Brad Pitt appeared to hit back last night after his adopted son branded the Hollywood actor a ‘world-class a**hole’ and ‘f***ing awful human’ in an explosive Instagram post.

Pax Jolie-Pitt, 19, called his father a ‘terrible and despicable person’ who makes his four youngest children ‘tremble in fear’ in an explosive rant posted to social media for Father’s Day 2020.

Pax posted the broadside at Pitt to the stories section of his private Instagram account when he was 16, alleging that life with the Hollywood star was ‘constant hell’, DailyMail.com revealed on Monday.

Now, as the contents of the three-year-old post have been made public, sources close to Pitt claimed that the 59-year-old finds it ‘depressing to see this dragged up’.

The insider told The Sun: ‘It’s frustrating to see Brad being painted as some kind of “bad person” when it’s far from the truth.’ The source added that Pitt has ‘great respect’ for each one of his children and says it ‘speaks volumes’ that he ‘chooses to keep a dignified silence’ about the situation.

Pax Jolie-Pitt called his father a ‘terrible and despicable person’ who makes his four youngest children ‘tremble in fear’ in a rant posted for Father’s Day 2020. Pictured: Angelina Jolie and Pax attending the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in January 2018

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are pictured with their children Maddox Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, Pax Jolie-Pitt, Knox Jolie-Pitt, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt and Zahara Jolie-Pitt at the LAX Airport in Los Angeles, California in June 2014

Brad Pitt appeared to hit back last night after his adopted son branded the Hollywood actor a ‘world class a**hole’ and ‘f***ing awful human’ in an explosive Instagram post

The insider told The Sun that it is ‘frustrating to see Brad being painted as some kind of ‘bad person’ when it’s far from the truth.’ Pictured: Brad Pitt during the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 18, 2023

Angelina Jolie adopted Pax from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in 2007. He was three years old and had been dumped as a newborn by his heroin-addicted biological mother.

Pitt, Jolie’s then-husband, formally adopted him the following year.

When Pitt and Jolie, 48, split in 2016 just two years after they had married in a private ceremony in France, the children stayed with their mother amid reports of an altercation aboard a private jet between eldest son Maddox and his father.

Now it is clear that the relationship between Pax and Pitt is also troubled, with the 19-year-old accusing his dad of making his life ‘hell’ in the extraordinary social media rant.

Pax, 19, was adopted at age three by Angelina Jolie in 2006 having spent his early years in a Vietnamese orphanage

‘You have made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell,’ Pax wrote in the June 2020 post.

‘You may tell yourself and the world whatever you want,’ he added, ‘but the truth will come to light someday.’

Then he sarcastically added: ‘So Happy Father’s Day, you f*****g awful human being.’

A source this week confirmed that the private account does belong to Pax. ‘It’s the account he uses for friends – friends from school mostly. He never says much about his parents, keeps himself to himself, so that was unusual.’

Pax did not say if there was a specific event that had set him off or whether it was a culmination of years of tension.

In his post, Pax called his adoptive father ‘a world class a**hole’, adding: ‘You time and time and again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person.

‘You have no consideration or empathy toward your four youngest children who tremble in fear when in your presence.

‘You will never understand the damage you have done to my family because you’re incapable of doing so.’

Although Pax was the third child – after brother Maddox and sister Zahara – that Jolie adopted, he is one year older than Zahara.

The four youngest children who he claimed Pitt made tremble would be Zahara, now 18, and the couple’s three biological children, Shiloh, 17, and 15-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

MailOnline has approached Pitt and Jolie’s representatives for comment.

DailyMail.com can reveal Pax Jolie-Pitt, 19, accused his dad of making his life ‘hell’ in an extraordinary social media rant in 2020. Pax Jolie-Pitt is pictured with Angelina Jolie in 2018

Brad Pitt won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood in February 2020

Pax and dad Brad are pictured in 2014 before Brad and Angie’s split. ‘So, Happy Father’s Day, you f***ing awful human being!!!’ Pax wrote

Pax said in the rant that Brad makes his four youngest children ‘tremble in fear.’ All six of their children – Pax, 19, Maddox, 22, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 17, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 15, are pictured with Angelina in 2018

Jolie and Pitt met on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith in 2005 while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston. They insisted at the time that there was no infidelity but after a picture emerged of them on a beach in Kenya with Maddox, Ms Aniston filed for divorce.

But their fairytale romance fell apart in 2016 and the couple once known as ‘Brangelina’ have been embroiled in acrimonious battles ever since.

Their divorce was finalised in 2019, and although Jolie initially had full custody of the children, an agreement was thrashed out in 2021 that allowed Pitt to have them 50 per cent of the time.

But shortly afterwards, John Ouderkirk, the judge in charge of the case, was revealed to have close business relationships with Pitt’s lawyers.

As a result, he was disqualified from the case and custody was returned to Jolie with Pitt allowed ‘custodial visits’ only.

Pitt was also investigated by the FBI and the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services over child abuse allegations following the alleged altercation with Maddox on a private jet five days before Jolie filed for divorce.

Maddox is said to have stood up for Jolie during a fight between his parents.

A source later told People that Pitt had been drunk at the time, adding: ‘There was an argument between him and Angelina.

