Brad Pitt turns desperate as Angelina Jolie's behavior hits 'bitter' new low... and the brutal question friends are now asking HER amid war over kids

As Zahara Jolie reaches what should be one of the happiest milestones of her life, tensions between her famous parents Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt reportedly continue to simmer behind closed doors. 

Shortly after the 21-year-old walked across the stage at her Spelman College graduation, reports began to surface that her dad never called to congratulate her.

'Nothing prevented him from showing up for her. Or ever visiting her. The day was about all she accomplished. Not whether he was willing to attend,' TMZ reported on May 18, citing 'a source close to Angelina.'

In response to the backlash, a source told the Daily Mail that the ongoing public criticism surrounding Pitt's relationship with his children has become increasingly frustrating to the actor.

'When you've made clear that you're pushing him away from the children, a reasonable person cannot then complain that he's not close to the children,' the source said.

Multiple sources have spoken to the Daily Mail exclusively in defense of Pitt, insisting that he is not the absent father he has been portrayed as, and he wants a relationship with his six kids: Zahara, Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Shiloh, 20, and 17-year-old fraternal twins Knox and Vivienne. 

The first source claimed that not only has Pitt made 'efforts' over the years to salvage his relationship with his children, but so has his extended family.

'His family did try to do things and there were, at some points, communication,' that source said, before admitting 'it's been a while' since that has happened.

'I know that there have been attempts with the cousins. [Growing up], they did have a good relationship, so that's been cut off also. Nothing's really changed.' 

The second source added that Pitt's family has seemingly tried to follow his lead, and have respected the boundaries that have been set.

'Those closest to him, including his friends and family, are not judging him through any of this because they know he is genuinely trying his best under incredibly difficult circumstances,' the second insider said.

The family divide was again brought to the forefront when Pitt's mother, Jane Etta Pitt, died last year at the age of 84.

Sources revealed at the time that Jane had been heartbreakingly cut off from Pitt's kids for about nine years, and they did not get a chance to speak before her death.

'The most gut-wrenching part is that Angelina kept the kids away from his parents, from their own grandparents,' one insider alleged to the Daily Mail last August.

'The question Brad has – that we all have – is: Angelina, where is your heart? Are you going to remain bitter for the rest of your life? It's one thing if she wants no contact, but what about the kids?'

Sources close to Jolie have hit back in the past, with one claiming 'Brad continues to play the victim. His fractured relationship with his children is a direct result of how he has treated them.'

Pitt, 62, and Jolie, 50, were married from 2014 to 2019, but their relationship came to a tumultuous end years before their divorce was finalized. The couple called it quits following a volatile incident on a private flight in 2016 and years of alleged abuse. 

Pitt has denied all of the allegations of physical abuse, and he was not charged in an FBI probe over the plane incident. But our first source said that the Fight Club star has taken accountability for the role he played in any discourse.

'His behavior wasn't criminal, but he took responsibility for his actions,' the Daily Mail's first source said. 'He got his act together.'

The second source added that 'Brad has come to understand that there is little more he can do beyond continuing to be present and available if his children ever decide they want him back in their lives.'

Meanwhile, a third insider has suggested that Jolie is able to control the narrative because she shares an extremely close bond with her kids, who are her 'best friends.'

'They are her entire world and she has convinced them Brad isn't a good person,' the third source claimed. 'They're now old enough to make their own decisions, but when you've been taught one thing for so long, it's hard to suddenly unlearn things.'

Jolie has rarely addressed the conflict directly, but in June 2020 she stood firm in her decision to end her marriage while discussing the topic during an interview with Vogue.

'It was the right decision,' she told the publication. '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.'

At the time of the interview, sources claimed Pitt and Jolie had been 'getting along better,' with the Moneyball star living just a few doors down in a separate mansion. He had even thrown Shiloh a birthday party, and all five remaining siblings attended.

But only a year later, that changed. 

In June 2021, Pitt's 50-50 custody deal with Jolie was tossed out when a California appeals court ruled that the private judge overseeing the divorce was disqualified, and Pitt's relationship with kids has never been the same.

Since then, four of Pitt's children – Zahara, Maddox, Shiloh and Vivienne – have made the telling move of further distancing themselves from their famous dad by dropping his last name. 

'Brad has been hoping for some kind of breakthrough with his kids, but right now it feels impossible,' the second source told us. 'The situation feels so surreal to him that it almost seems like it should be a bad joke rather than his reality.'

The Daily Mail has contacted Pitt and Jolie's representatives for comment.