Brad Pitt’s brutal blow as third child legally drops father’s famous surname

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s eldest daughter Zahara has become the third child to legally drop their famous father’s last name.

Zahara Jolie-Pitt, 21, has reportedly filed legal paperwork to remove the hyphenated ‘Pitt’ from her surname, according to court documents obtained by Page Six.

She is the latest of the former couple’s six children to distance themselves from their famous father.

If approved, she will officially be known as Zahara Marley Jolie. It’s believed a court hearing is scheduled for September 28 for a judge to rule on the motion.

The step comes after the 21-year-old appeared to take a swipe at her relationship with her estranged father after graduating from Spelman College last month.

While taking the stage to accept her diploma, she was announced as “Zahara Marley Jolie” – noticeably dropping ‘Pitt’ from her name.

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Brad Pitt left 'hurt' as eldest son Maddox files to remove actor's surname

It was not the first time she had dropped the name Pitt at a public event either. 

In 2023, when Zahara joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, she proudly declared herself as “Zahara Marley Jolie.”

Zahara is the second eldest of the six children shared by Pitt and Jolie, her siblings are Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Shiloh, 20, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17.

She is, however, not the only one of the former couple’s children to publicly distance herself from the Pitt surname, despite its star power. 

Last year, daughter Shiloh successfully petitioned a court to legally remove Pitt from her last name shortly after turning 18.

Maddox filed the same request just last month. The young filmmaker quietly dropped Pitt from his professional name earlier this year while working on his mother’s upcoming film, Couture, where he was credited as “Maddox Jolie”.

While not legally, younger sister Vivienne was credited as “Vivienne Jolie” in the Playbill for the Broadway musical The Outsiders.

Pitt is said to have been “hurt” by his children’s decisions to drop his last name, with a source saying the news has been “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,” an insider explained to US Weekly when Maddox officially filed. 

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Everything we know about Jolie-Pitt kids

Affectionately known as Brangelina, the couple met in 2004 on the set of the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith. and share the six children.

By the time the film was released in 2005, Pitt had left Jennifer Aniston to be with Jolie, who had adopted Maddox from a Cambodian orphanage in 2002, when he was seven months old.

The couple married in 2014 at their French chateau, before separating in 2016 following an incident on a private jet as it was ferrying the family from Europe to the US.

Their divorce was finalised in December 2024, following disputes over custody of the children and property, including the French chateau.

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 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”.

All of the children are now reportedly estranged from their dad, who is expected to lose any remaining custody rights when Vivienne and Knox turn 18 in July.

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.”