Angelina Jolie and Dad Jon Voight Are ‘Not on Good Terms’ Following His Comments on Her Divorce
Jon Voight didn’t hold back during an August 20 interview with Fox News about his daughter Angelina Jolie’s years-long divorce battle with ex Brad Pitt. “I wish that would be over [and that] they found a way to make peace,” said the Megalopolis actor, adding that he’s concerned about the well-being of Angelina and Brad’s six children. “The kids need some stability,” the 85-year-old said. “I love the kids and I love my daughter, and I want Brad to step up, too, [and do] what he has to do [and] end this nonsense.”
He may have been voicing the frustration of a concerned parent, but that public airing of his daughter’s affairs was not welcome. Worse, the indiscreet rant followed another incident in which Jon harshly criticized his daughter for her “ignorant” views of the Israel-Hamas war. (In a July cover story for Variety magazine, he said the actress and former UN Goodwill Ambassador has been “exposed to propaganda.”) Over the years, the 49-year-old’s relationship with her dad has been a tumultuous one — and now a source tells In Touch it’s currently at an all-time low. “To say they’re not on good terms is an understatement,” says the source. “Angelina was already upset about Jon’s claims she’s been brain-washed by the UN, but he’s made things far worse by giving his two cents on her situation with Brad and their kids.”
The father-daughter duo have a complicated history. Jon split from Angelina’s late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, in 1980 over his infidelity. “When my father had an affair, it changed [my mom’s] life,” Angelina wrote in a 2020 New York Times editorial. She still carries a lot of anger toward her father, says the source. “She’s never really forgiven him for breaking her mom’s heart.” After the divorce, she felt abandoned by the Deliverance star. “He was out partying and living the life he wanted to,” the source says. “He wasn’t there for Angelina.”
By the early 2000s, their problems went public. In a 2002 interview, Jon said Angelina had “serious mental problems.” In response she legally dropped “Voight” from her name. But they reached a detente in more recent years. In 2017, Angelina revealed they had reconnected through her kids. (She and Brad — who split in 2016 — are parents to Maddox, 23, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and 16-year-old twins, Vivienne and Knox.) “We’re finding a new relationship,” she said. Things seemed calm in June, when Jon gushed over Angelina and Vivienne after The Outsiders (which they produced) won a Tony Award. Crediting his daughter, he said, “I’m really proud of Angie because she really tries to encourage each of the kids to be what they want to be.”
But now he’s crossed a major boundary. “Angelina finds her dad’s politics hard to stomach, but she really draws the line when he talks about her kids as though he has some inside scoop,” says the source. “It makes her absolutely furious and proves Jon is the same self-centered person he’s always been.”
She feels his latest outburst is “especially offensive” because he implied Angelina is to blame for the impasse with Brad. (The exes are still battling it out over custody of their younger children and their French winery, Chateau Miraval.) “All Angelina has done is stand up for her family. It undermines her and minimizes the trauma she’s been through,” the source explains. “Considering Jon was such an absent parent she finds it ironic that he’s now so concerned about her kids.”
