The years-long fallout from the separation of Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt appears to have taken another significant turn, as their eldest son, Maddox Chivan Jolie, has reportedly filed to legally remove ” Pitt ” from his surname.
According to court documents obtained by E! News, the 24-year-old has filed a request to officially change his name from Maddox Chivan Jolie Pitt to Maddox Chivan Jolie.
If approved, the move would formalise a transition that Maddox has already begun making in his professional life.
The filing marks the latest development in what many observers see as an ongoing distancing between several of the former couple’s children and their famous father.
While neither Jolie nor Pitt has publicly commented on the matter, reports indicate that representatives for both stars were contacted for a response after the news broke.
For the family’s followers, the legal filing may not come as a complete surprise.
Maddox has already been using the name “Maddox Jolie” in certain professional settings.
Last year, he worked as an assistant director on the French drama Couture, directed by his mother. During the movie’s premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, production notes distributed to journalists reportedly listed him without the Pitt surname.
That quiet change now appears to be moving into the legal arena.
Maddox is the eldest of the six children born to Jolie and Pitt, whose highly publicised relationship ended in 2016 after more than a decade together.
In addition to Maddox, the former couple are parents to Pax Jolie, Zahara Jolie, Shiloh Jolie, and twins Knox Jolie and Vivienne Jolie.
Maddox is not the first of the children to publicly abandon the Pitt surname.
In 2023, Zahara introduced herself as Zahara Marley Jolie during an event after joining the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College. More recently, reports indicated that the same name was used when she received her college diploma.
Similar changes have also surfaced in the professional lives of some of the other children.
The developments have fueled ongoing speculation about the family dynamics following Jolie and Pitt’s lengthy legal battles, which included disputes over custody and other matters connected to their separation.
Neither parent has publicly discussed the children’s decisions regarding their surnames.
However, the latest filing from Maddox is likely to attract considerable attention given his status as the eldest child and the symbolic significance of formally dropping his father’s name.
Over the years, Maddox has largely stayed out of the spotlight, though he has occasionally worked behind the scenes on some of his mother’s projects.
His latest move suggests a desire to establish a personal and professional identity independent of the surname that once linked him to one of Hollywood’s most famous couples.
While the legal process continues, the filing represents another chapter in the evolving story of the Jolie Pitt family. This family has remained the subject of public fascination long after Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt went their separate ways.
For many observers, the name change is more than a legal formality. It reflects how the next generation of the family is choosing to define itself on its own terms.
