“Prolonged Campaign of Alienation” – Brad Pitt Source Reacts as Children Drop His Name

Zahara Marley Jolie graduated from Spelman College in May 2026. When she crossed the stage, the announcer called her name as Zahara Marley Jolie. The “Pitt” was gone. Now she has made it official, filing a petition to legally drop “Pitt” from her last name. Her brother Maddox has done the same.

Four of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s six children have now taken steps to distance themselves from the Pitt name. Shiloh legally changed her surname to Jolie in 2024. Vivienne has been credited as Vivienne Jolie in professional work. And now Zahara and Maddox are following suit.

Here is what People reported:

According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, the 21-year-old and the 24-year-old now both have proof of publication, confirming their intent to change their name. The two each published a legal notice in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, in accordance with California law — Zahara published hers on Thursday, July 9, while Maddox published his on Tuesday, July 7.

Zahara is requesting that her full legal name now be “Zahara Marley Jolie” while Maddox is requesting his full legal name now be “Maddox Chivan Jolie.”

The requests are yet to be granted, but the next step is a hearing. Zahara’s hearing has been scheduled for September 28, and Maddox’s hearing is scheduled for September 14.

“This is the result of a prolonged campaign of alienation of children against their parent,” a source close to Pitt, 62, tells PEOPLE. “It’s an incredibly sad reality, but it’s not surprising after years of one parent weaponizing the children against the other one with no regard for the consequences.”

This Is a Choice

The news that Angelina Jolie’s children are legally moving to drop “Pitt” from their names says a lot, even before anyone gets to the paperwork.

Zahara and Maddox have published newspaper notices as part of the legal name-change process, and some outlets are already trying to frame it as drama, publicity or “parental alienation.” But adult children do not go through court hearings, legal notices and public attention just to be petty. No one fights to remove a parent’s surname for no reason.

That is the part people keep trying to dodge. There have been years of reporting around the alleged 2016 plane incident, Angelina’s abuse claims and the children’s reported distance from Brad Pitt. Yet whenever one of the Jolie children drops “Pitt,” certain corners of the press act confused, as if this decision happened in a vacuum.

It did not. And honestly, the “parental alienation” framing is tired. It is often used to shift attention away from what children say they experienced and back onto the feelings of the parent they are choosing distance from. At some point, people have to accept that children grow up. They remember, and they form their own opinions. And when several adult children appear to distance themselves from the same parent, perhaps the question should not be, “What did Angelina do?” Perhaps the question should be, “What did Brad do?”

Final Thoughts

The legal process itself is also absurdly exposing. In places like California, name changes can require public notice in a newspaper before a hearing. That may have been designed to prevent fraud, but in situations involving family trauma, survivors, estrangement or abuse allegations, it can feel needlessly public and invasive. These young adults are trying to reclaim their identities, and the law still makes them announce it like a community bulletin. That feels archaic.

What is powerful, though, is the symbolism. “Jolie” is not just a surname. It is the name tied to the parent who raised them, protected them and appears to have remained their safe place. Angelina herself famously moved away from her father’s name, Voight, and built her public identity around Jolie. Now her children seem to be making their own version of that choice.

And good for them. The public does not need to know every detail of their pain to respect the decision. Their names belong to them. Their relationship with their father belongs to them. And if dropping “Pitt” gives them peace, clarity or distance, that should be enough.

The most revealing part is how angry some people get when children of famous men stop protecting those men’s image. They can accept a father being legally tied to a child. They struggle to accept that the child may no longer want to carry him.

But parenthood is not just biology, paperwork or a famous last name. It is behaviour, safety and trust. So once that trust is broken, a name can start to feel less like family and more like a burden. Zahara and Maddox choosing Jolie is not a scandal. It sounds like freedom.