Brad Pitt’s Friend Accuses Angelina Jolie of Trying to ‘Separate a Family’ After Their Son Drops His ‘Devastated’ Dad’s Name—’It’s Sad’
Everyone knows Brad Pitt‘s relationship with his children is less than stellar. It has made headlines over and over again ever since his contentious divorce from ex-wife Angelina Jolie. And it’s not just a matter of the kids taking their mother’s side; it’s a matter of Pitt being accused of assaulting not just Jolie, but the kids. No charges were ever filed, but the allegations have persisted, particularly as his kids have continued to make it clear they want nothing to do with him.
Now, with son Maddox seemingly dropping Pitt’s name as well, a close friend of Pitt has told TMZ it’s all Jolie’s fault. “It’s sad — this is a textbook example of what a successful campaign to separate a family looks like,” they said.
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This comes after Maddox, one of the former couple’s six kids, was credited as Maddox Jolie in the movie Couture, where he worked as an assistant director. This is a change from 2024, when Maddox was credited as Maddox Jolie-Pitt when he worked as a production assistant on the Netflix film Maria. His mother, Angelina, was the lead in both movies.
He is not the first of Jolie and Pitt’s kids to make this decision. Daughter Shiloh filed to remove the Pitt surname just days after her 18th birthday, while Zahara and Vivienne have also stopped using the Pitt name.
Maddox, 24, is Jolie and Pitt’s eldest child. He has five younger siblings, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 19, and 17-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. They’ve all made headlines for trying to distance themselves from their father, with even the youngest, Vivienne, being credited as Vivienne Jolie, instead of Vivienne Jolie-Pitt in a Playbill for the Broadway musical The Outsiders, which Vivienne helped her mother produce.
In August of 2024, Essence shared a video of Zahara introducing herself as, “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.” Shiloh, meanwhile, legally changed her name as soon as she was legally able to, with her attorney indicating that the name change was part of “an independent and significant decision following painful events.”
At the time a source told People about Pitt, “He’s aware that Shiloh dropped his last name. The reminders that he’s lost his children, is of course not easy for Brad. He loves his children and misses them.”
Us Weekly also reported in 2024 that Pitt saw the decisions from his kids as “more than a name change.” Instead, according to an insider, “It was a symbol of a deeper estrangement that has been brewing for years,” with another source claiming that he was “finding it extremely difficult to come to terms with” the name change. The first source also added that Pitt was “devastated” by the change.
All in all, things between Pitt and his kids don’t seem like they will change anytime soon. And though his friends might be speaking out for him, Pitt himself has stayed pretty silent on the subject.
