Jackie, the California bald eagle who became an internet sensation, died from illness on Monday, weeks after being injured in an attack by two other eagles, officials announced.

For more than a decade, nature lovers watched via an online video feed as Jackie and her partner Shadow tended to their nest each year atop trees near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles.

The nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley installed the nest camera in 2015 and documented the successes and failures of each breeding season. In 2024, Jackie diligently sat on her eggs for more than two and a half days straight after a winter storm blanketed the nest with snow.

The Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation’s San Dimas Raptor Rescue team found Jackie on July 17 following reports that the bird had been involved in a fight with two other eagles and was found to be ill.

Jackie had been receiving medical treatment for three weeks at the Ojai Raptor Center, where she was treated for a variety of ailments including anemia. Despite undergoing a blood transfusion and oxygen therapy, her condition worsened and the center announced the animal’s death Monday.

“We know this news will be deeply felt by the many thousands of people around the world who have followed her journey, hoped alongside us, prayed for her, and supported the people caring for her,” the center’s statement said. “Our team is heartbroken. It has been an extraordinary privilege to care for her.”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is caring for the remains.

Among those who enjoyed monitoring Jackie’s nests from afar was biologist Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society in central California. While his group was not involved with the Big Bear eagles, he sees their breeding as emblematic of the comeback the species has made in the state over the past decades.

American bald eagles teetered on the brink of extinction until the pesticide DDT was banned in the 1970s and other protections were established, leading the species to rebound and be removed from the federal endangered list.

“You want to see a success story like that,” Sorenson said Monday. “Having access to a live cam to see the nesting first hand is very powerful. It brings people in on an emotional level.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

“I could look down the road and see all the bright lights glittering and trying to encourage people to come in and spend their money. There was, however, one particular high street where I could not find a gambling shop. I walked up and down it on both sides. It is one of the wealthiest high streets in London, in Hampstead.”

He died from his injuries the day after the crash

A family has paid tribute to a “helpful, caring and loving young man” who died after a crash near Wisbech. Grant Pattenden, 29, of Castle Close, Weeting, Brandon, was riding east along the B1166 on Tuesday, August 4, when he left the road and crashed into a ditch.

Emergency services attended and Mr Pattenden was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital. He died from his injuries the following day.

His family have now paid tribute to Mr Pattenden. The family said: “Anyone who knew Grant knew a wonderful, polite, helpful, caring and loving young man who never knew his true worth. A bit of an adrenaline junkie, he loved to take on new experiences and wasn’t afraid to take a risk, but he was never irresponsible.

“He was meticulous in everything he did and was very conscientious and loyal. He was a deeply loved son, brother, uncle, boyfriend and friend who will be so very sadly missed. Taken away too soon.

“You will be forever in our hearts, always and forever!”

By RAKIB EHSAN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Published: 23:00 BST, 10 August 2026 | Updated: 01:24 BST, 11 August 2026

We’ve become used to referring to the endless flow of illegal migrants arriving on our shores as the ‘small boats’ crisis.

But the truth is that, these days, they are anything but. One mega craft that made landfall in the early hours of yesterday was carrying no fewer than 230 people, the largest number to make the journey in a single vessel.

That’s the equivalent of more than 20 football teams. If they all lived in one place, we’d be forced to describe it as a village rather than a hamlet.

Andy Burnham may claim that Labour’s ‘plan’ to stop the boats is ‘working’, but if there was ever a symbol of the Government’s abject failure to get a grip on the migrant issue, this was it.

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Our new Prime Minister feels most content in the comfort zone of his ‘bring back hope’ campaign – propagating feel-good policies to address the cost of living, the health and social care crisis and devolution.

But the reality is that the small-boats crisis has been hugely disruptive of local civic life the length and breadth of the country.

The recent disturbances in the Norfolk town of Thetford are only the latest example of what happens when you put large numbers of usually single, young males from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Sudan, into areas which are ethnically, religiously and culturally homogenous.

Over the past few decades, East Anglian market towns such as Thetford have become popular with former Cockneys, who felt they had been pushed out of the East End. Now they find themselves in a situation in which their local services – from GPs’ surgeries and dentists to schools and hospitals – are increasingly over-stretched.

