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    Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt’s Son Maddox Files to Drop Pitt From Name

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    Watch: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s Son Maddox Files to Drop Pitt From Name

    Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s son Maddox is setting himself apart from his father.

    Indeed, the former couple’s eldest child—who was born Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt—has filed to legally drop “Pitt” from his surname, requesting his name be changed to Maddox Chivan Jolie, according to court documents obtained by E! News May 29.

    E! News has reached out to reps for Angelina and Brad, who’ve yet to publicly address Maddox’s filing, for comment. 

    While this marks a new legal move for Maddox, it’s not the first time he’s made a change to his moniker. 

    After all, the 24-year-old removed his father’s last name in the credits for his work in the Angelina-led film Couture, in which he served as an assistant director.

    Previously, Maddox’s updated name was featured in Couture‘s production notes, which were given to journalists at the French drama’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025.

    In addition to Maddox, Angelina and Brad—who split in 2016—also share Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17. 

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    Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt’s Daughter Zahara Graduates From College

    Maddox is the latest of the former pair’s six children who have dropped their dad’s surname either officially or in their personal or professional lives in the years since their parents’ separation.

    Indeed, Zahara went by Zahara Marley Jolie when making introductions after joining the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman University in 2023. And while graduating from college earlier this month, Zahara was introduced with the changed name as she accepted her diploma.

    And one of her younger siblings followed in her footsteps, with Vivienne having her name credited as Vivienne Jolie in 2024 in the Playbill for The Outsiders musical, in which she worked alongside her mom.

    Yet, Shiloh—who was born Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt—made a permanent change. On her 18th birthday in May 2024, Shiloh filed to legally drop Pitt from her last name and go by Shiloh Jolie. Her request was granted the following August.

    Jun Sato/WireImage/Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images

    And while Angelina and Brad’s kids are taking steps to change their names comes amid the former couple’s years-long legal battle, the moves aren’t anything new for the Jolie-Pitt family. 

    After all, Angelina—born Angelina Jolie Voight—dropped her dad Jon Voight‘s last name early on in her career, while Brad—whose legal name is William Bradley Pitt—chose to drop his middle name for Hollywood.

    Despite their kids making their own names for themselves in their personal and professional lives, with some even working in entertainment, Angelina has previously shared that her children don’t see themselves in front of the camera like their parents. 

    “None of them are dying to be on screen,” she said of her kids during the 2025 Santa Barbara Film Festival, per People. “They’re not interested. They really don’t like any of the celebrity part of it.”

    To learn more about Angelina and Brad’s kids, read on.

    STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

    MaddoxHaving fallen in love with the country of Cambodia while filming 2001’s Tomb Raider, Angelina Jolie paid a visit to an orphanage in the provincial town of Battambang in the hopes of finding her first child.Walking through, “I didn’t feel a connection with any of them,” she later told Vanity Fair, until she saw Maddox—born Aug. 5, 2001—lying in a box suspended from the ceiling. Feeling that bond in an instant, she said, “I cried and cried.” Though the then-26-year-old adopted her eldest son as a single mother, after she began dating future husband Brad Pitt, he started the process to adopt him as well. Thanks to an interest in his mom’s work, when Angelina directed 2017’s First They Killed My Father, the film adaptation of her friend Loung Ung‘s book about the Cambodian genocide by the Khmer Rouge regime, Maddox signed on as executive producer. “I was trying to help wherever I could,”” he told People of the role. As for his boss, aka mom, she’s “fun, funny, and easy to work with,” he said. “She’s a wonder.”After studying biochemistry at South Korea’s Yonsei University (a choice his mom said she “could not be happier about”), Maddox attended a state dinner at the White House in April 2023 when President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden hosted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon Hee.

    Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images

    Born on Nov. 29, 2003, “He spent three-and-a-half years of his life in one place, in one room, in this one little iron bed with 20 other kids, and having no choice for himself to do things, having no freedom,” Angelina told MSN in 2007 of Pax’s early years in an orphange outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.Living with Maddox and sisters Zahara and Shiloh, “suddenly, here he is in a very free situation with new brothers and sisters and a mom and dad,” Angelina continued. “He’s learning English and he’s so loving and he’s wild and free ’cause he suddenly has freedom so he’s a little wild and crazy. But what a tough, remarkable little person.”With an interest in the family business, Pax voiced the character Yoo in Angelina’s animated 2016 film Kung Fu Panda 3 and served as set photographer on First They Killed My Father before attending the 2018 Golden Globes with his mom. He also helped decorate Atelier Jolie, a creative fashion collective and alteration company Angelina opened in NYC, and worked in the assistant director department on the Italian set of her film Without Blood.As Angelina told People of working with both Pax and Maddox, “When a film crew is at its best, it feels like a big family, so it felt natural.”

