Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s daughter files to drop Pitt from surname days after sister reveals new name
The dancer filed the name change paperwork on her 18th birthday
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s daughter, Shiloh, has legally requested to drop “Pitt” from her surname after her parents’ acrimonious split, reports suggest.
Shiloh – who turned 18 on the day of the filing on Monday, May 27 – asked for her legal name to be changed to Shiloh Jolie in court documents obtained byTMZ.
The dancer’s request to drop Pitt from her surname comes days after it was revealed her sister Vivienne, 15, had seemingly also dropped Pitt from her surname.
Vivienne is part of the production team for the new Broadway musical The Outsiders and is listed in the Playbill as Vivienne Jolie.
Multiple publications have claimed Pitt’s other children who he shares with Jolie – Zahara, Maddox, Pax and Knox also no longer use his surname. However, Shiloh is the first to make the legal change.
The Independent has contacted Pitt’s representatives for comment.
Reports of strained relations between Pitt, 60, and his children have been swirling in the years since he and Jolie, 48, split in 2016 after two years of marriage and 12 years together.
Last year, the former couple’s daughter Zahara, 19, was introduced in her university’s sorority as Zahara Marley Jolie, also excluding her father’s surname.
Jolie is said to have filed for divorce after an incident on a September 2016 private flight from France to Los Angeles.
The court filings, which were obtained by The New York Times, claimed that Pitt “choked one of the children and struck another in the face” and “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her”.
The filing also states that, at one point, “he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children”.
Pitt vehemently denied the claims at the time, and he was never charged following an investigation into allegations of abuse on the 2016 flight.
Last November, Jolie and Pitt’s son Pax, 20, was alleged to have called Pitt a “world class a**hole” and “f***ing awful human being” in a scathing Father’s Day post on his private Instagram account, three years prior.
“You time and time and again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person,” Pax allegedly wrote alongside a picture of Pitt accepting the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2020, for his performance in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood.
“You have no consideration or empathy toward your four youngest children who tremble in fear when in your presence,” the teenager continued.
Earlier this year, Jolie’s lawyers claimed that “Pitt’s history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family’s September 2016 plane trip”, but noted that the flight “marked the first time he turned his physical abuse on the children as well”, causing the Salt star to leave the relationship immediately.
In 2022, Pitt and Jolie became embroiled in further legal drama when he sued her for “secretly” selling her shares of a French winery, Château Miraval, which they purchased together when they were a couple.
The Fight Club actor claimed that he invested a lot of time and money in the winery through the years and that the estranged couple had an understanding that neither of them could sell off their shares without the other person’s consent.
Earlier this month, a Los Angeles judge ruled Jolie would have to submit eight years’ worth of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) as part of the ongoing legal battle.
In April, Jolie’s legal team filed a motion seeking to release communications that they say would prove Pitt would not let her sell her share of the winery to him unless she agreed to an “expansive” NDA.
Pitt’s lawyers then asked that Judge Lia Martin compel his ex-wife to submit the NDAs she had signed in the past.
The actor’s legal team argued that the NDAs were “highly relevant” to Jolie’s “purported justifications for refusing to adhere to her contractual obligations to Pitt” when she sold her shares of the winery to a Russian oligarch named Yuri Shefler.
Jolie’s attorney, Paul Murphy, told The Daily Mail that they are “more than happy” to turn the NDAs over. “Common NDAs are simply not comparable to Mr Pitt’s last-second demand to try and cover up his personal misconduct,” Murphy said.
He added that Jolie’s team is “gratified that the Court acknowledged that the only potential relevance is to the unconscionability of Mr Pitt’s conduct, a now confirmed key issue in this case”.
Murphy claimed the ruling “opens the door to discovery on all issues related to Pitt’s abuse” and “we welcome that transparency in all parties’ discovery responses”.
He continued: “Angelina looks forward to the eventual end of this litigation with its false narratives that continue to hurt the family and interfere with their ability to heal.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments