Angelina Jolie's legal team claim Brad Pitt was physically abusive BEFORE their 2016 row on plane in latest bombshell suit

Angelina Jolie's legal team says Brad Pitt was physically abusive to her before their 2016 row on plane, in newly-filed legal documents linked to the former pair's battle over their French winery.

Attorneys on Thursday for Jolie, 48, filed papers in a motion in Los Angeles County Superior Court, saying that Pitt, 60, had a history of being physically aggressive with Jolie before the well-documented September 14, 2016 row during a flight from Nice, France, to Los Angeles.

Pitt has denied all of the allegations of physical abuse, and was not charged amid an FBI probe into the incident. 

'While Pitt’s history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family’s September 2016 plane trip from France to Los Angeles, this flight marked the first time he turned his physical abuse on the children as well,' Jolie's attorneys said.

Lawyers for the Maleficent actress said that Pitt declined to enter into counseling for domestic violence, and disregarded severe family problems by seeking partial custody of their six children: Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 17, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 15.

'Pitt never came to this understanding and not only sought 50-50 custodial time - including with children with whom he had not had a stable relationship in years - but also sought sole custody if the children did not sufficiently bond with him,' her legal team said in the docs filed Thursday.

Jolie's legal team said that 'despite this distressing request, Jolie still did not seek sole custody' of the children, as 'instead she advocated that the children’s wishes and needs be prioritized, based in part on what the children felt they could do, and for a custody plan formulated in the children’s best interest to heal.'