Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, ending their 12-year relationship in the process, and has requested physical custody of their six children.

TMZ reported on Tuesday (September 20th) that 41 year old Jolie has started the process by submitting legal documents the day before, which cite irreconcilable differences as the cause. She has demanded custody of their six kids, with 52 year old Pitt allowed visitation rights.

However, Jolie isn’t believed to be asking for spousal support from him. The documents reportedly list the separation date as September 15th – just last Thursday.

Angelina Jolie Brad Pitt'Brangelina' is no more, after Jolie filed for divorce on Tuesday (Sep 20th)

“This decision was made for the health of the family,” Jolie's attorney Robert Offer said in a statement, confirming the reports. “She will not be commenting, and asks that the family be given its privacy at this time.”

A source close to the couple suggested to the gossip site that Jolie had initiated divorce proceedings having finally become “fed up” with the way “Brad was parenting the children”, adding “she was extremely upset with his methods”. The same source also suggested that Pitt’s consumption of “weed and possibly alcohol”, combined with his “anger problem”, was also to blame.

The couple has six children together, the three eldest of whom were adopted by Jolie and then also subsequently by Pitt (Maddox, now 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11). Jolie then gave birth to their first biological child, Shiloh, in 2006, and then twins Knox and Vivienne in 2008.

Having endured rumours that they were breaking up in 2010 – successfully suing the News of the World for false reports of such a split – the couple tied the knot in August 2014, after nearly a decade together.

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For many years, Pitt and Jolie (and their massive brood) had been one of the most high-profile Hollywood marriages around. However, they have not been seen together in public for several months, and were last photographed at an event together last November, when they were promoting their 2015 film By The Sea.

Telling the story of an ailing marriage and directed by Jolie herself, she admitted at the time that the production had been a struggle.

“It was our way of testing ourselves. We knew that if we could get through this, we'd come out even stronger and happier. And we did,” she said in an interview last November. “We've always liked putting ourselves through challenges, even though it was maybe a little more dangerous for us as a couple.”

However, she then added: “I don't think we want to go through it again though.”

It will be the third divorce for Jolie, who was previously married to Jonny Lee Miller from 1996 to 1999, and Billy Bob Thornton, from 2000 to 2003. Pitt was previously married to Jennifer Aniston, whom he divorced after five years in 2005 having met Jolie on the set of Mr. And Mrs. Smith the year before.

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