Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt‘s daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt has publicly confirmed she is removing “Pitt” as her last name.
Shiloh first petitioned to change her name in May when she turned 18, asking in a Los Angeles County Court to change from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie.
In recent weeks, Shiloh publicly announced the name change in the Los Angeles Times, as is practice under California law. Legislation in the state says an adult seeking to change their name must publish their order to show cause documents in a newspaper for four weeks in a row prior to their court date.
Shiloh’s first notice was made in the L.A. Times on June 17.
In a statement to People magazine, Shiloh’s lawyer Peter Levine said the 18-year-old decided to change her last name “following painful events.”
Levine did not elaborate, though Shiloh’s name change comes amid a fierce legal battle between her famous parents, with Jolie alleging Pitt was physically and mentally abusive to her and their children. The official reason for Shiloh’s name change has not been publicly disclosed.
Levine described Shiloh as a “young adult who has made an independent and significant decision following painful events, and is merely following legal process.”
“Shiloh Jolie did not take out an ‘ad’ announcing any name change, and any press reporting that is inaccurate,” he clarified. “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.”
A hearing for Shiloh’s name change is scheduled for July 29.
Jolie filed to divorce Pitt in 2016, though the exes have continued to battle it out over the Château Miraval winery they once owned together in the south of France.
Pitt first sued Jolie in 2022 after she sold her share of the winery to a Russian oligarch, rather than to him.
Jolie filed a countersuit, claiming she sold her portion of the winery after negotiations to sell to Pitt broke down. He allegedly insisted that Jolie sign a “nondisclosure agreement that would have contractually prohibited her from speaking outside of court about Pitt’s physical and emotional abuse of her and their children.”
The allegations of abuse stem from a now-infamous 2016 flight on a private jet with their children. The Maleficent actor said a drunken Pitt grabbed her, hurled insults and choked one of their children.
Days after the flight, Jolie filed for divorce. She’s since said Pitt’s abuse began “well before” the 2016 flight. The FBI investigated the alleged plane incident that year but did not bring forward any charges against Pitt.
Jolie and Pitt share six kids: Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne, 16.
Shiloh is the only Jolie-Pitt child to legally petition to change their last name, though others have since dropped “Pitt” when introducing themselves publicly.
Last year, Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt introduced herself as only Zahara Marley Jolie while celebrating her acceptance into the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College.
Vivienne has also seemingly ceased using Pitt’s name publicly and was referred to as simply Vivienne Jolie in her co-producer credit in the playbill for the Broadway musical The Outsiders. Jolie is also a producer of The Outsiders.
