‘My Name Is Zahara Marley Jolie’: The 21-Year-Old Grad’s Quiet Snub of Brad Pitt Is Deafening
On her terms.
Zahara Marley Jolie just dropped another quiet but unmistakable message to her father, Brad Pitt, during her college graduation. The 21-year-old psychology graduate walked across the stage at her Atlanta ceremony this weekend and was announced as Zahara Marley Jolie, leaving Pitt’s last name off entirely. It’s the latest move in a years-long pattern of Angelina Jolie’s children distancing themselves from their famous dad.
Zahara’s decision to go by only her mother’s last name isn’t new. According to Complex, back in 2023, when she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College, she introduced herself the same way. “My name is Zahara Marley Jolie,” she said in a viral video at the time.
“Coming all the way from the Golden State in the city that is full of angels, Los Angeles, California… I am this line’s number seven,” she added. The moment was confident, proud, and very intentional. This was Zahara staking her identity on her own terms.
Zahara has not been alone dropping Pitt’s name
Her siblings have been doing the same for years. In 2021, her brother Maddox reportedly began referring to himself as Maddox Jolie, and later worked on Angelina Jolie’s film Couture under that name. Shiloh, now 19, legally changed her name to drop Pitt’s last name on her 18th birthday in 2024. Vivienne, 17, was listed as Vivienne Jolie in the playbill for her mother’s 2024 Broadway show The Outsiders, where she worked as a producer.
Even Pax, the oldest at 24, has made his feelings clear. In 2020, he wrote, “Happy Father’s Day to this world-class a**hole!! You time and time again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person.” The post went on to accuse Pitt of making his children “tremble in fear” in his presence and called him a “fing awful human being.”
The estrangement didn’t happen overnight. Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt in 2016 after an alleged incident on a private jet where the family was traveling from France to Los Angeles. According to court documents, Jolie claimed Pitt “choked one of the children and struck another in the face” during a dispute.
She also accused him of grabbing her by the head, shaking her, and pouring beer and wine on both her and the children. Photos from the incident, which Jolie shared with federal authorities, showed injuries to her hand, back, and elbow. An FBI investigation was launched, but no criminal charges were ever filed.
The fallout from that incident has lingered for nearly a decade
Jolie and Pitt’s divorce was finalized in December 2024, but the legal battles haven’t stopped. The couple is still locked in a lawsuit over Château Miraval, the French winery they once co-owned and where they married in 2014. Pitt sued Jolie in 2022 after she sold her stake in the business, and the case is still dragging on.
In court filings, Jolie has said the children have refused to return to Miraval because of its connection to the “painful events” of their divorce. “To this day, the children and I have never again set foot on the property,” she wrote.
The custody situation has also been contentious. In March 2024, Pitt dropped his fight for shared custody of the children, according to sources. Under the current agreement, he has visitation rights with the twins, Knox and Vivienne, but reportedly has “virtually no contact” with his older children, who are now adults.
Pitt hasn’t been photographed with any of his kids since Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. In 2025, he reflected on his past mistakes, saying, “No matter the mistake, you know, you just learn from it and move on. It’ll lead to the next success.” But for his children, moving on seems to mean leaving his name and his presence behind.
Zahara’s graduation moment might have been quiet, but it spoke volumes. For a young woman who has spent most of her life in the public eye, choosing how to identify herself is a powerful statement.
And she’s not the only one making it. Whether it’s Maddox working on films under Jolie, Shiloh legally changing her name, or Pax’s scathing social media post, the message from the Jolie kids is consistent. They’re carving out their own identities, and for now, that doesn’t include their father.
(Featured image: The White House)
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