Maddox Jolie-Pitt has quietly but publicly dropped his father Brad Pitt’s surname, appearing in the credits of his mother Angelina Jolie’s latest film simply as Maddox Jolie.
The 24-year-old worked as a director’s assistant at Couturea new drama starring Jolie as Maxine Walker, a woman diagnosed with breast cancer whose lives intersect with two others during Paris Fashion Week.
When the Alice Winocour-directed film opened in French cinemas on Wednesday, Maddox’s credits were only in his mother’s name.
It marks a notable shift from 2024, when he was credited as Maddox Jolie-Pitt in his executive producer role on Mariathe film in which Jolie portrayed the late opera singer Maria Callas.
This is not the first time that one of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s children has made such a move.
Zahara, 21, dropped “Pitt” from her name during her Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority induction ceremony at Spelman College in Atlanta in 2023, referring to herself as Zahara Marley Jolie.
And in 2024, Shiloh, 19, was listed as “Shiloh Jolie” in the Playbill for the Broadway production of The outsiders, a play she helped her mother produce.
The particular decision hit Pitt hard, according to a source who spoke to PEOPLE then.
“He’s aware and upset that Shiloh dropped his last name. He’s never felt more joy than when she was born. He’s always wanted a daughter,” the insider said.
“The reminder that he has lost his children is obviously not easy for Brad. He loves his children and misses them. It is very sad.”
The source added that Pitt “still loves all of his children immensely” and that “this whole process has been very hard on the whole family.”
The backdrop to all of this is one of Hollywood’s most extended and ugly divisions.
Jolie, 50, filed for divorce from Pitt, 62, in 2016, seeking full custody of their six children, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and twins Vivienne and Knox.
The couple was declared legally single in 2019 and their divorce was finalized in December 2024.
Despite the settled legal issues, the personal distance between Pitt and his children appears to remain.
A source shared last year that the actor remains estranged from most of them, despite several attempts to reconnect.
