Shiloh Jolie paid for her own lawyer to drop Pitt surname - with mom Angelina Jolie blamed for worsening teen's rift with Brad

Brad Pitt’s daughter Shiloh hired and paid for her own lawyer when she filed to drop the Pitt name on her 18th birthday.

Family sources confirm that Shiloh, who turned 18 on May 27, was in the driver’s seat when it came to dropping ‘Pitt’ from her surname ‘Jolie Pitt.’

A source close to the matter said: ‘Shiloh hired her own lawyer and paid for it herself, so Angie doesn’t know and can’t speak for it. 

'But, if you’re asking if this is connected to the abuse history or the violation of Shiloh’s victims rights, yes, that’s part of it.’

Documents to change Shiloh's name were lodged on Monday when she turned 18 – the earliest opportunity she could do so independently.

The revelation that Shiloh paid herself suggests that the ugly spat between former couple Brad Pitt, 60, and Angelina Jolie, 48, may still rumble on in the form of legal action from the six children the couple once shared. 

There were suggestions in supermarket magazines last month that Shiloh was planning to move in with her father as soon as she could. And other stories suggested that movie star Pitt was ‘hopeful’ of reconciling with her now that she is an adult.

However in truth there seems zero prospect that he will reconcile with his children following a notorious and disputed private jet confrontation in 2016.

An FBI report into the incident published in 2022 saw Jolie accuse Pitt of physical assault while flying to California.

She accused her ex of grabbing her by the head and shoulders and shaking her while yelling 'You're f**king up this family.'

The report also saw Brad accused of punching the ceiling of the jet four times, snarling at his children and pouring beer on Angelina. 

Brad was also accused of attacking one of the couple's children on the plane, but was later cleared of wrongdoing by the LAPD. 

There have been long custody battles which ended eventually in a victory for Pitt, who got 50-50 custody in 2021 only to have it overturned on appeal.

He’s had a judge intervene to tell Angelina she mustn’t listen in on his mobile phone calls with the children. The judge has also ordered ‘reunification therapy’ for Pitt and the kids.

The actor set up a skate park in his home for Shiloh, and more recently an art studio to reflect their common interest in art.

He’s sent cars and security to ferry the children from her home to his whenever there is an allotted custody visit. Sadly, none of it has brought them closer.

In fact son Pax said in an Instagram post in 2016 that all four of the youngest children – that’s including Shiloh – ‘tremble with fear in his presence.’ The two elder ones were at that point already declining point blank to see him.

The current situation has seen the children - Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh 18, and Knox and Vivienne, 15 - form a tight gang of seven with his former wife.

Last year Jolie called them 'the closest people to me in my life, and they’re my close friends. We had to heal. There are things we needed to heal from.’

While Shiloh has repeatedly walked red carpets with her famous actress mother, neither she nor her siblings have done the same for Brad. He will often say how proud he is of Shiloh – but clearly the feeling is not mutual.

‘This is the result of textbook parental alienation, and it is a great sadness in him life,’ I am told. ‘There have been years and years of (Angelina) telling and retelling the same lies about (Brad) and the reality is that she has alienated the kids, and the reality is that it is upsetting to Brad. He cares about all of them. It is devastating.’

Being a father was hugely important to him. He could now start a family with his serious girlfriend Ines de Ramon who now lives with him. She is 31, he is 60.

Shiloh, a creative soul who for some years went by the name of John, is a dance student. Speaking at the premiere of his film Bullet Train in 2022, Brad said of her accomplishments: ‘It brings a tear to the eye, yeah. I’m Mr. Two-Left-Feet here.’ For all that pride though, and despite years of custody visits, there is only rejection.

Zahara, a student at Spelman College, Atlanta, no longer uses the name Pitt. Vivienne has been working this spring with Angelina on a musical, The Outsiders in New York and is credited as simply ‘Vivienne Jolie’ in the programme. Maddox and Pax are openly antipathetic towards their father, having not used the Pitt name for years. It seems he has been totally cut out.