    Jon Kopaloff/WireImage

    ZaharaThen-3-year-old Maddox accompanied Angelina to the Hawassa, Ethiopia orphanage where she met eldest daughter Zahara, born Jan. 8, 2005. “Mad loves her,” the actress later told Anderson Cooper. “When Z came home she was older, she was seven months old, so for Mad it’s like having this tiny pet he can just hold and look at.”Like her siblings, Zahara has expressed interest in all facets of her mother’s work, attending red carpets, launching her charitable Zahara Collection jewelry line in collaboration with jeweler Robert Procop in 2019 and making trips to Syrian refugee camps as part of her mom’s efforts with the UNHCR.  In August 2022, Angelina grew emotional while dropping Zahara off at Atlanta’s Spelman College (“I haven’t started crying yet so…hopefully I can hold it together,” she shared in an Instagram video), later returning for the HBCU’s homecoming festivities. Zahara—who joined the school’s Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority in 2023—has also accompanied the actress on several trips to Washington, D.C. She was by Angelina’s side when she gave a tearful speech promoting the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act in February 2022 and a year later when they met with lawmakers to advocate for the passage of the Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2022.

    Karwai Tang/WireImage

    ShilohMonths after announcing her pregnancy, Angelina and Brad welcomed Shiloh at Cottage Hospital in Swakopmund, Namibia on May 27, 2006. “Shi’s so full of light and love, she’s just a little honey, and very, very funny,” Angelina said in her MSN interview. “I think I’m recognizing some of myself in that one—she’s going to be a little bit of trouble!”Making her red carpet debut at the Unbroken premiere in 2014, Shiloh went on to appear at events for Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, The Breadwinner and Dumbo, the 2018 National Board of Review Awards Gala and the 2021 Eternals red carpet, where she wore Mom’s Dior gown.”I’m like, ‘Oh my god, wear it and wear it better than me!” Angelina told E!’s Daily Pop of encouraging her kids to raid her closet. “And take it, and it’s your turn, anything.’ I’m that mom.”In addition to showing interest in Angelina’s humanitarian efforts, Shiloh seems to have taken a few steps into the entertainment industry, spending time at L.A.’s Millennium Dance Complex. On her 18th birthday in 2024, she submitted a petition at a Los Angeles Court to remove the hyphenated “Pitt” part of her surname to be known as Shiloh Nouvel Jolie. The legal name change was made official months later.

    Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage

    Debuting her baby bump at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards, Angelina later gave birth to Knox and then his twin sister Vivienne in Nice, France, on July 12, 2008. Settling in at their Château Miraval, “It is chaos, but we are managing it and having a wonderful time,” Angelina told People soon after, adding that Shiloh and Zahara liked to choose the twins’ clothes “and help change and hold them.”Named for Brad’s grandfather, Hal Knox Hillhouse, Angelina noted that “Knox is a lot like Brad, emotionally and physically.” And, indeed, the pair did bear a striking resemblance while attending the 2015 British motorcycle Grand Prix.Like older siblings Pax, Zahara and Shiloh, Knox took on a small role in 2016’s Kung Fu Panda 3, voicing the part of Ku Ku. “They were kind of shy,” Jolie told ET. “They don’t really want to be actors, but I didn’t want them to miss the opportunity. They came in, and they had a lot of fun with it.”

    Bruce Glikas/Getty Images

    VivienneKnox’s younger-by-a-minute fraternal twin “reminds me of my mother in that she isn’t focused on being the center of attention but in being a support to other creatives,” Angelina told E! News in a statement, referring to her late mom Marcheline Bertrand. “She’s very thoughtful and serious about theatre and working hard to best understand how to contribute.”Though she nailed her role as the younger version of Elle Fanning‘s Aurora in 2014’s Maleficent (“I was actually shocked that she was doing so well she went back and hit her mark! It’s frightening,” Angelina said at the time), the high schooler has since gravitated toward behind-the-scenes roles. Angelina said that Vivienne was the one to encourage her to help bring an adaptation of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film The Outsiders to Broadway, so the teen ended up serving as a volunteer assistant to her producer mom on the Tony winner. “She’ll correct me,” Angelina told People of Vivienne, who’s credited in the playbill as Vivienne Jolie. “She’ll say, ‘Didn’t you read the memo? We have to do this, we have to go through this,’ ” Jolie said. “She’s been a really tough assistant. She takes it very, very seriously.”

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