Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s son Maddox Jolie-Pitt wants to legally drop Pitt from his last name.
Maddox, 24, filed to remove his father’s surname from his own, according to legal documents seen by Us Weekly on Thursday, May 28.
If the request is granted, Maddox legally will be known as Maddox Chivan Jolie in the future. (Chivan is his middle name.)
Us has reached out to Pitt’s representatives for comment.
Hours before the filing made headlines, news broke that Pitt, 62, had landed a victory in his legal battle with Jolie, 50, over their Château Miraval winery, with a judge granting in part the actor’s motion to “compel” former Stoli general counsel Todd Culyba for further deposition.
“It’s not a surprise this news was released shortly after Brad had a significant evidentiary victory in the Miraval case,” a source tells Us of Maddox’s request.
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In February, Maddox cut Pitt from his name in the credits of Couture, a movie he worked on with his mother. After serving as an assistant director, he was simply listed as Maddox Jolie in the project’s credits.
Jolie and Pitt were married from 2014 to 2019 and have been embroiled in messy legal battles in the years since their 2016 split.
During their relationship, the former couple welcomed kids Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 17. Jolie adopted Maddox prior to meeting Pitt, but the Fight Club star later became his legal father.
While the children all initially used the surname Jolie-Pitt, several of Maddox’s siblings have denounced the Pitt suffix following their parents’ separation.
In June 2024, Zahara used the moniker Zahara Marley Jolie when she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
The previous month, sister Vivenne went by Vivienne Jolie in the Playbill for The Outsiders.
Meanwhile, Shiloh distanced herself from the Moneyball actor by legally filing to drop Pitt’s surname from hers on her 18th birthday. The request was granted in 2024.
“[Shiloh] hired her own lawyer and paid for it herself,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in June 2024.
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A second insider told Us at the time that Pitt was “devastated by this choice.” The source continued, “To him, it was more than a change of name — it was a symbol of a deeper estrangement that has been brewing for years.”
Pitt previously opened up about his shortcomings as a parent during an interview with GQ in 2017.
“I grew up with a father-knows-best/war mentality … instead of really knowing the man and his own self-doubt and struggles. 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,” the actor said.
Pitt also spoke to the magazine about his desire to prioritize his family, adding, “People on their deathbeds don’t talk about what they obtained or were awarded. They talk about their loved ones or their regrets.”
