Angelina Jolie's daughter Zahara has once again distanced herself from her father Brad Pitt by dropping his surname at a public event. The 21-year-old graduated from Spelman College over the weekend, and when she took the stage to accept her diploma, she was announced as Zahara Marley Jolie, leaving out “Pitt” from her name.
Not the First Time
This is not the first time Zahara has omitted her father's surname. In 2023, when she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, she proudly declared herself as Zahara Marley Jolie during the induction ceremony. A video showed her shouting her name while shaking her hair and performing a series of moves, prompting social media users to note that one of her brothers had also dropped the Pitt surname years prior.
Other Children Follow Suit
In 2021, Us Weekly reported that the couple's son Maddox does not use Pitt as his last name on non-legal documents, instead using Jolie. An insider alleged that Maddox wanted to legally change his surname to Jolie, but Angelina reportedly did not support that move. In 2024, their youngest daughter Vivienne appeared to diss her father while working with her mother on the Broadway adaptation of The Outsiders, where her name was listed as “Vivienne Jolie” in the show's Playbill. Meanwhile, Shiloh made things official by removing Pitt from her last name on her 18th birthday. According to Entertainment Tonight in June 2024, Shiloh hired her own lawyer and paid for the name change herself.
Background on the Jolie-Pitt Family
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have six children in total: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia in 2002 and Zahara from Ethiopia in 2005; Pitt legally adopted them in December 2005. She adopted Pax from Vietnam in 2007, and Pitt adopted him a year later. The couple began dating in 2005, married in 2014, and welcomed Shiloh in 2006, followed by twins Knox and Vivienne in 2008. All six children have reportedly distanced themselves from their father following Pitt and Jolie's split in 2016.
