Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s son Maddox has dropped “Pitt” from his last name. With the change, he becomes the fourth of the former couple’s six children to go by Angelina’s surname since the actors split.
In addition to Maddox, Brad and Angelina share Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne.
The Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-stars were together for over a decade and finalized their divorce in December 2024, eight years after Angelina filed to dissolve their marriage.
Highlights
- Maddox Jolie, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s eldest son, dropped "Pitt" from his last name, joining three of his siblings.
- Maddox, 24, is credited as assistant director under the name "Maddox Jolie" in Angelina's film 'Couture.'
- Angelina alleged Brad hit her and two of their children on a private plane in 2016; the actor has always denied the claims.
Maddox, the eldest child of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, has distanced himself from his father by changing his name
Image credits: HanWay Films
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of domestic violence and violence against children that some readers may find distressing.
According to a report by People, Maddox served as an assistant director in Couture, the drama starring his mother. The film debuted in French theaters on Wednesday (February 18) and, as per the outlet, the 24-year-old is listed as “Maddox Jolie” in the credits.
His last name was also listed as “Jolie” in the production notes for the movie provided to journalists last year at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In contrast, in the credits for his mother’s 2024 film Maria about opera singer Maria Callas, where Maddox worked as a production assistant, he was listed as “Maddox Jolie-Pitt.”
Image credits: TheStewartofNY/Getty Images
The 24-year-old’s decision comes after three of his siblings have distanced themselves from their father.
Vivienne listed her name as “Vivienne Jolie” in May 2024 in the playbill for The Outsiders, the Broadway musical she helped her mother produce.
Three months later, Zahara could be seen in a video introducing herself at a sorority event at Spelman College, a liberal arts school in Atlanta, as “Zahara Marley Jolie.”
“My name is Zahara Marley Jolie. And [I] landed all the way from the Golden State in the city full of angels: Los Angeles, California,” she said.
The 24-year-old is listed in the credits of his mother's Couture film as "Maddox Jolie"
Image credits: IMDB/Closer Media
Also in August 2024, Shiloh, who was born Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, legally dropped her father’s surname and became “Shiloh Jolie” shortly after turning 18.
Shiloh’s attorney said at the time that his client “made an independent and significant decision following painful events.”
While Shiloh’s name change is official, it is unclear whether her siblings have also changed their names legally.
Image credits: Samir Hussein/Getty Images
Brad and Angelina’s divorce was reportedly triggered by a violent incident aboard a private plane in 2016 in which the F1 actor allegedly struck Angelina and two of their children.
Angelina claimed that during a private flight from France to California in September 2016—days before she filed for divorce—the actor yelled at her, grabbed her by her head, shook her, and pushed her into a bathroom wall.
He then allegedly poured alc*hol on the actress and the children and “choked” and “struck” two of them when they tried to defend their mother.
Maddox is the fourth of Brad and Angelina's children to publicly drop their father's surname
Image credits: John Berry/Getty Images
The Maria actress said the incident occurred after Brad accused her of being “too deferential” to their children.
Some of the children allegedly “pleaded” with their father to stop and were “frozen and scared,” Angelina claimed.
Brad has denied the allegations. A source close to the 62-year-old actor admitted that “the confrontation was spiraling out of control” but claimed that “no one was physically harmed.”
Image credits: Mustafa Yalcin/Getty Images
After conducting a review of the circumstances, the FBI and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services closed the investigation of the incident without filing charges.
The incident came to light in 2022 when the Fight Club actor sued Angelina for selling her shares of a French winery they co-owned, alleging she did so without his approval.
Angelina’s lawyers then brought up the plane allegations in a countersuit, claiming that Brad refused to buy her interests unless she signed an $8.5 million NDA designed to “force her silence about his ab*se and cover-up.”
Brad and Angelina, who separated in 2016, are in a legal battle over a French winery they co-owned
Image credits: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
She also accused her ex of "waging a vindictive war against" her. The pair appears to still be at odds in the legal dispute over the French winery.
Sources have claimed that Brad is estranged from his children.
"The reminders that he’s lost his children, is of course not easy for Brad. He loves his children and misses them,” an insider told People about the children dropping their father’s surname.
Image credits: Gotham/Getty Images
A separate source told The Daily Mail that Pax and Maddox “have made it abundantly clear how they feel, and Brad has nothing to say about either of them.”
On Father’s Day in 2020, Pax called his father “a world-class a**hole” on Instagram and said the Hollywood icon is a “terrible and despicable person.”
The 22-year-old accused his father of having “no consideration or empathy toward your four youngest children who tremble in fear when in your presence.”
The actor reportedly still “holds out hope” that he will one day reconcile with his other four children, as “time heals wounds,” the insider said.
Speaking to British Vogue in 2020, Angelina said she left Brad for the “well-being” of her family.
“It was the right decision,” she stated. “I continue to focus on their healing.”
Meanwhile, in a 2017 interview with GQ, Brad discussed the consequences that the split had on their six children, saying, “It’s just very, very jarring for the kids to suddenly have their family ripped apart.”
Asked what he thought about others having control over his narrative, the father replied, “What did Churchill say? History will be kind to me: I know because I’ll write it myself. I don’t really care about protecting the narrative.”
