacht to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for $67 million amid her divorce proceedings. Pitt sued Jolie, arguing she was contractually required to obtain his consent as co-owner before the sale. Jolie has raised her abuse allegations during the legal battle and has asked Pitt to "end the fighting" and drop the lawsuit so the family can "heal." She has also alleged the sale was partly motivated by the impact of Pitt's "acknowledged problem of alcohol abuse" on the family.
Pitt quit drinking after his split from Jolie but revealed this summer, in an interview with Esquire, that after seven years of sobriety he was "back off the wagon."
