Actor Brad Pitt’s strained relationship with his children took another painful turn when Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt, his eldest son, filed court documents on May 28, 2026, seeking to legally change his name to Maddox Chivan Jolie, eliminating “Pitt” entirely. The 24-year-old’s request marks the fourth time one of his six children with Angelina Jolie has publicly distanced themselves from his famous surname.
Sources close to the actor say he is devastated by the move. The request is still pending approval, but observers expect a judge to sign off given the recent precedent set by his sister Shiloh.
A Pattern Years in the Making
At least four of Pitt’s children have now publicly stepped away from their father’s surname in either legal filings, professional credits, or personal introductions — a striking pattern that has emerged in the years since Pitt and Jolie split in 2016.
Shiloh, born Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, filed to legally drop “Pitt” from her surname on her 18th birthday in May 2024. Her request was granted that August, and she has gone by Shiloh Jolie ever since.
Zahara, meanwhile, has been quietly using the name Zahara Marley Jolie since 2023, when she introduced herself that way after joining the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College. When she walked across the stage in May to accept her diploma, she was announced with the shortened name. Pitt was not present at the ceremony and reportedly did not reach out to Zahara beforehand or attempt to secure a ticket to attend.
That same month, her sister Vivienne was credited as “Vivienne Jolie” in the Playbill for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “The Outsiders,” on which she worked alongside her mother as a producer’s assistant.
Pitt and Jolie share six children in total: Maddox, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and 18-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.
Maddox’s Quiet Professional Shift
For Maddox, the legal filing formalizes what he had already been doing professionally. Maddox removed his father’s last name in the credits for his work on the Jolie-led film “Couture,” in which he served as an assistant director. His updated name was featured in the film’s production notes, distributed to journalists at the drama’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025.
Born on Aug. 5, 2001, Maddox was adopted by Jolie from an orphanage in Battambang, Cambodia, when she was a 26-year-old single mother. Pitt later adopted Maddox after he and Jolie began their relationship. Maddox went on to serve as executive producer on Jolie’s 2017 film “First They Killed My Father,” the adaptation of Loung Ung’s memoir about the Cambodian genocide. He later studied biochemistry at South Korea’s Yonsei University.
Pitt Holds Out Hope for Reconciliation
Despite the mounting evidence that his children want little to do with him publicly, sources insist Pitt has not given up. The insider noted that the actor still hopes to keep the door open to eventual reconciliation, hopefully with all of them, though it is their decision and he has no power to force them.
The same source added that Pitt’s biggest fear is to be permanently disconnected from the kids because he does want to find a way to make things right. As time passes, the insider said, the actor worries reconciliation will only grow more difficult.
Pitt has openly reflected on his shortcomings as a father. In a May 2017 interview, the actor confessed that his approach to parenting had been shaped by an outdated model he was still unlearning. “I grew up with a Father-knows-best/war mentality — the father is all-powerful, super strong — instead of really knowing the man and his own self-doubt and struggles,” he said at the time. “And it’s hit me smack in the face with our divorce: I gotta be more. I gotta be more for them. I have to show them. And I haven’t been great at it.”
Interestingly, name changes are nothing new in this family. Jolie herself — born Angelina Jolie Voight — dropped her father Jon Voight’s surname early in her career amid their own well-publicized estrangement. Pitt, whose legal name is William Bradley Pitt, ditched his middle name when he arrived in Hollywood.
For now, the divide between Pitt and his children appears to be widening rather than healing — and as first reported by TMZ, Maddox’s filing may well be just the latest chapter in a saga that began nearly a decade ago.