Zahara Marley Jolie has asked a Los Angeles court to erase Pitt from her legal name, filing a petition this week in Los Angeles Superior Court to be known simply as Zahara Marley Jolie. The 21-year-old’s request marks a formal step away from the surname tied to Brad Pitt, even though she has already been using the shortened name in recent years.
The filing lands now because Jolie’s name change comes only weeks after she graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta on May 17 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She enrolled at the historically Black women’s college in 2022 and was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, making the petition part of a year that has already brought a major milestone in her life.
Jolie is one of six children shared by Angelina Jolie and Pitt, and her filing follows a similar legal surname change by her younger sister, Shiloh Jolie, who dropped Jolie-Pitt for Jolie. It also adds another public marker to a family split that began in 2016 and was not finalized until 2024, years after the couple separated.
The move sits uneasily beside the history that came before it. Angelina Jolie adopted Zahara from Ethiopia in 2005 and has long spoken about keeping her connected to her roots, including a 2019 trip to Ethiopia with Zahara and a meeting that year with Sahle-Work Zewde to discuss ways to help girls stay in school. A source close to Pitt has said Jolie is behind the estranged relationship between Pitt and Zahara, a claim that stands in contrast to the years Jolie spent publicly emphasizing Zahara’s background and identity.
What the Los Angeles Superior Court does with the petition is the next step that matters. If the request is approved, Pitt will no longer be part of Zahara’s legal surname, turning a personal choice she has already made in practice into a formal record.
