Interesting things keep happening in and around Angelina Jolie’s family. Last month, Zahara Jolie graduated from Spelman College, with her mom and brothers cheering her on and her miserable father nowhere to be seen. At her graduation, her name was read out as “Zahara Marley Jolie.” By all accounts, Zahara dropped the “Pitt” surname socially and in college, but unlike Shiloh, Zahara had not gone the legal route to change her name officially. Well, last week, Maddox Jolie filed his paperwork to legally change his name and drop “Pitt.” Now it looks like Zahara has done the same.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie‘s daughter Zahara has officially filed to legally drop “Pitt” from her last name. According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Zahara, 21, filed the paperwork on April 28 to change her name from Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt to Zahara Marley Jolie.
The paperwork also revealed that she’ll return to court on September 28 to explain to a judge why she has decided to no longer use her father’s name.
As In Touch previously reported, Zahara unofficially dropped “Pitt” from her surname in 2024. When she joined her sorority at Spelman College that year, she introduced herself as Zahara Jolie. When she graduated from Spelman last month, her name was called as “Zahara Marley Jolie” when she walked across the stage to receive her diploma.
Zahara isn’t the only child of Brad, 62, and Angelina’s who have distanced themselves from their father. Shiloh was the first of the former couple’s children to petition to no longer use “Pitt” as part of her last name when she turned 18 in May 2024, going from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie.
Last month, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star’s eldest son Maddox legally filed to drop the actor’s last name as well.
Some of you have theorized that this is all happening right now because Knox and Vivienne (the two youngest kids) are about to turn 18 years old in about five weeks. As in, the kids have been planning this for a while, and this might be the precursor to Knox and Vivi filing to change their names on around their 18th birthday as well. Could be. The timing makes sense. I also believe that while the kids dropped “Pitt” socially, it’s taken them some time to make up their minds about whether to go through the hassle of legally changing their names. Like, Zahara *just* graduated from college, and Maddox is 23. They really thought about it and considered all of the angles for and against. Not Shiloh – she changed her name as soon as she was legally allowed to.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JANUARY 05: Zahara Marley Jolie and mother Angelina Jolie arrive at the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 5, 2025 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 952078915, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Zahara Marley Jolie, Angelina Jolie, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 03: (L-R) Zahara Marley Jolie and Angelina Jolie attend the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 03, 2025 in Palm Springs, California.,Image: 951886429, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Zahara Marley Jolie, Angelina Jolie, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon
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- Angelina Jolie mit Tochter Zahara Jolie bei der Verleihung der 82. Golden Globe Awards 2025 im Beverly Hilton Hotel. Beverly Hills, 05.01.2025 Foto:xJ.xBlocx/xFuturexImagex globes_5193,Image: 952047356, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Jennifer Bloc/Avalon
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- BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JANUARY 05: Zahara Marley Jolie and mother Angelina Jolie arrive at the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 5, 2025 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 952087851, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Zahara Marley Jolie, Angelina Jolie, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- Rome, ITALY – Angelina Jolie’s daughter Shiloh, 15, continues to turn her back on her ‘dude’ style in a trendy dress and neon shoes as she joins her mum and sister Zahara, 16, at Eternals Rome premiere. Pictured: Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt BACKGRID USA 24 OCTOBER 2021 BYLINE MUST READ: Andrea Staccioli Insidefoto / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York City, NY – Angelina Jolie is spotted leaving Jean-Michel Basquiat’s former studio with her kids in New York City. The Manhattan building that once housed the studio and living quarters of the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat has found a new tenant. Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie secured 57 Great Jones Street, a two-story structure owned by Andy Warhol for 20 years, for a new creative endeavor platforming underrepresented fashion workers. With 6,600 square feet at her disposal, Jolie is working to create “a community of creativity and inspiration, regardless of socio-economic background” by providing resources and support to an international network of tailors through Atelier Jolie. Pictured: Angelina Jolie, Zahara Marley Jolie, Pax Thien Jolie BACKGRID USA 27 DECEMBER 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: T.JACKSON / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY – Angelina Jolie, accompanied by her children, attends the “Maria” premiere at Alice Tully Hall during the New York Film Festival. The family arrived in style for the highly anticipated screening in NYC. Pictured: Pax Jolie-Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Zahara Jolie, Maddox Jolie-Pitt BACKGRID USA 29 SEPTEMBER 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY – Angelina Jolie attends the “Maria” Premiere during the 62nd New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall in New York City. Pictured: Pax Jolie-Pitt, Zahara Jolie and Maddox Jolie-Pitt BACKGRID USA 29 SEPTEMBER 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Palm Springs, CA – Actress Angelina Jolie attends the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Awards with her daughter Zahara at Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California. Pictured: Angelina Jolie, Zahara Marley Jolie BACKGRID USA 3 JANUARY 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: affinitypicture / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
I understand the urge to let it lie — like, don’t poke the bear, etc, don’t throw petrol on the flames, etc… take the high road, just let it be, let it speak for itself, but, — also — I understand the urge to set the record straight in terms that are unambiguous so you don’t have to keep fighting petty skirmishes.
