The estrangement between the children of former couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and their father continues. Zahara Marley recently filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court to remove the surname Pitt from her name and keep only Jolie.
This decision is not so surprising given that the 21-year-old has been going by the name Zahara Marley Jolie for some time now. She did so last month when she graduated from Spelman College with a degree in psychology—Pitt did not attend the ceremony—and as early as the start of her college studies in 2023, during the induction ceremony for the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
She was also introduced using only Jolie’s surname at a mother-and-daughter brunch hosted in April by the Pearls of Purpose Foundation, a non-profit affiliated with her sorority. On that occasion, she spoke of her mother as “the most selfless, loving, and understanding woman who I get to call my mom,” adding, “I was adopted at six months old and given some of the most special and loving people as my siblings.”
Perhaps it was only a matter of time before the de facto removal of her father’s surname led to an official request. Other children of the two Hollywood stars had already made the same decision before her. The first to do so was Shiloh, who filed the request as soon as she came of age, followed by Maddox, the former couple’s eldest child, who was the first to cut ties with his father and even testified against him in his parents’ divorce case.
Vivienne, 17, also seems to be following in the footsteps of Shiloh, Maddox, and Zahara. Although she has not filed a formal request—she is still a minor—she appeared using only the surname Jolie at the premiere of The Outsiders, the musical that she worked on alongside her mother. She also appears under her single surname on the posters.
In short, each in their own time and in their own way, all six children (Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and the twins Vivienne and Knox) that the stars of Mr. & Mrs. Smith had together are gradually distancing themselves from their father, with whom they have reportedly had no contact for some time. Only the two youngest children see him occasionally, according to the reported terms of the divorce settlement, which was finalized in 2024 after a long series of legal and court battles that began in 2016.
Originally published in Vanity Fair Italia.
