Maddox Jolie Pitt requests to legally remove her father Brad Pitt's last name
Everything indicates that the distance between Brad Pitt and his older children is increasingly reflected in their surnames
According to TMZ, Maddox filed legal documents to officially remove “Pitt” from his name, becoming “Maddox Chivan Jolie.” This decision is not a surprise, since the 23-year-old had already stopped using his paternal surname in the professional field. Recently, he worked as an assistant director on his mother, Angelina Jolie's film “Couture,” appearing in the credits as “Maddox Jolie.”
Maddox is not the first of “Brangelina’s” children to distance themselves from their father’s surname. Shiloh, now 20, requested to change her name to “Shiloh Nouvel Jolie” on the day she came of age, in May 2024. The request was granted by a Los Angeles court a few months later.
For her part, Zahara also revealed her preference for her mother's surname. Upon receiving her diploma at Spelman College, her name was read as “Zahara Marley Jolie,” even though the graduation program was listed as “Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt.”
The youngest of the sisters, Vivienne, 17, also chose to appear as “Vivienne Jolie” in the musical “The Outsiders,” which she helped produce with her mother. This informal change was confirmed by PEOPLE in May 2024.
Only Pax, 22, and Knox, 17, appear to have maintained the “Jolie-Pitt” label so far.
An obvious distancing
The relationship between Brad Pitt and his children deteriorated noticeably after the couple's separation in 2016, after more than a decade together.
Angelina Jolie filed for divorce, alleging that Pitt had physically and verbally abused her and her children during an incident on a plane. In a countersuit, the actress went so far as to claim that Brad “strangled one of the children and punched another in the face.”
In response, a rep for the actor insisted: “Brad took responsibility for what he did, but he won't take responsibility for things he didn't do.”
The legal dispute lasted for years, not only over custody and divorce - which was finally resolved in December 2024 - but also over a complicated battle over the Château Miraval winery that they both owned.
Regarding Maddox's name change, a source close to Brad Pitt told Entertainment Weekly: "It is not surprising that this news spread shortly after Brad had a significant evidentiary victory in the Miraval case."
So far, representatives of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have not made official comments on Maddox's legal request.