Brad Pitt’s long-time friend Melissa Etheridge slams the recent claims of child abuse made against him as “completely unfounded”, and rounded on Angelina Jolie for causing their marriage to break apart.

The 55 year old country singer was speaking on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM radio show on Monday (October 3rd), and was asked about the claims currently being thrown around in Brad and Angelina’s bitter divorce and the custody battle over their six children. An old friend of Pitt’s, having sung at his wedding to Jennifer Aniston several years ago, Etheridge didn’t mince her words.

Melissa EtheridgeMelissa Etheridge responded bluntly when asked about the Brangelina divorce

“It breaks my heart that anyone would take something as personal as your marriage and your relationship and your rights to your children and do it as purposefully as I see it’s being done,” she told Cohen.

The country singer, who went through her own bitter divorce with her ex Tammy Lynn Michaels in 2010 and endured a two-year custody war over their twins, said it was “completely heartbreaking” to see Pitt at the centre of rumours that he verbally and physically assaulted his kids.

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“I’ve gone through family courts,” she explained. “I've been twice around this block, and I know it really well, and I know when there's some forethought to just how mean and just how you're going to put disinformation out there first.”

She added that she hopes Pitt gets in touch, as she lost regular contact with him when he met Jolie in 2005. “I really hope that he reaches back out. There are a lot of us who haven’t seen him in 10 years. We all lost a friend.”

Etheridge also had some choice words for 41 year old Jolie, who filed for divorce nearly two weeks ago and stunned the celeb world. She accused the actress of “nasty” behaviour regarding her relationship with Billy Bob Thornton while he was engaged to Laura Dern in the late ‘90s.

“I was around when Angelina was not doing nice things with Billy Bob to Laura Dern. I went through that on a personal level, and then to know the side of Jennifer and Brad… I helped Laura move out of her house with Billy Bob. I like broke into their home to get their stuff out because it was so nasty.”

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