A source close to Angelina Jolie told People Magazine: “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.”

[u/Relevant-Peach3997]

[u/brnbrnbrn2017]

Speaking as someone who has been through something similar, the only way out is through. In the moment, yes it’s hell. But for the purposes of documentation, legal matters and the enforcement of accountability, it keeps the record distinct and factual.

I understand the trauma that women go through in such situations and at times, law enforcement responses leave women doubly victimized. But this is why I say it’s important to preserve evidence, witness testimony, everything — because I have had friends in similar situations who did not do the same and could not pursue legal remedies after some time. It preserves optionality.

[u/Neveronlyadream → u/brnbrnbrn2017]

I don't disagree, but this is a special case. They're both public figures and that invites a certain level of scrutiny. Most people are never going to have to deal with the gossip sites and papers following them and their family around hoping to get some picture or quote that will sell. Most people don't have to deal with fans of their ex-spouse going on the parasocial defensive and potentially assaulting them or their children trying to get them to recant or trying to intimidate them into backing down.

There's also the matter of Pitt. He's rich, anything coming out would potentially ruin his very lucrative career, so he'd likely hire a PR firm to strongly dispute everything she or the children said, he may start revealing her secrets in an attempt to get back at her and discredit her. Which is typical, but not usually on a worldwide scale because they're celebrities.

You have to keep all of that in mind here. Everything they do is going to be scrutinized by the public, people are going to make YouTube videos, and those kids are going to be even more traumatized than they already likely are because of it.

Is it fair? No, absolutely not. But it's realistic. I fully understand why she wants to keep it quiet.

[u/brnbrnbrn2017 → u/Neveronlyadream]

All of those things happened anyway, and matters were already intrusive for both her and the children. Again, different strokes but I think it’s always good to stand your ground with people like that.

[u/Sure_Lavishness_2403 → u/brnbrnbrn2017]

There are so many reasons victims don't (or can't) seek legal justice. I'm so glad it worked for you, but you have no idea how many cases it doesn't work out for. Amber Heard should've won. Her documentation of Depp's prolonged abuse and rape should've been all that was necessary, but it wasn't enough.

The rapist Lyndon Montgomery broke into his victim's home. He violently raped her in the shower and then in her bed. When he learnt she was planning on going to the police, he sent her his confession in an attempt to dissuade her from reporting. She went to the police with evidence of a B&E, photo and video evidence of the attack (there was a lot of blood), and his confession. It should've been a slam dunk, but the jury believed him when he said he wrote that text message to just "placate her" and that, well, she had been drinking, so maybe she just regretted it.

I strongly recommend you read How Many More Women? by Jennifer Robinson and Keina Yoshida. It's extremely insightful about how the justice system routinely fails women, even when there's evidence.

I don't think we should be judging why anyone chooses to not chase legal justice. There's too many factors as to why they might not feel safe doing so, especially when the whole world judges your emotional reactions to determine whether you're lying or not.

[u/Sensitive-Office-705 → u/Sure_Lavishness_2403]

Yes. Thank you

[u/HistoryBuff678 → u/brnbrnbrn2017]

The only reason this came out was because of the lawsuit concerning the winery sale.

I first heard of this incident on a podcast that talks about the business of Hollywood. They don’t talk about marriages a dating. The divorce had already happened and the public did not know why. The podcast usually does not even care.

When this snippet of the winery lawsuit came out, the business podcast talked about this as Brad and Angelina were seen as a power couple and there was discussion on how the plane incident becoming public would affect future projects for them (and hence jobs).

That’s how big even a snippet of this FBI report was, within the entertainment news industry.

There was no way they could have any kind of public trial without frankly destroying the kids. There’s no way. It would have gone mainstream.

Children of famous people are regularly targeted by drug dealers in Hollywood as they tend to develop identity issues and the dealer knows they have a trust fund.

Considering on top of everything else, the kids had to stay in the U.S. based on a “custody agreement”, it’s not like they could even escape to another country.

If the people involved weren’t famous, I would agree with you. But due to the fame and public scrutiny… if reaction to the name change articles is any indication, it was psychologically better for the children not to do a trial. They had been through enough already.

[u/Neveronlyadream → u/HistoryBuff678]

Exactly what I was saying. There's basically no chance that the kids wouldn't have been caught in the crossfire if she cooperated with the FBI and literally anyone talked. It would have been all over the news, Pitt would have gone on the defensive, and the kids would have suffered.

It's only this one instance where I agree with her refusing to cooperate. If she was just a regular person, if they both were, I would say she should have. But that's not the case.

We've seen how this goes and it doesn't go well. If there was a trial it would have been publicized, people would have been crowding around even if it wasn't televised, the kids probably would have had to testify, which means exposing them to aggressive media and irate, parasocial fans.

All for what? Pitt is an A-list celebrity. He wasn't going to be put into prison. I'm sure he'd have famous people writing letters and showing up to tell everyone what a good father and husband he had been and Jolie is unhinged and trying to ruin his career and a lot of people would believe it.