Brangelina: Why did Pitt and Jolie divorce take so long?

The biggest A-list couple of our time, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were married for two years – but it took eight years before they finally settled after announcing their divorce. Why did the marriage take four times longer?

Part of the answer is that it was a particularly messy divorce, complicated by bitter legal disputes over their children and a French vineyard they bought together.

Some of that still needs to be resolved in what Jolie’s attorney called a “lengthy process.”

Celebrity lawyer Chris Melcher told BBC News that the divorce took an unusually long time to settle.

“This is longer than any divorce we usually see,” he said.

“But they first fought over custody, and then it revolved around this winery they own together, and it’s been the focus of their fight for the last few years.”

Many celebrities want a quick divorce and move on, Melcher explained.

“Most of the time, in a case of this magnitude, we can solve it in six months, a year at the most. Eight years is really a sign that there’s a lot more going on.

“It’s the desire to not let go and really hurt the other.”

Kate Daly, co-founder of online divorce company Amicable, told the BBC that such a case is very different from a normal divorce.

“It’s an industry … (they can afford) a lot of expensive lawyers,” he said. “Most people couldn’t afford for it to take eight years. It’s an industry and it’s a bad example – we need to keep (normal) people away from these kinds of stories.”