Agree 100% that there is no need to keep the petty little fights going for public consumption.
@carnivalbaby The kids are older and also know the press. They are definitely on an agenda, there’s no question about it. The intention is to drop his name whether it’s publicized or not. Im sure TMZ for example have people in the system checking for those things if these are public info.
The kids are now at the age where they will start signing legal documents, work contracts, leases, etc and probably don’t want have Pitt anywhere as their legal name.
Yes, to everything in this thread, but I can’t help but wonder if this wasn’t a little strategic also. That Shiloh would file first as his oldest biological child to kind of take some of the pressure off the others when they do. I’ve never gotten the impression that Brad has ever tried to really reconcile with his kids beyond the whining he does in the media. With the exception of trying to financially hamstring and embarrass Angelina in the courts, I don’t think he really cares about his relationship with his children.
“By all accounts, Zahara dropped the “Pitt” surname socially and in college, but unlike Shiloh, Zahara had not gone the legal route to change her name officially. Well, last week, Maddox Jolie filed his paperwork to legally change his name and drop “Pitt.” Now it looks like Zahara has done the same.”
If Maddox only filed last week, and Zahara did back in April, then it looks like Zahara has done it before Maddox, not after.
And Shiloh doing it before anyone else sends a bigger message to their dad, since he wants to claim his bio kids over his adopted kids.
Anjelina Jolie and family have had their faces in the news for one drama or another for over 20 years. Actually longer than that. Starting with her parents and now the kids. Three freaking generations of dysfunction.
@siri – most families are dysfunctional in some way, Ms. Jolie’s just happens to be famous. She didn’t ask to be beaten and humiliated in front of her children. Her grace, dignity, and strength through that nightmare of a divorce is commendable.
Majority of families are dysfunctional behind close doors. Thinking that isn’t the case is naive.
@ Siri, what’s “dysfunctional “ about the kids changing their names?
Actors and spouses do it all the time. Zahara just graduated from college and is in the process of developing her adult identity. In doing so, she’s establishing separation from an openly dysfunctional relationship with a parent. That seems like a very healthy and functional decision. Some of her siblings, reportedly, have made similar decisions. If anything, this third generation seems to be making quite healthy decisions that are the opposite of “drama”. That the press insists upon covering the decisions that these young adults are making for themselves doesn’t suggest either “drama” or “dysfunction “ on their part.
Dysfunctional is caping for racist POS Pitt.
Brad Pitt at the Grand Prix & not being there for his kid’s grad and now another one confirms they are clearing him out of their name. again! Let’s see what Brad’s PR is going to put out next. lol
He’s the victim of his kids ! They won’t let him have a peaceful life! They keep hounding him!
I actually hope her name change happens successfully, swiftly, and sans drama.
The racist abuse constantly meted out to Zahara, Pax & Maddox has been shocking.😶
Unfortunately, it has been going on for years, actually, since Jolie adopted them.
The timing makes sense from a professional standpoint, too – you want your legal name to match the name that is on your brand new diploma and on your passport and the name you want people to call you as you enter the workplace.
I remember when my parents split – he was an admired, loved celebrity in the small city, county we lived in. And who he was at home – manipulative, lying, volatile, angry, prone to punching things (and us) during ragey outbursts – was not at all like the image he held in public.
Mom made a point to advise us not to call him out publicly, but instead follow her lead of living her best life in spite of him and whatever he and his minions, flying monkeys, fans did or said. Her reasoning was that anything we said against him would make us look like the problem, people who took his side would try to tear us down. Better just to get free – legally and socially break ties with him and get on with healing, building our new lives, let him dig himself into a ditch without us being caught up in continued drama.
