Pitt, Jolie sue newspaper over divorce claim

February 9, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

LONDON (AP) — Celebrity couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have begun legal action against a British tabloid that reported they were going to split, a lawyer acting on their behalf confirmed Monday.

Keith Schillings, of London-based Schillings lawyers, said in a statement that the couple had begun legal proceedings against the News of The World, a Sunday tabloid and Britain’s highest-selling newspaper.

He said the newspaper had made “false and intrusive allegations” when it reported Jan. 24 that Pitt and Jolie had agreed to separate, to divide assets worth $320 million and had made arrangements regarding the custody of their six children.

Lawyers for the couple lodged a claim at London’s High Court on Monday to begin a legal case against the newspaper, Schillings said.

“The News of the World has failed to meet our clients’ reasonable demands for a retraction of and apology for these false and intrusive allegations, which have now been widely republished by mainstream news outlets. We have advised them to bring proceedings, which they have now done,” Schillings said.