Three weeks ago, Brad Pitt began this month of aggression and toxicity towards Angelina Jolie. That was when his lawyers noticed that Angelina had added some new lawyers to her recent legal filings in this neverending divorce/custody case. Angelina had been represented by Laura Wasser, who is all about peaceful deal-making and doing things outside the court system. My take on it was that Angelina was tired of Brad’s smear campaign even then, and she wanted to add some lawyers who had experience with bitter custody disputes and angry divorces. She wanted “war-time consiglieres” I thought. At the time, Brad’s side made a huge deal about how Angelina had alienated Wasser and Angelina is a difficult bitch, etc. At the time, Angelina stressed that she hadn’t split from Wasser. Well… now she’s split from Wasser.
Angelina Jolie and divorce attorney Laura Wasser have gone their separate ways, PEOPLE exclusively confirms, as the Oscar winner — who a source says “remains focused on healing her family” — transitions to new counsel in her ongoing divorce with Brad Pitt.
“Angelina has decided to change counsel to Samantha Bley Dejean, as Samantha’s expertise is the protection and best interest of children,” Mindy Nyby, a spokesperson for the 43-year-old mother of six, tells PEOPLE. “Angelina appreciates Laura’s cooperation in transitioning the case over the past several weeks.”
“Angelina decided to put Samantha in charge of her case,” a source close to Jolie and Pitt’s contentious custody battle tells PEOPLE. “She put her in the lead a month ago, and over the past month, the case has been fully transitioned to Samantha.” Adds the insider: “She has come to rely on Samantha’s counsel and thought it best that she take the lead.”
Jolie and Pitt, 54, have been embattled in a legal dispute over custody of their six children: Maddox, 17, Pax, 14, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 12, and 10-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.
“Angelina remains focused on healing her family,” the source says. “She continues to support the reconciliation of the children with Brad.”
On Aug. 4, despite a TMZ report that the high-powered Hollywood divorce attorney was quitting over internal conflicts with Jolie, her rep told PEOPLE she was still working with Wasser. However, an insider told PEOPLE there was considerable tension between Jolie and Wasser.
Sure, I believe that. Angelina had Wasser as part of her team technically as she was phasing out Wasser and building trust with Dejean. The story is a simple one: Angelina felt she would be better represented by another lawyer, and she acted responsibly to ensure that she would have proper representation as she phased in one legal team and phased out the other team. It was Brad and his lawyers who tried to make this into a story about Angelina being the most difficult bitch around. That being said, Jolie is previewing the fact the custody issue is far from over: “…Samantha’s expertise is the protection and best interest of children.” Yeah. Samantha Dejean isn’t telling Angelina that needs to roll over and hand over joint custody to a man who was drunkenly violent in front of (and to) the kids.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and WENN.
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