In just a few weeks, Vivienne and Knox Jolie-Pitt officially become adults.
But forget the streamers and the cake: The twins’ 18th birthday, on July 12, truly marks the end of a 10-year battle between their parents, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt — and finally brings a full stop to the couple known as “Brangelina.”
The Hollywood icons have been fighting their way through the courts since September 2016, when Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt after just two years of marriage, alleging torment at the hands of the “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” actor.
For years, the pair were embroiled in a lengthy custody battle over their six children, Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and the twins.
After their birthday, Vivienne and Knox will no longer be beholden to the residual custody agreement, which gave Pitt visitation rights with his minor children while Jolie had primary custody.
We’re told Pitt now has a “very limited” relationship with the brood, many of whom no longer use his surname — including Maddox, who legally filed to drop “Pitt” this week.
A source in the know told us that “it’s not a surprise” that news was released on Thursday, hours after Page Six reported that Pitt had scored a “significant evidentiary victory” in his and Jolie’s ongoing battle over the French vineyard, Chateau Miraval, they shared.
“Angelina has alienated the children from Brad” — particularly “the ones that she knew were especially close to him,” the source said.
An insider familiar with the situation insisted Jolie has never set out to isolate her children from their father and stressed they had issues with the word “alienated” being used with kids who allegedly experienced such family drama.
Page Six has reached out to reps for both Pitt and Jolie.
Some within the ex-couple’s circle muse that Jolie initially believed Pitt might beg her to take him back, despite the toxic allegations.
And when that didn’t happen, one source said, things turned explosive.
This was denied as “categorically false” by the insider familiar with the situation.
In April 2022, Jolie, who will celebrate her 51st birthday Thursday, filed an anonymous lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act, requesting the release of documents pertaining to an alleged domestic abuse incident on board a private jet from France to the US in September 2016.
In court docs Jolie claimed her then-husband had “allegedly physically and verbally assaulted” her and their kids during the plane ride, causing them to experience “lasting physical and mental trauma as a result of the assault.”
Pitt has consistently denied all of Jolie’s physical abuse allegations. Child welfare services cleared him of wrongdoing at the time, and the US Attorney’s Office declined to pursue charges due to insufficient evidence.
In September 2024, Jolie officially dropped her lawsuit.
Pitt has told how he used that moment to quit drinking. He has now been sober for nearly 10 years with the help of a men’s-only AA group, including Bradley Cooper, revealing on “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard,” last June: “It was a difficult time. I needed rebooting. I needed to wake the f–k up in some areas.”
But that hasn’t been enough to win back several of his children.
When daughter Zahara graduated earlier this month from the prestigious Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, she was announced as “Zahara Marley Jolie” during the commencement. Jolie attended the event with sons Pax and Knox.
Zahara had previously delivered a heartfelt, public tribute to Jolie at a sorority brunch in April, describing their dynamic as a “unique, almost kindred relationship” and calling her mother “the most selfless, loving, and understanding woman.”
Although Pitt is currently in Ireland filming “The Riders,” a psychological thriller based on Tim Winton’s acclaimed novel, he is not believed to have been invited — though the insider familiar with the situation told us he could have just shown up.
“This is a celebration!” said the source of Zahara’s graduation, adding that the actor’s exclusion shows “the extent” of the fallout. How many times can you kill the guy?
“There was no reason it had to be like this. There’s no benefit to the kids.”
Vivienne informally removed “Pitt” from her surname when she was credited in Playbill as a production assistant on the Broadway musical “The Outsiders” in 2024, and she can make it official when she turns 18.
Shiloh legally dropped “Pitt” after filing a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court on her 18th birthday in 2024.
Now known as Shiloh Nouvel Jolie, she is making a name for herself as a dancer, appearing in a video for K-pop star Dayoung’s hit “What’s a Girl to Do” in April, and has sparked rumors of romance with fellow dancer Keoni Rose.
Speaking of her kids, Jolie told the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February 2025. “They really don’t like any of the celebrity part of it, especially Shiloh hates it,…“I think in a very healthy way they don’t … It’s not a normal thing. It’s a silly thing really.”
Maddox, who had been studying in North Korea, where he was born, ditched his dad’s surname in February for his work as an assistant director on Jolie’s most recent movie, “Couture.” He previously used “Jolie-Pitt” when credited as an executive producer on his mom’s 2024 film “Maria,” on which his brother Pax worked as a production assistant.
It’s not known if Pax uses Pitt’s name, though he called his father “a world class a–hole” in a 2020 social media post.
Multiple sources now tell Page Six that a 2024 crash — when Pax spent days in the ICU after a serious e-bike crash in LA — was worse than originally reported, saying he suffered extensive head trauma.
As for Knox, he was seen this week in LA, sporting bright red hair while leaving Muay Thai lessons; he’s been studying the martial art for years and has competed in championships.
“The children, who are now adults who make their own decisions, were not only affected by what happened on that plane 10 years ago, but what has happened since — [Pitt] continuing to cover up and minimize his own behavior,” the family insider said. “This has had the biggest impact on his relationships with the children. When will people start asking real questions about what happened to the kids?”
As Page Six has previously reported, Pitt was given joint custody of his children back in 2021. However, Jolie’s lawyers successfully argued to disqualify John Ouderkirk, the private judge the couple had hired to oversee the custody fight, over undisclosed business dealings with Pitt’s attorneys.
“A judge actually looked at the facts. He had a 168-page decision that gave them 50/50 custody that was based on testimony from people who lived with them, dealt with them on a regular basis, therapists and all sorts of people, including the kids themselves and what they had said,” said the source in the know.
“It was a fair conclusion, it allowed both parents to be in a situation of raising the kids, which is best for the children,” the source added, but an “atrocious” decision was made of procedural issues. “It had an influence on the kids, because the likelihood of going through that whole thing again was extremely low.”
In 2024, sources alleged to People that Pitt’s lawyers were using the fight over their Château Miraval winery to “punish” her for leaving him. Her attorneys alleged Pitt’s demands — including attempting to force her to turn over a tranche of private emails and the disclosure of past agreements — were abusive tactics designed to drag out the case, drain her resources and hide his own alleged misconduct.
To this, a Pitt insider hit back, telling the outlet, “They are the ones who were greatly enriched from violating the parties’ agreement in selling the business.”
In May, Page Six reported Jolie had a big win when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge decided not to force her to disclose private correspondence tied to the sale of her stake in the French winery.
While Pitt has been dating girlfriend Ines de Ramon since 2022, Jolie has reportedly only had dalliances including with singer The Weeknd.
She reportedly plans to move away from LA now that her kids are grown and has put her sprawling Los Feliz home up for sale for nearly $30 million. “The Eternals” star “never wanted to live in L.A. full-time,” a source previously told People. “She didn’t have a choice because of the custody arrangement with Brad.”
The actress encourages all of her children to embrace their full individuality, a source told People, adding that raising her kids and being a mom “makes her the happiest.”
“She’s the kind of mom who genuinely wants to be present for the important moments in their lives, and the kids love her,” the insider adds. “They often tell her she’s the best mom, and it makes her tear up. Motherhood is very emotional for her. It makes her the happiest.”
Pitt, meanwhile, continues to face the reality of strained relationships with his kids. “No man or woman should have to go through this,” said the source in the know.
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