Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter Zahara becomes third child to make legal name change
Half of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's six children have now publicly dropped their father's surname.
Zahara, the former couple's third-eldest child, has filed a petition with the Superior Court of California to drop 'Pitt' from her official title, In Touch reports.
The 21-year-old is said to have made her decision back in April, shortly after her big brother Maddox Jolie, 24, also ditched their father's surname. In the credits of his mother's latest movie, Couture, Maddox's name was listed as Maddox Jolie.
Zahara's decision comes a year and a half after actors Pitt and Jolie had their divorce finalised in December 2024.
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The A-list pair first announced their separation in 2016 after two years of marriage and 10 years together, citing 'irreconcilable differences'.
What followed, however, was a messy legal battle over both custody of their children and control of several of their more expensive assets.
This included their French winery and estate, her stake in which Jolie sold to a Russian oligarch without Pitt's knowledge, prompting him to accuse her of deliberately damaging his investment.
Amid the legal battle, details were made public of an alleged incident on a plane in 2016, in which Pitt was accused of shoving Jolie into a bathroom wall, choking one of his children and striking another in the face.
He was also accused of pouring beer over Jolie and beer and red wine over his children.
The incident was investigated by the FBI at the time, and it was decided not to press charges.
Pitt's lawyers said when the details of the incident were made public in 2022: "Brad has owned everything he’s responsible for from day one – unlike the other side – but he’s not going to own anything he didn’t do."
As well as Maddox and Zahara, Pitt, 62, and Jolie, 51, share Pax, 22, Shiloh, 20, and 17-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.
Zahara, a Spelman graduate, is now the third of the ex-couple's kids to legally remove 'Pitt' from their title after previously hinting at considering the decision during public appearances.
At her college graduation in May, she was called out by organisers who handed her a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, omitting her previous surname.
There, she was referred to as 'Zahara Marley Jolie', despite the commencement programme listing her title as 'Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt'.
Similarly, in her 2024 video application for membership at Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, Zahara dropped 'Pitt' while introducing herself, as per Essence.
"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 controversial name change was first made by Shiloh in 2024.
According to a prior statement released at the time by Shiloh's lawyer, Peter Levine, the youngster launched legal proceedings to change her name from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie on her 18th birthday in May 2024.
"The media should be more careful in their reporting, especially when covering a young adult who has made an independent and significant decision following painful events, and is merely following legal process," Levine told PEOPLE at the time.
A source close to Pitt has since told the publication of Tomb Raider actress Angelina Jolie: "It's sad to see someone repeatedly publicise their successful alienation of their children from the other parent."
It may be that their daughter Vivienne is the next to drop her father's surname, after the May 2024 playbill for The Outsiders, which Jolie produced along with her daughter's help, credited her as Vivienne Jolie.
Topics: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Celebrity, US News
Rhianna Benson