Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s eldest son Maddox Jolie-Pitt has officially filed to drop the actor’s last name.
The Daily Mail can confirm that Maddox, 24, requested to legally remove ‘Pitt’ from his surname on Thursday, changing his full name to Maddox Chivan Jolie, and listed his reason as ‘personal.’
Maddox informally dropped the surname in February, when he was listed in the end credits of his mother’s movie, Couture, as Maddox Jolie, rather than Maddox Jolie-Pitt.
In a heartbreaking blow to the Oscar winner, who has been estranged from his children, Maddox has joined several of his siblings in distancing themselves from the Pitt name, following his sister Shiloh’s, 20, legal name change last year.
His other sisters Zahara, 21, and Vivienne, 17, have also informally dropped the name.
Pitt, 62, and Jolie, 50, were married from 2014 to 2019, but their relationship came to a tumultuous end years before their divorce was finalized.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Pitt’s representatives for comment.
Brad Pitt, 62, and Angelina Jolie’s, 50, adopted son Maddox Jolie-Pitt has officially filed to drop the actor’s last name; Pitt seen in 2025
The Daily Mail can confirm that Maddox filed for the name change on Thursday listing his reason as ‘personal’; Maddox seen with Jolie and Pitt in 2013
The couple called it quits following a volatile incident on a private flight in 2016 and years of alleged abuse, which Pitt has denied.
Previously, on Jolie’s biopic, Maria, about legendary opera singer Maria Callas, Maddox, who worked as a production assistant, was credited as Maddox Jolie-Pitt.
In addition to Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh and Vivienne, Jolie and Pitt also share Pax, 22, and Vivienne’s twin Knox, 17.
In a lawsuit Jolie filed against the FBI in 2022, after they closed the investigation into her ex-husband without making an arrest, the actress claimed that Pitt fought with Maddox on the plane and poured beer on her.
Jolie claimed that he ‘physically and verbally assaulted’ her and their children during a flight.
She claimed that Pitt allegedly put his hands on their oldest son, Maddox, then 15, and struck him – something the actor has denied.
The FBI had cleared Pitt of any wrongdoing in the incident, which happened during a private jet flight, falling under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Days after, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt and asked for full custody of their kids.
Last year, Shiloh, who was born Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, legally changed her name to Shiloh Jolie shortly after turning 18.
At the time, in a statement shared with People, Shiloh’s lawyer Peter Levine said she ‘made an independent and significant decision following painful events,’ adding that she was ‘merely following legal process’ when publishing notice of the change.
Maddox informally dropped the surname in February, when he was listed in the end credits of his mother’s movie, Couture, as Maddox Jolie, rather than Maddox Jolie-Pitt; Seen in 2019
He has joined several of his siblings in distancing themselves from the Pitt name, following sister Shiloh’s, 20, legal name change; Jolie pictured with Shiloh (R) and her other daughter Zahara in 2021
Maddox’s other sisters Zahara and Vivienne, 17, have also informally dropped the name; Jolie and Vivienne seen in 2024
One month after Shiloh filed to drop her father’s last name, a source told People that Pitt’s relationship with his older children remained strained.
‘He has virtually no contact with the adult kids. His engagement with the younger kids is more limited in recent months because of his filming schedule,’ the insider shared.
In May 2024, Vivienne was credited as Vivienne Jolie, not Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, on the playbill for The Outsiders, the Broadway musical.
Meanwhile Zahara recently ditched Pitt’s name again as she graduated from Spelman College.
Her name was read at the ceremony as Zahara Marley Jolie, rather than as the hyphenated Jolie-Pitt.
She appeared to publicly remove Pitt’s last name for the first time in her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority initiation ceremony in late 2023.
Pitt skipped his daughter’s graduation, according to TMZ.
‘Nothing prevented him from showing up for her. Or ever visiting her. The day was about all she accomplished. Not whether he was willing to attend,’ a source close to Jolie told the publication.
However, multiple sources have spoken to the Daily Mail exclusively in defense of Pitt, insisting that he is not the absent father he has been portrayed as, and he wants a relationship with his six kids.
The family divide was again brought to the forefront when Pitt’s mother, Jane Etta Pitt, died last year at the age of 84.
Pitt and Jolie were married from 2014 to 2019. They called it quits following a volatile incident on a private flight in 2016 and years of alleged abuse, which Pitt has denied; Seen 2008
In a 2022 lawsuit against the FBI, Jolie claimed that Pitt fought with Maddox on the plane and ‘physically and verbally assaulted’ her and their children; Seen with Maddox in 2019
Sources revealed at the time that Jane had been heartbreakingly cut off from Pitt’s kids for about nine years, and they did not get a chance to speak before her death.
‘The most gut-wrenching part is that Angelina kept the kids away from his parents, from their own grandparents,’ one insider alleged to the Daily Mail last August.
Pitt’s relationship with son Pax doesn’t seem to be any better. A source previously told the Daily Mail how Pitt felt after Pax was pictured stumbling out of the Chateau Marmont last year, propped up by several friends.
‘He has zero concern with what Pax does or doesn’t do. [Pax’s] actions reflect who he is,’ the insider said. ‘Brad honestly considers his relationship with Pax unfixable,’ they added.
The source went on to say that the actor doesn’t appear to be planning any outreach to either of his adopted sons: ‘Pax and Maddox have made it abundantly clear how they feel, and Brad has nothing to say about either of them.’
As for his other children, the source said that Pitt ‘holds out hope that the others will one day come around. Time heals wounds.’
A source close to Jolie also hit back at her ex-husband at the time and said: ‘Brad continues to play the victim. His fractured relationship with his children is a direct result of how he has treated them.’
‘He should stop blaming others. If he wants to rebuild a relationship with the kids, he should acknowledge his own actions and make amends.’
Jolie adopted Maddox from an orphanage in Cambodia in 2002. Pitt went on to adopt him after he started dating Jolie in 2005; The trio pictured in 2010
Jolie adopted Maddox from an orphanage in Cambodia in 2002. Pitt went on to adopt him after he started dating Jolie in 2005.
The pair went on to adopt Zahara, who was born in Ethiopia, in 2005. In 2007 Jolie adopted Pax from an orphanage in Vietnam, and Pitt officially adopted him in 2008.
The couple welcomed their first biological child Shiloh in 2006. And in 2008 they welcomed twins Knox and Vivienne.
In June 2021, Pitt’s 50-50 custody deal with Jolie was tossed out when a California appeals court ruled that the private judge overseeing the divorce was disqualified, and Pitt’s relationship with kids has never been the same.
