The Mr. and Mrs. Smith stars share six children, and their familial relationships are divided
In the midst of ongoing legal battles between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, a new bombshell dropped last week when it was revealed that Shiloh, their 18-year-old daughter, was reportedly trying to distance herself from her father.
It is being reported that just days after turning 18, she has hired legal counsel to help drop “Pitt” from her surname to become just “Shiloh Jolie,” a move that mimics her own sisters’.
When Zahara, 19, entered a sorority at her university, it was revealed that she had joined as “Zahara Marley Jolie.” And in April, when 15-year-old Vivienne made her Broadway debut with her mom, she was listed as a production assistant with the name “Vivienne Jolie.”
However, as anyone with knowledge of Hollywood in the late ’90s and early aughts might remember, their journey with their dad, particularly when it comes to dropping his name, doesn’t deviate much from Angelina’s own.
The now 49-year-old is the daughter of actors Marcheline Bertrand and Jon Voight, and while she and brother James were close with their mom, who inspired them to start acting, they had a dysfunctional relationship with their father.
Their father and mother separated when Angelina was just six months old. Marcheline raised the siblings while their father was much less of a presence in their lives. While they did appear at press events together occasionally, and Angelina made a small appearance in her father’s Lookin’ to Get Out in 1982, the father-daughter relationship was strained.
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In 2001, they reconnected briefly when they starred together in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, but that soon deteriorated. “We don’t really speak that much anymore,” she told Vogue in 2002.
Angelina, who at the time had been using her middle name “Jolie” for her stage name, then filed a legal petition to officially change her name to “Angelina Jolie,” as did James, which was granted in September 2002, officially dropping the “Voight.”
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Things changed, though, when in 2007, Marcheline died at the age of 56 from a bout with ovarian cancer, which led to her and her dad reconnecting through their grief, bringing them closer together.
They eventually went public with their reconciliation, with the Oscar-winning Coming Home star making appearances with his daughter and grandchildren as well. After her separation and divorce from Brad, Angelina spoke with Vanity Fair in 2017 about reconnecting with her father and having him be a permanent part of the family.
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“He’s been very good at understanding they needed their grandfather at this time,” she said of his relationship with her six children with her ex. “I had to do a therapy meeting last night and he was just around. He knows kind of the rule — don’t make them play with you. Just be a cool grandpa who’s creative, and hang out and tell stories and read a book in the library.”