They eventually had six children together: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne.
Jolie and Pitt married in August 2014 after years together.
But only two years later, Jolie filed for divorce.
What followed was one of Hollywood's longest and most contentious family-law battles.
The couple were declared legally single in 2019, but numerous financial, custody and property disputes continued for years. Their divorce settlement was finally reached in late 2024 after more than eight years of legal conflict.
Even after the marriage itself was legally dissolved, disputes surrounding the family's history continued to receive significant media attention.
The most prominent issues included custody, allegations surrounding a 2016 private-plane incident, and their dispute over the Château Miraval winery in France.
The FBI and Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services investigated allegations connected with the 2016 flight incident, but no criminal charges were filed against Pitt.
Those events became an important backdrop to the public narrative surrounding the family.
But they should not automatically be treated as an explanation for every decision made by the children.
A Name Does Not Tell the Whole Story
One of the easiest mistakes in celebrity reporting is to interpret a personal decision as a definitive statement about someone's private feelings.
A child changing a surname can mean many different things.
It can be a desire for independence.
It can be an attempt to simplify a name.
It can reflect which side of a family identity feels more personally meaningful.
It can be a professional decision.
Or it can have deeply personal reasons that the individual does not want to make public.
In Vivienne's case, the court filing literally gives the reason as “personal.”
That means the safest conclusion is also the simplest: she wants to be legally known as Vivienne Marcheline Jolie.
Anything more specific would require information that she has not publicly provided.
Vivienne's Connection to Her Mother
Vivienne has also developed a professional connection with her mother.
Her work on The Outsiders represented an early step into the theater world.
Angelina Jolie served as a producer on the Broadway production, while Vivienne worked as an assistant.
Jolie spoke positively about the experience, describing Vivienne as someone interested in theater and the arts.
The Playbill listing was notable because it used the name Vivienne Jolie, rather than Jolie-Pitt.
That means the surname change did not suddenly appear in July 2026.
The public had already seen Vivienne identify professionally as Jolie more than two years earlier.
The new court filing simply takes that identity one step further by seeking legal recognition.
The Surname Story Is Happening as the Children Become Adults
There is another practical explanation for why several of these changes have occurred around the same period.
Jolie and Pitt's children have been reaching adulthood one by one.
Shiloh became 18 in 2024.
Vivienne turned 18 in 2026.
Maddox and Zahara are already adults and have been able to pursue their own legal decisions.
As children become adults, they gain greater control over personal matters such as their names.
That timing is therefore important.
It does not prove why they want the changes, but it explains why several of the legal filings have happened relatively close together.
The family has also moved beyond the period when all six children were minors and their parents were dealing with formal custody arrangements.
According to the Los Angeles Times, by the end of 2024 only twins Knox and Vivienne were still minors.
Now Vivienne herself is an adult.
Her petition therefore represents an individual legal decision made directly by her.
Why Vivienne's Filing Has Attracted So Much Attention
On its own, a young adult changing a surname would not normally be a major international news story.
But this is not an ordinary surname.