Inside the toxic Brangelina family feud: Brad Pitt's pals reveal his devastation at being estranged from his adopted children and blame Angelina Jolie for carrying out 'textbook parental alienation' after son called actor 'a f***ing awful human'

Friends of Brad Pitt have spoken of his devastation over his estrangement from his three adopted children – and blame his former wife Angelina Jolie who they claim has carried out 'textbook parental alienation.'

Maddox, 22, Pax, 19, and Zahara, 18 are all believed to be estranged from their adoptive father – with only his three biological children Shiloh, 18, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 15, still seeing him as per a custody agreement.

At the weekend Zahara attended a sorority induction event at Spelman College in Atlanta and gave her name as Zahara Jolie rather than Zahara Jolie-Pitt which is her legal name.

Both Maddox and Pax are said to also have dropped the Pitt name in informal contexts 'years ago.'

Maddox, who has graduated from college in South Korea, is said to have not spoken to Pitt since the incident on a private plane in 2016 which ended the Jolie-Pitt marriage and is apparently openly hostile, saying that he 'doesn't regard Brad as his father' any more.

On Tuesday, DailyMail.com told how a bombshell Instagram post from Pax had resurfaced where he called Pitt a 'f***ing awful human being' and added: 'You time and time and again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person. 

'You have no consideration or empathy toward your four youngest children who tremble in fear when in your presence.

'You will never understand the damage you have done to my family because you're incapable of doing so.'

Friends of the former couple do not dispute that the teen made the comments, published on Pax's private Instagram account, but say that they were made over three years ago.

Some claim that they shine a light on the  poisonous things their children have been told.

One said: 'The publication of the Instagram is sad and frustrating because it does not make things any better. 

'Even when what is said is bad for him, Brad would only ever respect the kids voices. He will never ever speak negatively about any of them and will almost never talk about them in public. 

'There is no question that he would hit back at them.'

The friend added: 'There is a feeling among their friends that the post is a perfect example of parental alienation – I mean this is a textbook demonstration of parental alienation.

'Brad's team think she has been playing these games for years but they do not want to get drawn into battle with her.

'There have been years and years of her telling and retelling the same poisonous things about him 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.'

A source from Jolie's side familiar with the matter said: 'Brad Pitt has nobody to blame but himself. All Angelina wants is to heal their family and move on, but he won't let her go.' 

Pitt's friend added that custody of the six children now only involves the three youngest – Shiloh, who is 17 plus Knox and Vivienne, 15. 

These children are subject to a joint custody agreement which gives more time with Jolie than Pitt.

It has been reported that Pitt has time with them at weekends and for extended periods during school holidays. Jolie has complained that she would like to relocate but that the family has to stay in America as its where Pitt chooses to live.

He's said to be on close terms with Shiloh, who is keen on dancing, and she has made some attempts to act the peacemaker between Pitt and her older siblings.

In interviews last year while promoting the film Bullet Train he mused about his 'beautiful' girl who had grown up and talked about how talented she is at dance unlike 'Mr Two Left Feet here.' He also spoke of his admiration and love for Zahara and pride in her academic achievements.

Friends of Jolie said that the family had been taken slightly by surprise by Zahara's move at the weekend, but pointed out that she and her mother are extremely close.

One said: 'It was a very significant day for her and she let them know that that was what she wanted to do.'

Zahara has been advising Angelina on her clothing range for the about-to-launch fashion venture, Atelier Jolie.

She also came with her on a lobbying visit to Washington last year and was present at meetings with lawmakers where Jolie suggested various judicial reforms.

Pax meanwhile is also involved in Atelier Jolie and has sketched the design for its logo.

He and older brother Maddox have also been working with Jolie on the film Without Blood which she directed earlier this year in Europe.

Both were handed jobs as assistant directors, according to People magazine although they are not credited on IMDB. Jolie commented: 'We work well together. When a film crew is at its best, it feels like a big family, so it feels natural.'

A friend of Pitt's said: 'As far as custody goes the legal team continue to be patient it is just frustrating because people keep on focusing on wrong things. In terms of custody nothing has changed.'

The pal added of Pitt, who has been dating jeweller Ines de Ramon for a year: 'He is doing great on many levels. People seem to be excited about the Formula One film and that is back in production. His film company Plan B is doing great. There are many things in his life which are good. Obviously they are not all good because of the family stuff. It is obviously very upsetting. He really cares about the kids.'

The romance with Jolie always involved his potential role as the stepfather and father to her children. When they first met on the set of the film Mr and Mrs Brad Pitt, (and he was still married to Jennifer Aniston), he was introduced to Angelina Jolie's toddler son Maddox.

At the time sources on the film said that Jolie would show up at Pitt's trailer and tell him: 'Maddox would like to say 'Hi.' Pitt, then 42, was enchanted – by the boy and his mother.

Angelina Jolie had started her family in 2002. Having filmed Tomb Raider in Cambodia she decided that she wanted to adopt an orphaned Cambodian baby although her marriage to Billy Bob Thornton was already rocky. She later said: 'Our marriage was falling apart before I adopted and by the time Maddox came home, Billy and I were apart.'

As the scandal over Brad's marriage break-up raged in 2004, she was spotted playing with Maddox in Central Park, looking the picture of loving motherhood.

Adoption was the path chosen by Jolie. 'Having a child of my own would make me feel that there was a child out there who did not have a home because I had chosen to have a baby,' she told an interviewer in 2005.

In that year she adopted Zahara, a baby from Ethiopia – aided by Brad Pitt. The last adoption came in 2007 when Pax, aged three joined the family. Pitt legally adopted all three.

