Los Angeles - Brad Pitt reportedly clashed with his eldest son Maddox during a flight last week.
The 52-year-old actor is being investigated by the FBI over claims that he verbally and physically abused one of his children - while drunk - on a private jet; an incident which led his wife Angelina Jolie to file for divorce.
Now it has emerged that Pitt had gotten into a lengthy row with the teenager before they even boarded the plane in France.
A long-time member of staff told The Sun newspaper: 'There was a disagreement with the eldest boy. I know it started on the way to the airport before the plane took off and escalated on the plane. It was a teenage thing, there is a lot of hormones going on. They were gone for over 10 days. You put eight people in a little tube like that and put them up in the air for 121/2 hours, add this and that to it.'
But, another member of staff insisted there was no evidence of 'abuse'. Another current member of staff added: 'I was there for pick-up at the end of the night. Obviously things were tense. There were definitely some hurt feelings but I have never seen any evidence of abuse or anything like that.'
Brad is said to be 'distraught and terrified' because he has not been able to see Maddox or his siblings, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and eight-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, since the altercation. A source said: 'He takes the investigation very seriously and he is cooperating fully. He was not physical in the way that has been reported.'