Angelina Jolie has now officially dropped Brad Pitt’s name

Here's what we know...

(Image credit: Rex)

Here's what we know...

Despite filing for divorce three years ago, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt‘s separation has been a messy one, with the couple finally announced to be single this week after choosing to ‘bifurcate’ their marriage.

The move allows both parties to have a ‘single’ status while continuing with divorce proceedings, rather than remain to be legally bound as they have been these past three years.

But it seems that even ‘bifurcating’ their marriage has turned messy, with a brief filed by Brad Pitt’s lawyer reporting that Angelina asked Brad to wait a week after he put forward the idea of bifurcating. She then apparently filed to bifurcate herself, according to Brad’s lawyer ‘to create the impression that she, not [Brad], wanted to bifurcate.’

angelina jolie coparenting

REX/Shutterstock
(Image credit: REX/Shutterstock)

It has been reported that the reason behind the bifurcation is simply to ‘emotionally move on’, something that was confirmed this week as Angelina Jolie took another step to end their marriage, dropping Brad Pitt’s last name and returning to ‘Jolie’.

While Angelina Jolie currently looks after the children, Brad will eventually get 50-50 joint custody and it is thought that their six children will keep their hyphenated last names.

Well, that has been a long time coming.

We will continue to update this story.

Jenny Proudfoot
Features Editor

Jenny Proudfoot is an award-winning journalist, specialising in lifestyle, culture, entertainment, international development and politics. She has worked at Marie Claire UK for seven years, rising from intern to Features Editor and is now the most published Marie Claire writer of all time. She was made a 30 under 30 award-winner last year and named a rising star in journalism by the Professional Publishers Association.