The never-ending custody war between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie has waged for more than half a decade.
With no resolution in sight, Pitt reportedly believes that this is the point.
The actor has apparently been spinning paranoid theories to friends, insisting that the custody battle will go on until the kids are of age.
Like many divorced parents before him, Pitt seems to believe that the ultimate goal is to sour the children against him.
Us Weekly reports that Brad Pitt “has been lamenting to pals” about the court struggles with his ex-wife.
Apparently he believes that Angelina Jolie “will never agree to joint custody.”
He reportedly theorizes that she is stalling “and is going to run out the clock until the kids are 18.”
With rare exceptions, turning 18 means a formal end to custody discussions — and, often, they can end at even earlier ages.
Pitt is reportedly acting on the belief that Jolie is actively trying to use this time to sabotage any bond that he might have with the kids.
He is reportedly insisting to friends that Jolie hopes that the kids “will want nothing to do with” him as adults.
Certainly, one of the couple’s children, Maddox, has already very publicly and privately made it clear that he has no interest in a bond with Pitt.
It’s hard to imagine how that could be Jolie’s doing, considering that it was an alarming incident between Pitt and Maddox that led to the divorce in the first place.
That said, it’s impossible to say what Pitt tells himself or who he blames for what without somehow reading his mind.
As for what Pitt has been telling his buddies, the report says that “Brad will nto give up the fight.”
Yes, that much has been obvious for more than five years, now.
20-year-old Maddox and 18-year-old Pax are adults, with 17-year-old Zahara not far behind.
Shiloh is 15.
Vivienne and Knox, who are twins, are both 13.
In a “normal” divorce involving children, only extreme circumstances would keep the custody battle raging once all children were teens.
Nothing about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s story has been especially normal, however.
In August 2014, after ten years together, the pair married in France.
Two years later, in September of 2016, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt after a shocking but little-understood incident on a private plane.
Whatever transpired led Jolie to report Pitt for child-abuse and seemingly caused Maddox to excise Pitt from his life as soon as he was able.
In her filing, Jolie cited irreconcilable differences.
Still, it took three agonizing years before the exes were declared legally single.
Custody (and even division of property) has been a much more protracted struggle.
Last year, Judge John Ouderkirk ruled in favor of Pitt sharing custody of the minor children … only to be removed from the case.
The grounds of his disqualifcation were that he had not properly disclosed business and professional ties to Pitt.
The California Supreme Court backed up this removal just six months ago, denying Pitt’s petition to review the decision.
Reports have claimed that Pitt intends to try to mend fences with Jolie.
In his mind, they need to “forgive each other and move forward,” believing that this is the right thing to do “for the kids’ sakes if nothing else.”