Vivienne Jolie-Pitt Just Turned 18 And She's Dropping Her Dad's Name
Vivienne Jolie-Pitt didn't waste much time. Days after turning 18, she was in a Los Angeles courthouse filing paperwork to strip "Pitt" from her legal name — and honestly, at this point, it's less of a surprise than it probably should be.
The petition, filed Monday, July 20, asks a judge to shorten her full name — Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt — down to simply Jolie. Court records list the reason as "personal," which is the same vague explanation her siblings have given. No details, no drama on paper. A hearing is scheduled for November 2.
Vivienne Isn't The First To Do This
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have six kids together — Maddox, 24; Pax, 22; Zahara, 21; Shiloh, 20; and twins Vivienne and Knox, both 18. Their marriage lasted two years before Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, and it took until December 2024 for the whole thing to actually wrap up in court, years after a judge declared them legally single back in 2019.
Shiloh went first, getting her name shortened to Shiloh Jolie in August 2024. Maddox followed in April, filing his own paperwork for the same change — personal reasons, again. Zahara's case is still working through the system, with a hearing set for September 28. And if you were paying attention back in 2024, you might've already guessed Vivienne would eventually do this too — her name showed up simply as "Vivienne Jolie" in the Broadway playbill for her mom's show, "The Outsiders."
A source close to Pitt wasn't thrilled about how this is being framed, telling reporters it's worth remembering that Pitt was granted 50/50 custody back in 2021, following testimony from witnesses, experts, and therapists who'd spent real time around the family.
There's a wrinkle in that argument, though. A California appeals court later tossed that custody ruling entirely, after finding the judge who issued it hadn't disclosed professional relationships with Pitt's own attorneys. So the ruling everyone's citing? It got overturned.
Representatives for both parents, along with Vivienne's attorney, haven't responded to requests for comment yet.
None Of This Is Happening Out Of Nowhere
Since the divorce, Jolie and Pitt have been tangled in legal fights that pulled back the curtain on a family life that looked a lot messier than the tabloids ever let on. One of the ugliest threads involves Château Miraval, the French vineyard they used to co-own — a dispute that eventually surfaced Jolie's claims that Pitt had been physically abusive.
In an October 2022 filing, Jolie alleged Pitt assaulted her and two of their kids during a private flight back in 2016. Later filings went further, with Jolie claiming the abuse actually started well before that flight — but that the plane incident was the first time the children were caught in the middle of it directly.
Pitt has denied all of it. The FBI looked into the allegations and ultimately passed on pursuing any charges.
So where does that leave things? Four out of six kids have now either changed their names or are in the process of doing it. Whatever's really going on behind closed doors, the pattern itself is hard to ignore.
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