Inside Brad and Angelina's Divorce: How Much Does Their Kids' Lifestyle Cost?

What nannies, tutors and private planes really cost for the celebrity elite as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie spar over child support

Nannies, tutors and private international flights: The lives of celebrity kids are luxurious — and costly.

So when Angelina Jolie filed on Aug. 7 requesting a hearing about child support with her estranged husband Brad Pitt, it brought the spending on their six kidsMaddox, 17, Pax, 14, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 12 and twins Vivienne and Knox, 10 — to the forefront of their divorce proceedings.

Jolie’s attorney Samantha Bley DeJean asserted in court papers that Pitt “has a duty to pay child support. As of present, [Pitt] has paid no meaningful child support since separation.” The next day, Pitt’s attorney Lance Spiegel responded with a filing stating that the actor, 54, has contributed over $1.3 million “for the benefit of [Jolie] and the minor children” and loaned Jolie, 43, $8 million to help her purchase her current home.

Brad Pitt Angelina jolie
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Pitt and Jolie are, of course, both very wealthy (at the time of their split in 2016, Forbes estimated he had earned $315.5 million and Jolie had earned $239 million since they met in 2004). But their life with the kids is stratospherically expensive, as experts detail to PEOPLE in this week’s issue. According to Lindsey Thomason, CEO of Los Angeles-based The Nanny League, one full-time nanny for an A-list family like the Jolie-Pitts costs $140,000 a year, plus health insurance and often a per diem that can range from $200 to $400.

“They’re usually flying private with the family. All meals covered, all rooms covered,” Thomason says.

Thomason suggests a clan of Jolie and Pitt’s size would typically emploty at least two full-time nannies. “Sometimes, though, families will look for a nanny per kid,” she says.

Tutors through The Nanny League typically start at $100,000 a year. “Tutor services offer someone who can do all subjects, or if there’s a target subject like Mandarin, that can be a little more pricey,” Thomason explains. “If you’re honing in on one specific subject and you need that expert, of course the prices go up.”

Jolie said during a 2016 appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, “All the kids are learning different languages. I asked them what languages they wanted to learn and Shi is learning Khmai, which is the Cambodian language, Pax is focusing on Vietnamese, Mad has taken to German and Russian, Z is speaking French, Vivienne really wanted to learn Arabic and Knox is learning sign language.”

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As for travel, L.A.-based tax attorney Bruce Givner says flying private costs approximately three times the price of a first class ticket. With Jolie largely based in London for the summer while she films Maleficent 2, and Pitt back in Los Angeles as he works on Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, lots of international travel has been in order.

“London to L.A. is first class, $12,000,” Givner estimates. “Private plane, it’s minimum doubling or tripling it.”

Givner says security guards can cost $50,000 annually per staffer, but that cost increases if the family hires through an agency or requires more than one guard.

2018 National Board Of Review Awards Gala
Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic

“If you have a house, you don’t have one bodyguard,” he explains. “You’ve got three at least: One at the gate when you come in the front door [and] at least two others at various points across the property. But you don’t really have three, you have nine because there’s 24 hours a day and they can only work eight-hour shifts. So you’ve got nine, and they’re $50,000 by themselves — that would’ve been $450,000. But because you’re getting them through an agency, it could be $1.5 million a year.”

Givner says his high-profile clientele with families often hire at least one private chef at $100,000-$200,000 a year — and they also shell out for drivers and bodyguards.

“How many chauffeurs do you have for six kids going in different directions?” he says. “The kids aren’t taking Uber.”

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