Rosario Monachino
Angelina Jolie’s daughter Zahara has changed her name for a heartbreaking reason.
The Maleficent star, 48, has six children; Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, – whom she adopted from Cambodia, Vietnam and Ethiopia, respectively – Shiloh, 17, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 15, whom she shares with her ex-husband Brad Pitt, 60.
Despite splitting up seven years ago, the former Hollywood couple has been embroiled in a high-profile feud which has centred around the custody of their children – along with their shares in a wine company.
Since enrolling at college, people have noticed that Zahara has changed her name and there is a sad reason behind it.
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Zahara has joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority – which is recognised as the first historically Black sorority in the Greek system – at Spelman College, where she had to take to the stage to introduce herself to her new sisters.
Jolie initially announced her daughter’s plans to attend the university in a celebratory Instagram post – in which she shared a picture of Zahara alongside her classmates.
The caption reads: “Zahara with her Spelman sisters! Congratulations to all new students starting this year.
“A very special place and an honour to have a family member as a new Spelman girl.”
In an exclusive interview with People, Pitt shared the same emotions as Jolie when asked about his daughter attending Spelman – saying that it was a ‘really beautiful’ moment.
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Jolie filed for divorce from her Mr & Mrs Smith co-star in 2016 – citing irreconcilable differences at the time.
A representative for the Tomb Raider star told People: “Angelina Jolie Pitt has filed for dissolution of the marriage. This decision was made for the health of the family. She will not be commenting at this time, and asks that the family be given their privacy during this difficult time.”
Reports emerged at the time of an incident that happened on a private flight from France to Los Angeles – where Pitt was accused of verbally and physically abusing Jolie on the plane, along with getting in an altercation with one of their children, as per the BBC.
The Oceans Eleven star has denied the allegations of physically abusing Jolie, but a source close to the actor admitted to People that the former couple did have an argument which ‘got out of hand’.
“He is emphatic that it did not reach the level of physical abuse, that no one was physically harmed,” the source states.
“He did not hit his child in the face in any way. He did not do that; he is emphatic about that.”
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And it seems the split has had an impact on Zahara – and her name, in particular….
Reportedly, she enthusiastically introduced herself by saying: “My name is Zahara Marley Jolie. And [I] landed all the way from the Golden State in the city full of angels: Los Angeles, California.”
People online have noticed that she’s dropped Pitt from her last name, and have reacted to this in the comments.
“She said her name is Zahara Marley JOLIE,” noticed one person.
Someone else commented: “I need people to respect her as an individual who just said her name out loud ZAHARA. MARLEY. JOLIE. Zero mention of the name PITT. Period.”
A third added: “I wasn’t gonna say anything, but I definitely peeped that Zahara left Pitt off her last name.”
“Oh, Zahara said her last name is Jolie, not Jolie-Pitt,” penned another viewer.
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Along with Zahara, Maddox has also dropped the Pitt last name – having been publicly supportive of his mum since she and the Bullet Train star split up.
According to US Weekly, he testified against his dad in 2021 in Pitt and Jolie’s custody battle.
A source close to the family told the outlet: “Maddox has already given testimony as [an] adult in the ongoing custody dispute and it wasn’t very flattering toward Brad.
“He doesn’t use Pitt as his last name on documents that aren’t legal and instead uses Jolie.
“Maddox wants to legally change his last name to Jolie, which Angelina has said she doesn’t support.”
What do you think of the name change?
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