Once a surname belonging to Hollywood royalty, “Jolie-Pitt” is disappearing one child at a time, with Zahara becoming the third kid to legally drop her father’s famous name.
When Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, 62, met while filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2004, the two Hollywood stars were at the beginning of a relationship that would eventually bring six children together under one famous double-barreled surname.
Six Jolie-Pitt kids
Jolie, 51, was already raising Maddox, now 25, whom she adopted from Cambodia in 2002, when Zahara, now 21, joined the family from Ethiopia in 2005. The Fight Club star later became their adoptive father, and the couple welcomed their first biological child, Shiloh, now 20, in 2006.
The family grew again in 2007 when the Tomb Raider star adopted Pax, now 22, from Vietnam, with Pitt legally becoming his father the following year. That same year, Jolie gave birth to twins Knox and Vivienne, now 18, bringing the family to six children.
After years together, Pitt and Jolie became engaged in 2012 and married at their home in France in August 2014, surrounded by the family they had built together.
Two years later, that marriage was over.
Bitter divorce
Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016, citing irreconcilable differences, just days after an alleged incident involving Pitt and the family aboard a private plane.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Jolie claimed the star of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood became “physical” and “verbally abusive” with one of his children during the Sept. 14 flight, allegations that led to investigations by the FBI and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
The FBI closed its investigation without filing charges, while the county agency concluded its investigation with no findings of abuse. Pitt has denied allegations of abuse, People reports.
The split set off years of legal battles, continuing even after Pitt and the star of Eternals were declared legally single in 2019 and until their divorce was finalized in December 2024.
By then, the children who had grown up carrying the Jolie-Pitt name were becoming adults and making choices of their own, and for some, that included leaving their father’s surname behind.
Dropped Pitt
Shiloh was the first to make that decision legal.
On her 18th birthday in May 2024, she filed paperwork asking to change her name from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie.
In early 2026, Maddox took the same step, filing to remove Pitt from his surname before receiving court approval to become Maddox Chivan Jolie in September.
Their younger sister Vivienne could soon follow.
According to People, the 18-year-old has also filed to change her name from Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt to Vivienne Marcheline Jolie, although her request remains pending ahead of a court hearing scheduled for November.
Zahara Marley Jolie
Now, Zahara has made the change official.
The 21-year-old filed a petition earlier this year asking to remove Pitt from her surname, a move that formalized a choice she had already been making publicly.
When Zahara joined Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College in 2023, she introduced herself as Zahara Marley Jolie, leaving Pitt out of her name. She did the same at her graduation in May, despite Jolie-Pitt still appearing in the commencement program.
On Sept. 28, a California judge approved her petition without objection, legally changing the young woman’s name to Zahara Marley Jolie.
The decision makes Zahara the third of Jolie and Pitt’s six children to receive legal approval to remove Pitt from their surname, following Shiloh and Maddox. If Vivienne’s petition is approved later this year, she will become the fourth.
“This is the result of a prolonged campaign of alienation of children against their parent,” a source told People in 2024. “It’s an incredibly sad reality, but it’s not surprising after years of one parent weaponizing the children against the other one with no regard for the consequence.”
‘Pain was so oppressive’
Pitt has largely avoided publicly discussing the details of his relationships with his children, although he briefly referred to difficulties involving “family stuff” during an August 2026 interview with Esquire.
“I’ve never been suicidal except for one little period. And in that one little period, I just thought – I just couldn’t – just didn’t see a way out,” Pitt told the outlet, “The pain was so oppressive that – I wasn’t going to act on this, but I could feel – I could feel the cold steel of the bullet in my head, and it felt like relief.”
The star of 12 Monkeys added, “But I also think we have incredible survival instincts. And for me, that immediately kicked in, but it was just…”
When asked what had pushed him to that point, Pitt gave a much shorter answer.
“Family stuff,” he said. “We could leave it at that.”
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