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The recent disturbances in Thetford, Norfolk, shows what happens when you put swathes of young males from countries such as Afghanistan and Sudan, into culturally homogenous areas

Residents now they find themselves in a situation in which their local services – from GPs’ surgeries and dentists to schools and hospitals – are increasingly over-stretched

And the demographic profile of the new arrivals – plus cultural attitudes towards women and gay people that can create tensions – all too often means law and order becomes an issue. None of this is conducive to a peaceful community life, something that is an important ingredient of a healthy standard of living.

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If Andy Burnham, a politician who constantly trumpets his aim of bringing growth to ‘every postcode’, truly understood this, he would do his utmost to get to grips with the ongoing small-boats emergency.

As previous work by the Policy Exchange think-tank has shown, illegal migrants are often housed in the country’s poorer areas.

Shifting illegal migrants from hotels to other forms of accommodation, such as former military bases and HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation), is akin to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

The answer is to deter economic migrants from making the journey to Britain in the first place.

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Some claim that it’s possible to deter migrants without leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by cutting migrant benefits, deporting foreign criminals and forcing illegals to live in reception centres. Australia is a poster boy for this sort of hardheaded approach. Under its Operation Sovereign Borders policy launched in 2013, migrant boats were intercepted and either returned to where they had travelled from or their occupants taken to detention centres on islands such as Papua New Guinea off Australia’s northern coast or the Pacific island of Nauru.

Within a year, illegal immigration by boat had fallen to zero.

But the lesson of recent years is that attempts to introduce such measures in the UK are invariably thwarted by our brigades of human rights lawyers, who launch actions citing the rights granted to migrants by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The only effective answer is for us to leave the ECHR, end our self-defeating policy of offering legal aid to migrants and return them to their country of origin. As Australia has shown, the effect of such an approach can be almost immediate.

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The sad thing is that I don’t for one second think that Mr Burnham has the mettle to go down such a path.

Dr Rakib Ehsan is a researcher in immigration and asylum.

MAGA firebrand Rep. Lauren Boebert’s eldest son, Tyler, has been arrested on child exploitation charges.

The Colorado Republican’s 21-year-old son has faced public scrutiny for several years amid multiple run-ins with the law, including past allegations of child abuse relating to his young son.

On Sunday, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office arrested Tyler, from New Castle, for sexual exploitation of a child and other charges. The sheriff’s office didn’t specify what the charges were related to in a Monday Facebook post, but said he made a $10,000 bond the day of his arrest.

“I love my son. We take these allegations very seriously and pray for everyone affected during this challenging time,” Boebert told The Independent in reaction to the new charges.

Tyler is the oldest of four sons that the Republican shares with ex-husband Jayson Boebert.

The new charges were first reported by the political watchdog group American Muckrakers.

Tyler was charged with sexual exploitation of a child, induce/entice; sexual exploitation of a child, possession with intent; sexual exploitation of a child, video and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, multiple outlets reported, citing court records filed Thursday.

The alleged offenses began in January 2024, when Tyler was 18. His next court appearance is scheduled for August 19.

Tyler has already been accused of child abuse twice, once in July 2025 and again this past February.

On July 11, 2025, Tyler was cited by the Windsor Police Department on a misdemeanor charge of child abuse, Westword, a Denver-based independent news site, reported at the time.

Boebert told Westword that the citation stems from “a miscommunication on monitoring my young grandson that recently led to him getting out of our house.”

Tyler, whose son was born in June 2023, has been “doing a great job getting his life on track as a father and citizen over the past year,” the congresswoman said in her 2025 statement.

“As the citation states, there was absolutely no injury or physical abuse involved,” Boebert said, adding that Child Protective Services met with her family “to ensure we are continuing to provide a safe environment for my boys and my grandson.”

“I am confident this is a one-time incident that we have addressed as a family,” she added.

On February 15 this year, Tyler was cited on a misdemeanor charge of child abuse without injury again, 9News reported, citing Windsor Police.

Boebert told the local outlet at the time that Tyler was watching his son at her home while she was at an event in her district and the toddler got out of the house.

“A kind woman quickly and safely secured him, and authorities were called as a precaution,” Boebert said, adding that there’s “no excuse” for the incident and that she’s “very frustrated” it happened.

President Donald Trump appeared to zone out during an Oval Office announcement on vaccines, prompting a fresh round of mockery online.

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order that calls for reducing the number of vaccines recommended for children and splitting the MMR shot — which protects against measles, mumps and rubella — into three individual vaccines.

The order is the latest step in the administration’s campaign to remake the childhood vaccination schedule, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long questioned vaccine safety.