‘There was a parent-child argument which was not handled in the right way and escalated more than it should have.’

Jolie told authorities Pitt had behaved ‘like a monster’ on the jet.

The former couple are pictured at Brie-Champniers airport in France as they board a private jet with their kids in 2007 – a year before Jolie’s claims that Pitt flew into a rage, grabbing her by the head, shaking her, and shoving her into a bathroom wall before punching the ceiling numerous times while on a private jet

In August 2016, after 11 years together, Brad and Angie shocked the world when they announced that they were going their separate ways. They’re seen in 2006

Pitt was subsequently cleared of all charges and has since quit both booze and smoking cannabis and was photographed attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in September 2016.

Although neither Pitt nor Jolie have ever spoken publicly about the incident, Jolie told Vogue in 2021 that she had dumped Pitt for the ‘wellbeing’ of her family.

She added: ‘It was the right decision. I continue to focus on their healing. Some have taken advantage of my silence, and the children see lies about themselves in the media, but I remind them that they know their own truth and their own minds.

‘In fact, they are six very brave, very strong young people.’

The couple are still involved in a contentious $350million battle over Chateau Miraval, the vineyard they bought in France. Jolie sold her half to a subsidiary of Stoli Group after the plane incident because, her lawyers said, she was ‘uncomfortable’ being involved in the sale of alcohol.

In a filing this summer she called her ex a ‘bully’ who acted emotionally, irrationally and ‘ultimately illegally’ over the vineyard. He accused her of staging ‘a hostile takeover of the business.

Pax remains close to his mother and has been seen with her in New York where she has been staying while creating her new Atelier Jolie line.

He has now graduated from high school – choosing to skip the graduation ceremony to avoid paparazzi.

Earlier this year, it was reported that he had become an artist – creating work under the pseudonym ‘Embtto’ – but the Page Six story turned out to be a hoax.

Angelina Jolie penned a two-page letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom urging him to support a bill that would provide domestic violence training for judges. The actress is pictured with her son Maddox in July 2005

Jolie allegedly cited her own custody battle, in which the judge denied her children the opportunity to testify about the abuse they suffered at the hands of their father. She and Brad Pitt are pictured together in May 2009

Jolie and her ex-husband, actor Brad Pitt, have six children together and share 50-50 custody. The couple are pictured with their children in September 2019

News of Pax’s explosive Instagram post comes as Jolie has urged the governor of California to require domestic violence training for court professionals.

It is understood that the actress believes the judge overseeing her custody case was ‘biased’ toward her ex-husband.

In a two-page letter dated September 29, the ‘Girl, Interrupted’ actress urged Governor Gavin Newsom to back ‘Piqui’s Law.’

The bill would block children from going into ‘reunification camps,’ which force them to live with their abusive parent.

It would also establish domestic violence training programs for judicial officers and mediators on the impact of child abuse and trauma.

‘You will be aware that Piqui’s Law derives its name from a 5-year-old boy who suffered a tragic fate, killed by his father in April of 2017,’ Jolie wrote.

‘Piqui’s mother, Ana Estevez, fought unsuccessfully within the California family court to secure protection for her child.

‘Over the past six years, Ana has collaborated with California legislators to ensure that authorities do not overlook or dismiss the signs of abuse, signs that tragically result in harm and death for numerous children in our country.’

A source close to Jolie said last month that the actress is pushing for the legislation following her experience with Los Angeles Judge Ouderkirk, who refused to let her children testify about domestic violence they suffered at the hands of their father.

Ouderkirk, a retired private judge who officiated the couple’s nuptials, ruled in May 2021 that the couple would maintain even-split custody of their children.

‘This is personal to her, and for good reason,’ the source said, citing her disagreements with ‘biased’ Ouderkirk, who was removed from the case after he failed to disclose his business dealings with Pitt’s attorneys.

Jolie claimed Ouderkirk denied her children the opportunity to testify even though California law allowed children 14 years old and older to do so.

The judge, John Ouderkirk, was eventually removed after the court found he had failed to disclose business dealings with Pitt’s legal team. Pictured: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in 2014

Jolie challenged the judge’s tentative custody decision and filed a petition in the appellate court to remove him from the case. Pictured: Angelina Jolie with her children Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, Zahara Jolie-Pitt, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, Maddox Jolie-Pitt and Knox Jolie-Pitton in October 2021

She challenged the judge’s tentative custody decision and filed a petition in the appellate court to remove him from the case. He was disqualified in July 2021.

‘Their whole family is a victim of system failure,’ the source continued. ‘She has been fighting privately for her family and publicly for other families for years.’

Sources close to Pitt, however, told the New York Post that Jolie is trying to ‘misrepresent the truth’ and harm the reputation of those who testified against her.

‘While the legislation she is supporting is potentially very viable, it has nothing to do with her custody case,’ one source said.

‘It is inexplicable why she would use her advocacy for another defamatory effort to disregard all the objective facts in order to advance her own interest.’

Sources close to the ‘World War Z’ actor’s legal team also claimed the decision to remove Ouderkirk was based on a ‘technical procedure’ and had nothing to do with facts related to the case.

They denied that the judge was in business ‘with anyone’.