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Angelina Jolie bonds with estranged father Jon Voight for family dinner with the children

Angelina Jolie bonds with estranged father Jon Voight for family dinner with the children
Infamous family feud hit the headlines in 2002 after Jon accused Angelina of having 'serious mental problems'

Brad Pitt worked behind the scenes to reunite Angelina Jolie and her father Jon Voight following one of Hollywood’s most bitter family feuds, according to MailOnline.

And while Brangelina may be no more, it seems the once-strained father-daughter relationship Brad helped repair is finally flourishing.

Angelina and her father were pictured on a rare outing in Beverly Hills on Wednesday.

The two took four of Angelina’s six children – Pax, Zahara, Vivienne, and Knox – to a sushi restaurant for dinner.

As always, Angelina, 41, was dressed in black – in this case a long flowing black net skirt with a scoop neck bodysuit up top.

Her hair was worn half tied back, and sunglasses shade her eyes as she walked from the family’s luxury vehicle to the building with her children.

Little Vivienne carried a large stuffed animal and wore her hair in pigtails as she walked to the restaurant with her twin brother and two older siblings. Shiloh and Maddox were not seen.

Jon, who wore a shirt and jacket, completed the family group.

It is still rare that the 78-year-old is seen with his grandchildren, following the end of his six-and-a-half year estrangement from Angelina.

The star still best known for his appearance in the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy split from wife Marcheline Bertrand when their daughter was only an infant, with the two divorcing by the time Angelina turned four.

Jon and Angelina had only sporadic contact during her childhood, yet in her early TV and film work she still used her full name of Angelina Jolie Voight.

But, perhaps because she did not want to be seen as trading on her father’s fame, she had dropped the Voight in favour of her middle name by the time she appeared as Lara Croft, a female version of Indiana Jones.

It is not known what caused her to fall out with Voight, who played her father Lord Croft in the movie.

By July 2002, however, she was applying to have her non-acting name legally changed to Angelina Jolie, losing the Voight.

The following month, Voight gave an interview on U.S. television in which he claimed his daughter, who had just adopted a Cambodian boy named Maddox, had ‘serious mental problems’.

‘I’m broken-hearted… because I’ve been trying to reach my daughter and get her help, and I have failed and I’m sorry,’ he said.

‘Really I haven’t come forward and addressed the serious mental problems she has spoken about so candidly to the press over the years, but I’ve tried behind the scenes in every way.’

Angelina responded by cutting off her father completely, saying that, as a new mother, she did not think it was healthy to associate with him.

In an interview a year later, she said Voight’s comments were damaging because they could have affected her relationship with Maddox.

‘They could have decided he’s right, she’s crazy, let’s remove that child from her custody, and that’s unforgivable.

‘My father and I don’t speak. I don’t believe that somebody’s family becomes their blood. Because my son’s adopted, and families are earned.’

Voight repeatedly tried to regain contact with his daughter, particularly after her mother’s death from cancer in 2007.

And finally, with Pitt’s blessing, she is said to have finally responded in 2009. To the surprise of many, Jon and Angelina were first pictured together in 2010, when he visited her on the Venice, Italy, set of The Tourist.

A friend of the actress told the Daily Mail at the time: ‘Angie made the initial contact. Brad has been supportive – a key factor in her reaching out.’

Following news that Angelina had filed for divorce from Brad late last year, Jon spoke out in her support.

‘Angelina’s OK. She’s holding on,’ he said, adding that he planned to spend the festive season with his grandchildren.

Now, as Angelina begins her new life as a single mother, it seems she has forged a closer bond with the father she once despised.

See also: Brad Pitt blames himself for split from Angelina Jolie as he admits to drinking too much.

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