During the ceremony, the 80-year-old president appeared to repeatedly close his eyes while seated behind the Resolute Desk — including as Kennedy and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya spoke beside him.

Videos of the moments quickly circulated on social media.

“I love how he pops out of it for a few seconds then closes his eyes again and he’s right back in dream land. This is getting ridiculous,” wrote one X user. Another chimed in: “Why doesn’t the assembled media speak out about this…they all see it.”

“What a loser,” a third user wrote. “After years of listening to those ‘sleepy joe’ comments…” The remark referred to Trump’s longtime nickname for former President Joe Biden, whom he repeatedly accused of being mentally and physically unfit for office.

Some commenters, however, were more supportive of the president. “In Trump’s defense, good Lord, the speaker is boring,” one wrote.

The White House defended Trump, saying: “President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the last administration when Democrats and the legacy media intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people. President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises.”

Trump, the oldest person ever inaugurated as president, has faced persistent scrutiny over his health since returning to the White House, including over moments during official events in which he has appeared to close his eyes for extended periods. One such moment came during Lindsey Graham’s funeral last month.

“The president has severe daytime somnolence,” CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said in May. “He falls asleep very often. He’s fallen asleep in the Oval Office on multiple occasions with people talking to him, in the cabinet room,” he said. “And chronic insomnia is a severe illness. It can result in an increase in risk of dementia, a decrease in cognitive effects in older people.”

Trump, for his part, has repeatedly insisted that he is in excellent health. After a physical at Walter Reed in May, the president wrote on Truth Social that “everything” had “checked out PERFECTLY.”

In a YouGov survey conducted last year, 78 percent of respondents said they believed Trump had not been transparent about his physical health.

The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.

Nearly 50 indecent images of children were found on his phone

A paedophile who sent “sexual messages” to someone he thought was a teenage girl has been sent to prison. Michael Richardson, 49, starting messaging an undercover officer, believing he was communicating with a 12-year-old girl, on January 28.

He messaged the undercover officer on Kik, a social networking app. He sent sexual messages requesting that the girl he thought he was messaging touch herself inappropriately, as well as asking her to send a photo of herself so he could “make a video”, according to Cambridgeshire Police.

Richardson was arrested at his home in Money Bank, Wisbech, on March 28. Officers seized his phone, which was found to contain 48 indecent images of children.

On Monday, August 3, Richardson, was jailed, having pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, attempting to cause/incite a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity (penetration), attempted sexual communication with a child, and attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch/look at an image of sexual activity at Cambridge Crown Court.

Richardson was also handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

Detective Sergeant Julia Boon said: “Richardson is clearly a danger to children, so I’m pleased he’s been brought to justice and given a sentence that reflects the severity of his offences. We will continue to do everything we can to arrest those who abuse or intend to abuse vulnerable people and put them before the courts.”

The first solar eclipse since 1998 will occur on Wednesday – but not everyone in Wales will get a perfect view of the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon

People across the UK will be preparing for Wednesday’s once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse. However, not everyone will enjoy an unobstructed view of the first eclipse this century.

According to the Met Office, large portions of the nation will be shrouded in cloud when the Moon passes in front of the Sun. The first eclipse since 1998, it will be the final occurrence of this phenomenon until 2081.

The optimal viewing time will vary depending on your location, though across the UK the event will begin at approximately 6.08pm.

Maximum coverage will occur between 7.05pm and 7.16pm, with the spectacle drawing to a close between 8pm and 8.10pm. Met Office maps now indicate that certain regions of the country can anticipate an unobstructed view of the eclipse.

The majority of cloud cover from 6pm will be concentrated around Ireland, Scotland and the North West, particularly Cumbria. Meanwhile, the maps reveal the South East and substantial areas of the South West will remain clear of cloud coverage between 6pm and 8pm, reports Bristol Live.

The Met Office forecasts that Plymouth and its surrounding areas will be able to witness 94.66 per cent coverage from the eclipse — with the event reaching its peak around 7.16pm. Meanwhile, extensive parts of Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wales will observe a 93 per cent coverage.

Inverness, Edinburgh and Newcastle are set to be among the least well-served locations, with the Moon obscuring around 90 percent of the Sun. Meanwhile, although parts of the North West are also forecast to experience 91 percent coverage, the Met Office anticipates that the region will be blanketed by cloud on Wednesday.

Lancaster, Barrow-in-Furness and Penrith are amongst the areas expected to see cloud cover at approximately 7pm on Wednesday, while parts of Wales, including Welshpool, will also be contending with overcast skies.

