Final blow for Brad Pitt as fourth child officially drops dad’s famous last name

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s youngest daughter, Vivienne, has become the fourth child to officially drop their famous father’s surname.

On Monday (Tuesday AEDT), a Los Angeles judge granted the 18-year-old’s petition to legally change her name from Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt to Vivienne Marcheline Jolie, according to Page Six.

The official change comes after Vivienne filed a petition to legally drop “Pitt” from her surname in July, just days after celebrating her 18th birthday with twin brother, Knox.

She listed the reason behind the decision simply as “personal”, and has publicly been using her mum’s surname for more than two years.

In May 2024, she was credited as simply Vivienne Jolie in the Playbill for the Broadway show The Outsiders, which she produced alongside her mother.

Vivienne is not the only one of Jolie and Pitt’s six children to seemingly cut ties and distance themselves from their father.

Read more

After years on Aussie TV, Underbelly star Gyton Grantley moved his family to other side of the world

Shiloh Jolie, 20, was the first of the former couple’s six children to legally drop Pitt from her name. She was granted her petition shortly after her 18th birthday in May 2024.

Maddox Jolie, 25, and Zahara Jolie, 21, officially changed their names in September.

Vivienne’s twin brother Knox has not filed a legal petition, but was reportedly named as “Knox Jolie” on his high school diploma when he graduated earlier this year.

Known as “Brangelina” during their time together, Jolie and Pitt met in 2004 on the set of the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith and share Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne.

Jolie filed for divorce in 2016 following an alleged altercation aboard a private jet, with their bitter legal battle stretching on for more than eight years before the divorce was finalised in December 2024.

Pitt is now reportedly estranged from his children, with a source close to the actor previously telling People the decisions to drop his surname were an “incredibly sad reality”, alleging they were the result of a “prolonged campaign of alienation”.

The actor is said to be “hurt” by his children’s decisions to drop his last name, with a source telling Us Weekly the news was “very difficult.”

“[Brad’s] biggest fear is to be permanently disconnected from the kids because he does want to find a way to make things right,” the insider said.

“His biggest fear is that too much time is going by and the more time without something happening, the harder it will be to reconcile.”

In the years since the couple’s divorce, details have emerged about their family life.

Pax, whom Jolie adopted in 2007 from Vietnam before Pitt formally adopted him a year later, was the first to speak out.

Taking to social media in 2020, he wrote a scorching post on Instagram to mark Father’s Day in the US, in which he referred to Pitt as a “world-class a---hole” and a “despicable human being”.

He also claimed Pitt’s four youngest children “tremble in fear when in your presence”.

In a 2017 interview with GQ, Pitt said the divorce forced him to reflect on the kind of father he wanted to be.

“I have to be more for them. I have to show them,” he said at the time. “And I haven’t been great at it.“

Want more entertainment? We’ve got you.

• Watch: The nail-biting 40-minute Block auction that was too long for TV
• Read: John Goodman admits body is ‘messed up’ after 90kg weight loss 
• Recap: ‘Grow up’: Islanders watch on as feuding duo go head-to-head in brutal showdown
• Front Row: Cody Simpson’s wild Sydney outing and NRL tough guy’s red-faced stage moment

Get the news you need straight to your inbox. Sign up for our nine.com.au newsletter.