Fresh blow for Brad Pitt as ‘alienation’ from children continues with legal notice

Brad Pitt’s daughter Vivienne has moved one step closer to legally dropping her famous father’s surname, as the estrangement between the Hollywood actor and his children continues.

The 18-year-old, who is the youngest daughter of Pitt, 62, and ex-wife Angelina Jolie, 51, filed a petition last month asking to change her name from Vivienne Jolie-Pitt to simply Vivienne Jolie.

She has now completed another required step by publishing a legal notice announcing the proposed change.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Vivienne’s petition has appeared in the Los Angeles Daily Journal once a week for four consecutive weeks, as required under California’s name-change procedure.

The notice also gives anyone wishing to oppose her request the opportunity to submit a written objection ahead of a final hearing.

No suggestion has been made that Pitt intends to challenge the application.

Vivienne’s latest move comes after years of signs that the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor’s relationship with several of the six children he shares with Jolie has deteriorated.

The former couple share: Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and 18-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

While the reasons behind each child’s decisions are their own, Vivienne is far from the first of the siblings to stop publicly using Pitt.

Her older sister Shiloh made the decision official in 2024, filing to legally become Shiloh Jolie on the day she turned 18.

At the time, a source previously told People that Pitt was ‘aware and upset’ by his daughter’s choice.

‘The reminders that he’s lost his children, is of course not easy for Brad,’ they claimed. ‘He loves his children and misses them. It’s very sad.’

Earlier this year, Zahara and Maddox also reportedly began the legal process of removing Pitt from their surnames.

Both had already been using Jolie publicly for some time.

Zahara memorably introduced herself as Zahara Marley Jolie during an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority event in 2023 and continued to use the name when she graduated from university this year.

Maddox, meanwhile, was credited as Maddox Jolie for his work on his mother’s film Couture.

Vivienne had similarly begun dropping Pitt long before filing any paperwork. When she worked as her mother’s assistant on the Broadway production of The Outsiders, she was listed in the show’s playbill as Vivienne Jolie.

Her new legal notice, however, brings her considerably closer to making that choice permanent.

The developments come against the backdrop of Pitt and Jolie’s extraordinarily bitter separation, which began almost a decade ago.

Once Hollywood’s most famous couple, everything crumbled following a private plane journey from France to California, in which Jolie accused her husband of being drunk and aggressive.

She claims he grabbed her by the head, injured her back and elbow, choked one of their children, and struck another. 

The altercation was said to have started between him and one of his children, which escalated into a physical fight, in which he poured beer and wine over his family, Jolie claimed.

Five days later Jolie filed for divorce, and eight years after their split, the former couple finally reached a divorce settlement.

In the years since their marriage breakdown, the pair have also been locked in a lengthy legal battle over a French winery.

In October 2021 Jolie sold her half of their shared winery, known as Château Miraval, for $67million (£51million) after discussions for Pitt to buy her out fell through

The following year he sued his ex-wife, claiming her decision to sell her stake to SPI Group owner Yuri Shefler was in violation of their previous agreement to not sell up without the other’s approval.

In a countersuit, she then said that Pitt had secretly manoeuvred to take control of the winery, also accusing him of ‘waging a vindictive war against’ her since she filed for divorce.

Pitt has denied allegations of abuse.

Although the former couple eventually reached a divorce settlement in 2024, the fallout from their marriage has continued to play out both privately and through the courts.

Their children have largely avoided publicly discussing their relationships with Pitt, although a 2020 Father’s Day message allegedly written by Pax later offered a rare and blistering glimpse into the family dynamic.

The then-16-year-old reportedly described his father as a ‘world-class a**hole’ and ‘terrible and despicable person’ in the private Instagram post, which resurfaced publicly three years later.

He also accused Pitt of having ‘no consideration or empathy’ towards his younger children and claimed they were frightened in his presence.

People in Pitt’s circle dismissed the allegations at the time as a ‘depressing smear’.

In court filings made in 2024, Jolie’s lawyers claimed Pitt’s alleged ‘history of physical abuse’ towards Jolie began before the 2016 flight.

They claimed the plane incident was significant because it was allegedly ‘the first time he turned his physical abuse on the children as well’.

Pitt has consistently denied Jolie’s allegations.