Can you still enjoy the eclipse in cloudier areas?

There is, however, encouraging news for those in areas facing a cloudy Wednesday evening. According to the Mirror, the eclipse can still be appreciated even if your local area is shrouded in cloud.

Patricia Reiff, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University, who has witnessed 20 eclipses, previously told Time Magazine: “If you are under the clouds, it’s still going to get dark.

“If clouds are present, the eclipse will still be evident and it should still be incredible to experience, with a dramatic change in the atmosphere when the daylight darkens to night.

“The temperature noticeably drops, and with it, birds and other typically vocal wildlife become quiet, changing to their nighttime behaviour. It’s intriguingly eerie and a unique event to witness.”

Best time to see the eclipse

The optimal time for viewing the eclipse varies depending upon your location within the UK. According to the Royal Greenwich Museum, Edinburgh and Glasgow will be the first cities in the country to witness the phenomenon.

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Coffee magnate Luciano Frattolin has been found guilty of drowning his nine-year-old daughter in a shallow swamp in what prosecutors described as a brazen attempt to get revenge on his ex-wife.

The 46-year-old founder of organic coffee brand Gambella was swiftly convicted on Monday of second-degree murder and concealment of a body charges in connection with his daughter Melina’s death last year, the New York Post reports.

Frattolin, of Montreal, Canada, had taken Melina on a trip across the Northeast United States in the summer of 2025 in what prosecutors claimed was a ploy to kill his daughter.

The young girl’s remains were then found on July 19, 2025 hidden under a log in a remote pond in the town of Ticonderoga, New York.

‘Melina’s short life came to a violent end,’ Essex County District Attorney said during his closing statements on Monday. ‘All stained with mud, her long, black hair that she’d just taken out of her braids, was covered in dirt and grass.’ 

Frattolin shook his head as the prosecutor spoke and showed no remorse for what had happened to his daughter, the Post reports.

Jurors at the New Jersey courthouse then spent only about an hour deliberating before they handed down their verdict. 

At that point, family members in the courtroom let out sobs and held onto one another, according to CBC. 

Prosecutors said Frattolin brought his nine-year-old Canadian daughter, Melina, on a trip to the United States in a ploy to kill her so he could avoid paying child support according to friends

Frattolin has maintained that his daughter was mysteriously kidnapped the night of her death. 

He called authorities at around 9.30pm on July 19, 2025 from Lake George, New York, claiming Melina was forced into a white van.

Frattolin also said he chased the van for 15 to 20 minutes before he decided to stop in Warren County to make the call. 

The report sparked a massive manhunt for Melina, as law enforcement officers stopped white vans throughout the region. 

At first, prosecutors said Frattolin cooperated with the investigators by allowing them to search his vehicle and cellphone as well as Melina’s phone.

But Frattolin changed his story as investigators uncovered new evidence in the case.

According to the prosecution, what officers had expected to be a brief drive to the alleged abduction site instead took hours, with Frattolin repeatedly redirecting officers.

At one point, he even allegedly told the cops they traveled too far north on Interstate 87 when they approached Exit 28 – though his cellphone and vehicle data placed Frattolin in the area, where he stayed for nearly an hour.

When he was then questioned about the stop, Frattolin allegedly told investigators that he and Melina had been looking for a place to hike or swim.

The young girl’s remains were found on July 19, 2025 hidden under a log in a remote pond in the town of Ticonderoga, New York

Investigators also noted that Frattolin told them he had been unable to access his cellphone immediately after the abduction because it had fallen between the seats of his rental car.

Yet prosecutors said there is evidence showing he had texted the girl’s mother, Kali Galanis, that Melina would be home in 10 minutes.

Galanis, though, had already become worried about her daughter.

She had been tracking the young girl through her phone, but after Melina and Frattolin stopped at a McDonald’s in Saratoga Springs earlier in the night, she lost access.

Authorities later discovered that the McDonald’s was the last place the nine-year-old girl’s phone showed any activity.

Video footage from the restaurant also allegedly showed Frattolin wearing different clothes than what he was seen donning after reporting his daughter missing. 

Officers later located his wet clothes and shoes in a garbage bag off of I-87.

When the coffee guru was then questioned about Melina’s disappearance, he admitted it ‘would’ve been easier’ to murder the young girl overseas, either in Italy or Ethiopia, New York State Police investigator Daniel Mauro testified during the trial.

