Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, the daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, turned 18 this week and petitioned to change her name right away. The teenager filed paperwork, according to TMZ and People, asking to have the last name "Pitt" legally removed. She chose to go by Shiloh Jolie instead. The announcement coincides with the tumultuous eight-year divorce between Jolie and Pitt, during which time Jolie has accused Pitt of physically assaulting her and one of their six children, which he disputes. Some of the children seem to have disassociated themselves from Pitt in recent years, at least publicly.
Shiloh's decision to omit the "Pitt" surname now appears to be in line with a Jolie-Pitt family pattern. A playbill named their daughter Vivienne as "Vivienne Jolie" rather than "Vivienne Jolie-Pitt." She assisted Angelina Jolie in producing the new musical The Outsiders, where the "Pitt" name was omitted. It's unclear, though, if Vivienne has changed her name officially as well. The oldest of the couple's sons, Maddox, then 20 years old, was allegedly using "Pitt" as his name on non-legal documents and had testified in a way that "wasn't very flattering towards Brad" during the former couple's custody procedures in 2021, according to reports.
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Brad Pitt's Children With Angelina Jolie Distance Themselves From "Pitt" Name
Zahara, their 19-year-old daughter, identified herself as "Zahara Marley Jolie" in an initiation video when she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College last year. Apart from Shiloh, it's unclear if any of the other kids have filed formal requests to alter their names. After two years of marriage, Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. She and Pitt were officially proclaimed single in 2019. A Pitt source told PEOPLE in August 2022 that, despite the exes' protracted custody dispute, the 60-year-old actor hoped to soon find better ground with his kids. "It's been a sad situation for years," they clarified.
Naturally, the Jolie-Pitt family is used to these kinds of antics. After all, Brad was born William Bradley Pitt and gave up his first name when he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career, while Angelina gave up her father Jon Voight's surname to become Angelina Jolie. Overall, their family drama keeps developing.
[via]