Brad Pitt reportedly felt "broken" after spending Christmas without his family.

Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt

The 53-year-old actor was forced to spend his holiday alone after his wife Angelina Jolie filed for divorce late last year and started a bitter custody battle over their six children - Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and eight-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne -which most recently resulted in a request made by the 'Fury' actor to see more of kids being rejected.

A source told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: "He desperately misses having his kids with him for Christmas and New Year.

"He's broken down in tears so many times - he's not ashamed to cry anymore. Brad is like a broken man."

The news comes after Brad slammed his estranged wife, 41, in court documents filed in December that claim Angelina compromised the privacy of their brood and alleges the 'Maleficent' actress "appears to be determined to ignore even agreed upon standards relating to the children's best interest and she is attempting to clear the way to put in the public eye any allegations she can, without regard to the impact on the minor children."

The documents went on to claim the actress - who filed for divorce from Brad in September after he allegedly had a row with Maddox on a private jet - "exposed the children by making public the names of their therapists and other mental health professionals."

He added the 'By the Sea' star has "no self-regulating mechanism" to prevent sensitive information from being released to the public, citing the re-release and filing of documents that contain private information as evidence.

His filing noted: "Although she had already made them public, she did it again."