Frattolin has maintained that his daughter was mysteriously kidnapped the night of her death 

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Frattolin also claimed his ex-wife had been abusing the young girl 

Authorities then found disturbing notes inside the Toyota Prius Frattolin had rented, in which he spoke of ‘ending the madness’ and a ‘Luciano Frattolin 2.0′ who was with a ’10/10 blond’ and bought a Porsche.

‘Let God decide. If you want to become famous. God, do not give me money until I end this evil. I mean big money, like $2 million,’ he wrote in one of the notes.

‘Don’t let Melina suffer anymore,’ the coffee magnate wrote in another.

He also accused the girl’s mother, Kali Galanis, of abusing their daughter before alleging she was framing him in Melina’s kidnapping.

‘If she is behind this, she does this to make me look like a bad person,’ he could be heard saying in a recording of his interrogation.

But jurors also heard from Galanis, who testified that Melina pleaded with Frattolin not to take her on a trip months before she was found drowned in the swamp.

Kali Galanis recounted how Frattolin wanted to take Melina to his native Ethiopia for two weeks in January 2025, but their daughter protested that ‘she didn’t want to go.’

The devastated mother added that she had become concerned about Frattolin’s plans to travel overseas with Melina, as her lawyer mentioned cases in which estranged spouses take their children to other countries and refuse to return with them.

The worried mother also noted there were other ‘troubling and alarming things’ that the young girl told her that her father said about her unwillingness to travel to the east African nation that Galanis ultimately decided not to allow Melina to go.

‘I became uncomfortable,’ she explained as Frattolin’s murder trial continued. ‘I was not OK with that anymore.’

But after informing Frattolin of her decision, Galanis said he then suggested that he take Melina on a trip to New York and she relented.

Frattolin now faces life in prison. He is due to be sentenced on October 14.

Brad Pitt has revealed he is drinking again after quitting alcohol for seven years.  

The actor went sober after splitting from Angelina Jolie amid accusations that he poured booze on her and their children during a volatile flight on board a private jet in 2016. 

The winery owner subsequently announced he had turned his back on drink and had been working through inner demons at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. 

Now Pitt, 62, is boozing again – but is much more mindful of his consumption. 

In a wide-ranging interview with Esquire, the actor admitted he had gotten ‘back off the wagon’ after the interviewer noticed the star had offered him a glass of wine. 

When asked if the beverage was for guests, Pitt responded: ‘No, I got – I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon,’ he said, offering a little laugh.

‘In a more restrained manner. I got overconfident a couple times, went, “Yep, nope, not good for me.” Not in big quantities.’

The 62-year-old admitted he had gotten ‘back off the wagon’ after his Esquire interviewer noted the actor had offered him a glass of wine 

Pitt clarified he was now able to ‘have a few’ glasses of wine but is unable to indulge any further.  

‘Yeah. Well… I can have a few. But I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it,’ Pitt said. 

‘He likes mornings now anyway, and you can miss a lovely morning when you drink too much the night before, and it’s just not as interesting,’ the profile noted of Pitt. ‘Mornings are interesting, and he doesn’t want any more of them to go by unseen.’

The revelation that Pitt has started drinking again comes amid his painful family drama. 

The actor, who is now dating jewelry executive Ines de Ramon, has been embroiled in a bitter legal battle with his ex, Angelina Jolie, for years, and the split has seemingly exposed his fractured relationship with their children.

Last month, their daughter Vivienne, 18, followed in the footsteps of her three older siblings and filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court to drop Pitt from her name.

The reason behind the teenager’s name change is listed as ‘personal’, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail. An official court hearing is scheduled for November 2.

Their daughter Zahara and son Maddox also published notices revealing their intentions to drop Pitt from their last names.

The advertisements were both published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal throughout June and July.

Pitt is drinking again but at a reduced rate. Above, at the SAG Awards in 2009

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Pitt has had a complicated relationship with alcohol that is alleged to have been the source of issues he has suffered with his family

Last year, Shiloh, who was born Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, legally changed her name to Shiloh Jolie. Aside from Pax, Vivienne’s twin brother Knox is the only other sibling who has yet to formally drop the actor’s surname.

Pitt has had a complicated relationship with alcohol that is alleged to have been the source of issues he has suffered with his family. 

His marriage with Jolie ended after a volatile plane incident in 2016 in which the actor was accused of being physically abusive towards both his wife and two of their children. 

