The truth behind Angelina Jolie Mansion sale decision

Angelina Jolie has given lofty personal and political reasons for wanting to move away from Los Angeles, and she has said that she would finally feel free to lead a more meaningful, international life once the youngest two of her six children with ex-husband Brad Pitt turn 18. But as her sprawling, historic Los Feliz estate hit the market this week with a $29.85 million asking price, a report explained that the actor had no choice but to sell, even though she said last year that she wanted to move because of the current political climate in the United States.

“I love my country, but I don’t at this time recognize my country,” Jolie said at the San Sebastian Film Festival. “I’ve always lived internationally. My family is international.”

According to entertainment journalist Paula Froelich, the truth about Jolie’s reasons for selling the six-bedroom, 11,000-square-foot mansion, which once belonged to legendary filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, are “much harsher.”

“She can’t afford the mortgage on the house,” a friend told Froelich, as she reported in her Uncensored newsletter. “She had to borrow $8 million from Brad for the down payment, and the mortgage payments, taxes, and bills are crushing.”

Jolie bought the estate in the posh Los Feliz neighborhood for $24.5 million after filing for divorce from Brad Pitt in 2016. The home on more than 2 acres also comes with 10 full bathrooms, a library and a wine cellar. There’s also a guesthouse with a fireplace, a pool house and a teahouse. Jolie said in interviews that she decided to establish a home base in California so that she could comply with court-ordered custody arrangements she had with Pitt as they negotiated their divorce.

The couple share six children — Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17 — and Jolie felt obligated to have them live near Pitt while they were growing up. Pitt also had an estate in Los Feliz.

“I wanted (our home) to be close to their dad, who is only five minutes away,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in 2019. “As soon as they’re 18, I’ll be able to leave.” But as Froelich reported, Vivienne and Knox’s 18th birthday will present financial challenges for the Oscar-winning actor and director. Her child support payments from Pitt will come to an end, Froelich said. Those payments are rumored to be $200,000 a month per child.

Meanwhile, Jolie has not been getting big-budget movie offers as she had in the past, Froelich also reported. “She has some small roles coming out in indie movies — one is said to even be good — but it won’t make her the big money (she’s used to and needs to fund her lifestyle),” an insider told Froelich.

“Yes, she’s a woman approaching 50 in Hollywood and things get harder (for that demographic),” the insider said. “But she’s also not particularly well-liked in the industry.” In addition, Jolie faces massive legal bills, stemming from her ongoing court fight with Pitt over ownership of Chateau Miraval, the winery and family retreat in the South of France that they purchased together in 2007. As Pitt and Jolie were mired in a bitter and protracted custody battle, he also sued her for selling her half of Chateau Miraval to Tenute del Mondo, the wine division of the Stoli Group, which is owned by a Russian oligarch, Yuri Shefler. Pitt alleged that her sale was illegal, “vindictive” and intended to inflict harm on him by not selling her share to him.

“Life abroad will be much, much cheaper for her,” another insider told Froelich. “Especially if she makes good on her threat to move to Cambodia.” In December, a source told the Daily Mail that Jolie was considering splitting her time between Cambodia, France and countries in Africa. Jolie adopted her oldest son Maddox in Cambodia in 2002 and she already owns a home in a rural area of that Southeast Asian country, leading some to expect that Cambodia will become her home base.

“She’s ready for a life that isn’t centered in Los Angeles,” a source also told People magazine, suggesting that her decision to leave the United States was not motivated by financial pressures. Jolie became a well-regarded international humanitarian with her work as a special envoy for the U.N. Refugee Agency. The People source said she’s excited by “a lot of projects” that she can pursue now that she has more more “flexibility” about where she can live.

Tribune News Service