Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s daughter Shiloh has revealed the “painful events” that led to her recent name change.
Shiloh, the former Hollywood couple’s third eldest child, filed for a name change on her 18th birthday this year (May 27). She filed the petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court and, as per California law, publicly announced her decision to change her name in a legal notice in the Los Angeles Times.
According to the petition (via The Los Angeles Times), she now wants to be known as Shiloh Nouvel Jolie.
This came after two other children of Pitt and Jolie appeared to distance themselves from Pitt’s name, with eldest daughter Zahara appearing to portray herself in a video from the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority (via Essence). Daughter Vivienne also recently dropped Pitt’s name in a Playbill credit for Broadway’s The Outsidersaccording to People.
In a new statement, Shiloh’s attorney, Peter Levine, called the “important decision” to change her name.
He said: “The media should be more careful in their reporting… especially when they are reporting on a young adult who has made an independent and important decision after painful events, and is only following a legal process.”
He continued, “Shiloh Jolie did not place an ‘advertisement’ announcing a name change, nor did she issue any press releases that were inaccurate. As Shiloh’s attorney, I am required to publish a legal notice, as California law requires that of anyone who wants to change their name. That legal notice was published in the Los Angeles Timesas required.”
It comes amid Pitt and Jolie’s ongoing divorce proceedings. Jolie filed for divorce in 2016 after an alleged physical confrontation on a private jet, in which one of their children, Maddix, was reportedly involved in the incident.
Pitt was subjected to a “child abuse investigation” in connection with the alleged incident, with the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services later clearing the perpetrator of wrongdoing.
Details of the alleged altercation further came to light in 2022 after Jolie was revealed as the plaintiff in an anonymous complaint against the FBI, which had closed an investigation into Pitt’s alleged domestic abuse. Pitt has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
The former couple are also embroiled in a dispute over their French winery Château Miraval. Pitt sued Jolie in 2022, alleging that she sold her stake in the winery without his prior consent.
Jolie alleges that Pitt blocked her sale of the property and would only agree to a “more onerous” and “extensive” NDA. Jolie has previously suggested that Pitt wants her to sign an NDA to prevent her from speaking out about his allegedly abusive behavior toward her and her children.
Earlier this year, Jolie’s lawyers called Pitt’s attempts to obtain her previous nondisclosure agreements with third parties “abusive.”
In April, Jolie’s lawyers alleged that Pitt had been physically abusive before the plane incident. However, a representative for Pitt declined to comment on the new abuse allegations.