CEBU, Philippines - Brad Pitt did not strike his child during a heated mid-flight argument with Angelina Jolie last week, according to a source close to the actor.
Pitt is accused of being “verbally abusive” and getting “physical” with one of his children on the family’s private plane last Wednesday, a source previously told PEOPLE magazine.
Now a source close to the actor spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about Pitt’s side of the story.
Pitt “was drunk, and there was an argument between him and Angelina,” says the source. One of the couple’s older children “then got caught in the middle, literally. He stepped in front of Brad. There was a parent-child argument which was not handled in the right way and escalated more than it should have.”
The source says Pitt did not hurt his son. “He is emphatic that it did not reach the level of physical abuse, that no one was physically harmed. He did not hit his child in the face in any way. He put his hands on him, yes, because the confrontation was nose to nose and was spiraling out of control.”
Any accusations beyond that are “a combination of exaggerations and lies,” the Pitt source contends, blaming sources close to Jolie. “They have taken the overall smallest kernel of truth – that a fight in which Brad was somewhat inebriated got out of hand and reached a regrettable peak, and that as a result DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) is looking into it – and they are manipulating it to best suit their attempts to gain custody.”
The Pitt source adds that the star “was not black-out drunk” and that “he absolutely remembers that evening and has been interviewed at length to that effect.”
In the petition for divorce Jolie filed, the actress requested sole physical custody of the couple’s six children – Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8.
PEOPLE also reported that Jolie broke the news to Pitt that she wanted to end their two-year marriage and 12-year romance just days before filing for divorce.
“She sat down, talked to Brad and offered to file [for divorce] together,” a source close to the actress said. “She said, ‘This is what I’d like to do.’ She explained everything. Angelina did what she felt she needed to do.”
Though Pitt was aware that their marriage was in trouble, he was still “wrecked” when Jolie told him of her plans, says a source in his circle.
“He was appealing to her to do this quietly – not to save the marriage but to consider the well-being of the children – and it was ignored,” contends the Pitt source. “He is just wrecked by this.”
“He was willing to do anything, change any habit or lifestyle to do what had to be done to make this work,” adds the source. “And by ‘make this work,’ that means doing what has to be done to make even a split one that is amicable and in the best interests of the children.” (FREEMAN)