Part of me didn’t agree – it seemed unfair, unjust, why does he get to walk away admired while we know the truth. But it really was the best thing, to focus on what was next, supporting each other and not wasting our lives focused on him.
Years later we were all clear of him and that whole scene, living lives without him or his people having any impact on us at all. Some people resented us for thriving, tried to trash talk from a distance, others tried to maintain contact to get dirt they could use to gossip about us (and would make things up when they found no dirt). But we didn’t care because we were all safe, had our own roofs over our heads and had found new communities away and took care of each other.
I’ve got lots of good memories of us together, doing simple things, like Angie and her kids playing pickleball. And that’s priceless – what we created together, away from him and his issues is what mattered in the end. We each took the final steps to break away in our own time and in ways that worked for us.
What Angie has done with and for those kids was amazing, not easy I’m sure, but look at them now coming into the next phase of their lives thriving. Each name change makes me smile, a sign each as an individual is claiming their own identity.
@northofboston – i love this. your mom is amazing and so are you.
This seems my story as well, even though my father wasn’t a celebrity but still well respected and admired in our local community.
My father’s last moments (he died in 2019) were spent with some hangers-on around while his entire family had moved on and thrived far from him after 30 years of his constant abuse.
Northofboston, thank you so much for sharing your experience and wisdom. That must have been so difficult, but it’s lovely that you have such a strong bond with your family. It sounds like you are all thriving and I love that for you.
Thank you for sharing your moving story, @northofboston. My sister divorced a raging narcissist and she and her two kids are thriving away from him, not engaging at all. They’ll never convince his side of the family or their lifelong friends what he really is so they don’t even try. Silence really is the best policy. And the Jolie kids legally dropping their father’s name speaks loudly. Says everything those kids need to say. It’s wonderful that Angelina has been able to nurture such a tight, loving family and has ushered her kids into adulthood so gracefully. She should be proud of who Maddox, Z, Paz, Shiloh are becoming — they should be proud of themselves!! And I’m sure when we see the younger ones come of age they will show they are also smart, good, emotionally healthy human beings. That’s a lot to achieve for a family who for years lived under the thumb of an alcoholic abuser.
Much respect to Zahara it couldn’t have been easy seeing the farher you loved turn out to not only abuse you, your siblings and your mother. But most hurtful of all is he’s never shown regret not remorse in abusing you & your family. And keeps using Abuse of power to protect his image only and allow others to abuse you
Good for them! Best to change their names before their previous names become totally and permanently enmeshed in the eyes of the public and on various legal documents when they become adults. Also, by doing so as adults, Brad and his hateful PR can’t whine about how Angelina forced them to change their names bc their reasoning will be told to the judges approving the name changes.
I hope this does not impact their ability to register and to vote.
I also hope they all leave the country the second the twins turn 18, and never come back. Permanently escape the tech bros, 4chans, and MAGATs cheering on Pitt.
Imagine being the father of these beautiful young humans and not doing whatever it takes to love and support them.
He’ll only be angry about the three bio (white) kids.
So in the US you have to file with a court for a legal name change? Just weird I guess from my perspective as where I’m from, you just have to fill out paperwork, be 16 and have it notarized by a guarantor, pay the fee and there you go. Not dissing the process, just find it rather burdensome to have to go to court and then have to go and explain yourself.
I wonder what reasons jd vance gave?
Grifting. Lol. I would love to see what jd wrote. Probably blamed his family. I hope he shared his newfound wealth and privilege with them. Hope he sent the kids to better schools.
It’s been about 30 years since I changed my name back to my birth name after a divorce, I didn’t have to go to court, but did have to file papers with the court. I think it’s just a formality. I also had to publish it in a local paper announcing the name change. It gives anyone (creditors?) the chance to come after me if I owe anything. But again, this was a long time ago, and in California, things could be different now.
And changing one’s name as an adult is a pain. It’s best to do it before all of the adulting kicks in, like jobs, owning property, bank accounts, utilities, etc. It’s good the Jolie’s are doing it now when the only thing they need to change is their social security card.
The US also has common law. So you can go through the courts or use the common law in your state to change your name. Common law saves you money, but requires more work and time, than the courts.
