BRAD'S Bittersweet VICTORY

BRAD PITT MAY HAVE WON A LEGAL SKIRMISH IN HIS YEARSLONG LEGAL BATTLE WITH HIS EX ANGELINA JOLIE, BUT WITH HIS KIDS STILL ESTRANGED FROM HIM, AT WHAT COST?

IT was the fight that ended their marriage. In September 2016 during a private plane trip from Europe to L.A., a drunk Brad Pitt argued with Angelina Jolie — becoming verbally and physically abusive — in front of their six kids, sparking investigations by both the FBI and the Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services. After the federal agency closed its investigation without bringing charges against the 60-year-old, Angelina filed a lawsuit against the FBI and Department of Justice seeking to make public details of the alleged assault. Then, on Sept. 25, she quietly dropped her complaint, filing to dismiss the action with prejudice. The case is permanently over and she can’t refile her claim.

The move marks the end of a contentious legal chapter for the exes. Yet it’s a hollow win for Brad, whose relationship with his children, Maddox, 23, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 16, has disintegrated in the eight years since Angelina, 49, left him and waged a bitter custody war. “Brad is taking this as a victory,” a source tells Star of the actor, sober for eight years. “He’s relieved the FBI file will remained sealed. He’s disgusted by his past behavior but he refuses to take the rap for something he’s long maintained isn’t true.” The truth may not ultimately matter, however: Brad, says the source, “still lost his family — he lost everything.”

DEVASTATING CLAIMS