Brad Pitt, ‘estranged’ from son, didn’t know about his college plans, report says
The actor reportedly wasn't told of son Maddox Jolie-Pitt's plans to attend college in South Korea until just before news leaked to the media earlier this month.
Footage of Angelina Jolie enjoying a quintessential parent moment — dropping off her child to start college — was shared by someone in the crowd at Yonsei University in South Korea. That’s where her oldest son, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, is set to begin his first year of college.
But one person was noticeably absent from this milestone: the young man’s father, Brad Pitt. That’s because 18-year-old Maddox and his movie star father are estranged, according to Us Weekly.
“Brad hasn’t been spending much time with Maddox lately,” an insider told Us Weekly, adding that Pitt was not invited to join his ex-wife in take their son to college. “Brad won’t be going.”
Pitt, 55, only learned of Maddox’s college plans earlier this month, right before the news leaked to the media, the insider told Us Weekly.
(@xx_efu)Pitt and Maddox have had a strained relationship since the father and son got into some kind of altercation on a private plane flying from Europe to Los Angeles in September 2016, according to Us Weekly.
“Maddox doesn’t really see himself as Brad’s son,” a family friend told Us Weekly.
The altercation reportedly prompted Jolie, 41, to file for divorce from Pitt after two years of marriage and 11 years together. The incident also sparked investigations by child welfare authorities.
Pitt was a “big yeller” when it came to the six children he and Jolie share, a source told Us Weekly.
Pitt eventually was cleared of any wrongdoing, and he came clean in a 2017 interview about having problems with drinking and other issues. The actor, currently winning raves for his performance in “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” also had to undergo therapy, attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and take other steps in order to prove his fitness as a father, while Jolie had physical custody of the kids, Us Weekly reported.
The teen “is very close with Angie,” a source told Us Weekly. The Academy Award winner adopted Maddox from an orphanage in Cambodia in 2002. Pitt legally adopted him after he and Jolie met while working together in the 2004 film “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and fell in love.
A family insider added to Us Weekly that Jolie has urged her son to “move forward on a new path with Brad.”
The couple’s other children are Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 11.
At Yonsei University, where Maddox plans to study biochemistry, Jolie admitted, “I’m trying not to cry,” an Instagram video shows. Maddox, meanwhile, looked slightly embarrassed with the crowd surrounding them.
Jolie drew a chorus of disappointment from the crowd when she said she was leaving South Korea “today.” But she said Yonsei “seems like a great school.”
Jolie previously told People that she was “nothing but proud” of her son’s college plans.