Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have reportedly been ordered to pay an interior designer $660,000 for work she did at the former couple's estate in France.
French interior designer Odile Soudant sued the stars, claiming they failed to pay her for work she carried out on four buildings on the Correns, France estate in 2010.
"He (Pitt) wanted to make it an exceptional place and believed that light should be at the heart of this," Soudant told French newspaper Liberation.
The interior designer claimed her monthly payments stopped two years into the project, but Pitt urged her to complete the work in an email correspondence when she first demanded payment.
"I don't know how things happen in France but in the United States, friends don't attack friends," he reportedly wrote. "I've been nothing but a fan of your work. Do not attack. Let's finish the project and be proud of it. The work is too good to end on a bad note. Life is too short, my friend."
"Don't waste time with legal action," he wrote in a separate email. "Follow your artistic journey and don't worry about the rest."
In April (17), the actors were reportedly ordered to pay Soudant $663,630 in a legal decision that was made public on Wednesday (16Aug17). The damages reportedly included $70,500 for damaging her reputation.
Soudant is also still fighting to be credited as the designer of the work.
"I am an artist and this is my work," she told The Guardian. "When someone tries to steal my work it is something else. This is all very painful for me."
Solicitors at Hogan Lovells, the firm defending Pitt, claim their client came up with the designs for the lighting project, not Soudant.
"He is passionate about architecture and knew what he wanted to achieve," a statement from an architect connected to the project reads.
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