In a 2022 court filing, Jolie alleged Pitt had been drinking during the flight and poured alcohol on herself and the children, according to CNN.

‘At one point, he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children.’

Pitt denied the allegations and he was never charged in connection with the alleged incident following an FBI investigation.  

A source close to Pitt told CNN at the time the court filing was released: ‘All parties have had this information for nearly six years and was used in previous legal proceedings. There is nothing new here and serves no purpose other than being a media stunt meant to inflict pain.’ 

A year after his split from Jolie, self-proclaimed ‘professional’ drinker Pitt was sober.

Pitt and Jolie’s family drama has come to light since their split; pictured with Maddox in 2010

Zahara and Maddox have both taken steps to legally drop ‘Pitt’ from their name; Pax, Jolie, Zahara, and Maddox pictured in 2024

Pitt said he was now drinking in a more ‘restrained manner’ during his interview with Esquire

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‘I have to be professional about it,’ Pitt said of his drinking 

Pitt and his ex, Angelina Jolie, were once considered Hollywood’s golden couple during their marriage. Above, in 2015

‘I enjoy wine very, very much, but I just ran it to the ground,’ he told GQ in 2017. ‘I had to step away for a minute. And truthfully I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I was good.’ 

For a year and a half, Pitt was in Alcoholics Anonymous, confiding in other men about the ‘ugly sides’ of himself. 

‘You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard,’ he told The New York Times. ‘It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself.’

‘It was actually really freeing just to expose the ugly sides of yourself,’ he said. ‘There’s great value in that.’

Pitt’s relationship with alcohol went beyond personal and into business.

During their marriage, Pitt and Jolie bought the French winery Chateau Miraval – a property that is now at the center of their legal ordeal.

Jolie sold her stake in it in part because of Pitt’s ‘acknowledged problem of alcohol abuse on their family.’

‘Resigned that Pitt would not share control of the winery or distribute any profits, concerned about participating in a business that was associated with such painful and traumatic memories for her and their children, and seeking financial independence, Jolie concluded that she needed to sell her interest in Chateau Miraval,’ court documents stated. 

Pitt has been dating jewellry executive Ines de Ramon since 2022; pictured July 2026

During their marriage, the former couple bought the French winery Chateau Miraval – a property that is now at the center of their legal ordeal; pictured 2023

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Jolie was motivated to sell her stake in the winery in part because of Pitt’s ‘acknowledged problem of alcohol abuse on their family’

For a year and a half, Pitt was in Alcoholics Anonymous, confiding in other men about the ‘ugly sides’ of himself; pictured in a 2020 promo photo for his wine

Pitt addressed the ‘family stuff’ during his Esquire interview, admitting he battled suicidal thoughts amid his estrangement from his children with his ex-wife.

The actor explained how the pain he felt was so ‘oppressive’ and, while he would never act on it, he struggled to see a way out.

He told Esquire UK: ‘I was never suicidal in any way. It just was not my makeup. In fact, if I have any afflictions, it’s probably being a congenital optimist. Which has helped many times, and it’s also gotten me – I’ve walked foolishly head-on into a Mack truck because of my optimism.

‘Or, as my forever-funny friend David Fincher will say, “Yeah, you see the glass as half full, but it’s half full of urine.”

‘Anyway, I’ve never been suicidal except for one little period. And in that one little period, I just thought – I just couldn’t – just didn’t see a way out. The pain was so oppressive that – I wasn’t going to act on this, but I could feel – I could feel the cold steel of the bullet in my head, and it felt like relief.

‘And I thought, “Oh, okay, now I understand” – I understand suicide, in the sense that it’s just relief. It’s just looking for relief from the pain.

‘But I also think we have incredible survival instincts. And for me, that immediately kicked in, but it was just…Yeah. Like, listen: This s**t ain’t easy…And you’re talking to a guy who won the lottery.’

When quizzed by the interviewer, Pitt confirmed he was talking about ‘family stuff’.

Now in his sixties, Pitt shows no signs of slowing down. His next film, Heart of the Beast, a man-and-his-dog story, will be coming out this fall, followed by Quentin Tarantino’s The Adventures of Cliff Booth, in which he stars as a Hollywood stuntman.

He just wrapped up the thriller The Riders a few weeks ago.

But Pitt says he longs to be in his fifties again.

He told Esquire: ‘God, I want my fifties back…I would do more. Your fifties are just – man, anything that’s on your mind, go. Go attack it. Go attack it now.’

If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org.