Angelina Jolie Seems To Have Sent Brad Pitt a Coded Message at the Venice Film Festival

Angelina Jolie made a celebrated appearance at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday, Aug. 29 for her film, Maria. Still, she made a quick exit, knowing that her ex-husband Brad Pitt was slated to attend the same festival to promote his movie, Wolfs. However, Jolie did not leave Italy without sending what seemed to be a coded message to her 60-year-old ex. 

At Jolie’s press conference ahead of the film’s premiere on Thursday, a reporter asked her how she related to her character, famed opera singer Maria Callas. She had an answer that seemed to have a lot of subtext. “Well, there’s a lot I won’t say in this room, that you probably know or assume,” she laughed in the video clip. “I share her vulnerability more than anything.” Was she calling out Pitt in that moment? It sure felt like it. Callas was a victim of domestic violence at the hands of Aristotle Onassis, and it sounds like Jolie was relating to her own alleged abuse incident with Pitt in 2016.

She had more to say about Callas and the lessons she learned while learning to sing opera for the movie. “When you felt a certain level of despair, of pain, of love, there is only certain sounds that can match that feeling,” Jolie added. While Pitt may never hear Jolie’s words, it felt like a way for her to leave her mark at the Venice Film Festival. She’s very aware of his presence even though festival organizers made sure there was no overlap between the two estranged stars on the schedule. 

Pitt and Jolie split in 2016, but the last eight years have been filed with court appearances over their relationship, child custody, and their French winery, Château Miraval. It’s led to heightened emotions on both sides. A source told People in July, “All the bitterness is partly why the divorce has dragged on for so many years. Neither will let it go.”

It looks like Pitt and Jolie won’t have to worry about seeing each other in person because the Venice Film Festival planned everything to a tee to avoid any awkward confrontations. “Yes, of course. Angelina will be on the first day, on Thursday the 29, and she will leave right after with [Maria director] Pablo Larraín to go to Telluride,” the film festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera shared with Vanity Fair. “So, Brad will arrive only on Saturday, to Venice. There is no way that they can cross each other at the Lido.”

The detailed scheduling probably brought great relief to both stars even though their court fight is far from over.

Before you go, click here to see celebrity exes who never buried the hatchet.