Good for her, sending all my love to Angelina and her kids
Does anyone know if Brad’s parents have any kind of relationships with the kids? I get that he’s a dirtbag, but if those were my grandchildren, I would be determined to stay in their lives despite their father being my child. Maybe that’s just me though?
The media and Pitt’s PR would have you believe there isn’t, but the truth is they have been in constant contact since the split. There are photos of Brad’s mom and the cousins at Angie house. The kids and cousins at Brad’s Santa Barbara house, they all follow each other on instagram. The kids only want no contact with Pitt… not his family!!!
Normalize cutting off toxic parents!
Sending love to Angelina Jolie and her Jolie family ♥
When your peace and sanity is ruined… practice your right and freedom to disassociate yourself from something that do not serve you..
Zahara, Shiloh & Maddox have taken back their rights & freedom , their child abusing father Brad Pitt cam no longer hurt them, and we know he will continue to hurt them through media and hurt Angelina Jolie with alienation slurs, which we do expect from him and his PR
I can see the poor Brad pitt. Crying in the corner due to evil witch Angelina alienation smear campaigns in 3 2 2
Nobody will question Brad because we know his PR only allows pre agreed questions. Despite the fact knowing how crass and emotionally stunted Brad is towards his six children, he doesn’t care for their trauma, instead gets media to shame them , hiding behind PR a worthless father. Pitt he has no contribution left, he is still ruining his children in public and he is the one who is pitiful.
Some things don’t come right away, like Pitt’s reckoning or comeuppance. I wonder if Zaraha waited to see if he would come to her graduation. It seems like Poor Pitt has allowed this to happen. If he had fought to win back their love and respect, instead of fighting their mom, it might not have come to this. This is a huge thing to me, for a man’s children to drop his name. It’s a huge statement.
Angelina had kept out hope for Pitt to reconciliation with all the children, instead he segregated the bios from adopted kids ,which in my eye became a big cause of concern & resentment because the kids do not see a divide they never were brought up to think like that, yet Brad did. IF ONLY he had been sincere and truly wanted kids forgiveness and reconciliation it would had happened years ago. He spent too much time erasing them & attacking their mother, and here he is starting all-over again superficially
I mean its obvious to me the only children he really cared for where his bio children. The adopted children were clearly second class citizens to him.
He will probably just try to make a new one with the girlfriend. Or in the end, it was just optics to have children. And it was a fun way for him to publicly humiliate Jennifer Aniston when she didn’t conceive on his timeline.
He never wanted children he wanted an ego boost.
Love to see his children draw the line all SIX of them.
@flamingo
New girlfriend is dying for the wedding and pop a kid out because she’s his biggest fan and wants the Pitt name & brand.. Plus she’s happy he’s totally cut off any connection with his previous family.
Fact is nobody knows more about Brad pitt than his own kid’s? They are the ones who lived with him and know what he’s actually like. His own actions turned them against him. Yes he can keep screaming alienation slurs at Angelina, but reality is this man seriously showed he truly didn’t care for the kids, despite having custody time with bio kid’s, he still didn’t bond with them, instead chased Oscars and his career , nothing else matters to him. It is sad. I hope Angelina and kid’s keep standing united in love & bliss ..
I think children witnessing their father abuse their older brother and mother with their own eyes is what turned them against him. Brad acts like it never happened and optics showed us how he’s hidden himself away from thr children. He’s made sure to put the divide .
My concern is how he’s going to play this out because he’s already kind of got Angelina disliked in the industry and media target. I fear his abuse of power will rise more
I’ve always said the fight was over Shiloh – she was in her John era, and there was mention of Pitt going after one of the kids for “dressing like a thug.” That and being the eldest bio is why she went first
I’m surprised Pax hasn’t changed his yet – remember the Instagram post?
Serious question, does anybody believe Brad Pitt is no longer drinking, and no longer has anger issues, and he’s such a great down to earth guy after his alleged AA group therapy?
Only asking if he’s in such a great healthy place in his life then what & why hasn’t he shown the same kindness towards Angelina Jolie and his children?
I know Hollywood stands by him 100% because he’s their sweet Brad Pitt…
Pitt hasn’t stopped drinking. There are plenty of photos of him trying to hide a drink behind his back when photographed. The most recent was F1 after party where he and Ines are drinking Alcohol. He’s ‘Hollywood sober’ only for PR purposes. He’s still an abusive POS who has 10 lawyers, PR team and toxic media carrying on the abuse of his family.