By the time Jolie was a mother, her own mother Marcheline Bertrand was engaged in a long and devastating battle with breast cancer. She died in 2007, aged 56, after being diagnosed in 1999.

She was close to her mother but never to her father, who had left when she and brother James were young and had been unfaithful, leaving emotional scars on all of them.

Voight, around the time she adopted Pax, begged her to seek help for the 'serious symptoms of real problems' he thought she showed. He added, bluntly: 'She has never been normal.

She and Brad built perhaps the ultimate dysfunctional household for their six children.

Both of them worked periodically, and the whole family spent years criss-crossing the globe. They settled at one time in New Orleans, and in France, and called a myriad of hotels a temporary home.

Brad struggled with the relationship and the spotlight; he would drink heavily and said more than once that he would wake up still drunk from the previous night. His friend Quentin Tarantino alluded to his pot-smoking habit, which Jolie disapproved of. (He gave up alcohol in the wake of his split from Jolie)

One hotel employee, Anna Kowalski, alleged that Angelina and Brad habitually slept in separate rooms as long ago as 2010 and had little to do with each other, with Angelina sitting alone drinking wine in the bedroom of the suite, and Brad sitting in another room with a beer.

As the kids grew older, Jolie found a passion for charitable missions, and would bring them along. Zahara and Shiloh were taken to Ethiopia to scout locations for a medical centre, Maddox went to Iraq as a birthday treat.

At home there were no rules, except that the children weren't encouraged to make any friends outside of the family circle – and the kids ruled the roost.

For instance, from an early age, adopted son Maddox had an interest in guns and knives, and was reportedly bought a knife from a martial arts shop by his mother for his seventh birthday.

Soon afterwards he drew a picture of a machine gun on her mother's day card – and Pitt apparently had the image made into a gold trinket to hang on a chain. Angelina said in an interview: 'He's all into war and guns. So for Mother's Day he drew a machine-gun, and Brad had it made into a necklace, which is really sweet. It's really cute.'

She added: 'My mum took me to buy my first daggers when I was 11 or 12, and I've already bought Maddox some.'

For a time Maddox liked to speak French, even though the rest of the family, with the exception of his mother and brother Pax, struggled with the language.

Shiloh for some time only answered to the name of John and dressed in boy's clothes, including neckties and fedora hats. The habit arose because of her passion for the Peter Pan movie.

One former nanny, who quit in despair, reportedly said that the children insisted on breakfasting on items like pizza or chocolate, and enjoyed a diet of junk food, particularly Cheetos.

It was suggested that the nannies varied in number between six and nine, each having one child as their key responsibility. When Shiloh was three and Zahara five both would carry comfort blankies, even on a trip to the grocery store.

As the marriage entered its final year, her brother James moved in with Angelina and Brad, having been hired as the chief nanny.

He was her great support - who can forget their unsettling kiss on the Oscars red carpet in 2000 – and it is indicated that having James around stoked the tensions which ended the marriage.

I was even told by one source that relations were so sour between the two men of the house that Brad used to make James fly economy when the rest of the family were in first class. Some magazines suggested that the younger children had fallen into the habit of calling James 'Dad' by the summer of 2016.

And then came that shattering – and disputed – incident on a plane. In legal documents, Jolie said that Pitt hit and choked the children as well as attacking her, and punching the roof of the plane when drunk. At one point, it was claimed, he poured beer on his wife, while he also poured beer and red wine on the children.

Pitt denies the claims. The allegations were investigated by the FBI at the time but no charges were brought 

Five days later, Jolie filed for divorce — just after the second anniversary of their wedding — requesting sole physical custody of the six children.

A lawyer for Pitt said he had accepted responsibility for some things in his past but that he would not accept responsibility for things he did not do. Another source close to the actor dismissed Jolie's account as 'bulls***' and claimed her story was 'constantly evolving'.

The source added: 'She continues to rehash, revise and reimagine her description of an event that happened six years ago by adding completely untrue information each time she fails to get what she wants.' Sources in the Pitt camp described the release of the information as a 'media stunt to inflict pain.'

Since the split there has been years of court-appointed therapy for the children, who shuttle between their warring parents in their respective LA homes via chauffeur cars, accompanied by security.

Angelina has primary custody, Pitt sees them for a certain number of hours on a school day, and every other day of weekends or holidays. Maddox, 15, at the time of the split, reportedly declined to see his father when a first meeting was brokered between Pitt and his children.

'He doesn't really see himself as Brad's son,' a source told US Weekly at the time. Another added more bluntly: 'He never wants to see Brad again.'

As the divorce has dragged on, every issue involving the children has been a flashpoint.

At one point in their judge issued a 'cellphone protocol' saying that Pitt needed to know the children's phone numbers so that he could speak to them or text them, without her intervening or supervising. Angelina was warned of serious consequences if she created a distance between him and the kids.

There was also wrangling about the bona fides of experts and witnesses called during custody hearings. Its understood that Jolie wanted the children to testify about alleged domestic violence. The ruling did not go her way. Judge Oudekirk said her testimony: '

'lacked credibility in many important areas, and the existing custody order between the parties must be modified, per Mr. Pitt's request, in the best interests of the children.'

This was, though, overturned later as the judge had a business relationship with one of Pitt's attorneys which was found by the California appeal court in July 2021 to cast doubt on his impartiality. Pitt's lawyers decried the move as 'crafty.' There have been no further motions over custody since that point.

The legal skirmishes now concern the sale of Jolie's share of the Miravel vineyard to the Stoli group. Last week, Pitt's lawyers were given the nod to proceed in a suit against Jolie for the sale. The war, then, continues.