Angelina Jolie's daughter Shiloh made 'painful' decision to drop Brad Pitt's name

She filed to legally change her name last month

Angelina Jolie and Shiloh Jolie
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's divorce is still ongoing, eight years after Angelina officially filed to end their marriage. The couple have not yet reached a settlement - with the sale of their French winery, Chateau Miraval, currently at the centre of a legal dispute - and earlier this year, Brad dropped his legal pursuit for joint custody of their children.

The couple share six children - Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and twins Knox and Vivienne, who turned 16 this month - but Angelina filed for divorce in 2016 after alleging that an altercation took place on a flight to Los Angeles, where she alleges that Brad physically assaulted her and two of their children. He has denied the allegations.

The Bullet Train actor's relationship with his children remains unclear. In 2019, Maddox spoke about Brad for the first time, and in recent months his siblings have officially dropped 'Pitt' from their surname. In May, their daughter Vivienne styled herself simply as 'Vivienne Jolie' in the listing for The Outsiders, a Broadway play she helped produce alongside mum Angelina. And she wasn't the only one to adjust her name, either. Just a week later, it was confirmed that Shiloh officially made a legal request to remove Pitt from her surname.

The teenager turned 18 on 27th May, and reportedly filed to change her name on the same day. It made headline news when the Los Angeles Times shared a legal notice, but Shiloh's lawyer Peter Levine shared a statement on her behalf, stating that she 'made an independent and significant decision following painful events' and that it wasn't intended as a public announcement.

He added that publishing the information was 'merely following legal process', as he told People: "Shiloh Jolie did not take out an 'ad' announcing any name change, and any press reporting that is inaccurate. As Shiloh's attorney, I am required to publish a legal notice because the law in California requires that of anyone who wants to change their name. That legal notice was published in the Los Angeles Times, as is required."

Brad and Angelina's daughter Zahara also appears to have unofficially changed her name, with reports that she introduced herself as Zahara Marley Jolie when she started university last year.

Jadie Troy-Pryde
News Editor

Jadie Troy-Pryde is News Editor, covering celebrity and entertainment, royal, lifestyle and viral news. Before joining the team in 2018 as the Lifestyle and Social Media Editor, she worked at a number of women’s fashion and lifestyle titles including Grazia, Women’s Health and Stylist, and now heads the Marie Claire UK news desk.