Brad Pitt allegedly tried to prevent his daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt from testifying about her preferences for a custody arrangement years ago, it was alleged Wednesday.
A source said Shiloh expressed a desire to testify at a 2021 hearing amid Pitt’s divorce battle with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie, according to We weekly.
However, Shiloh – who is now 18 – was only 14 at the time of the hearing, so 60-year-old Pitt allegedly tried to prevent her from testifying.
Shiloh later took matters into her own hands and filed to change her last name from Jolie-Pitt to just Jolie, dropping her father’s name.
The judge reportedly agreed with Pitt’s objection, and Shiloh ultimately did not testify, although the source did not share details about what she would have said had she taken the stand.
A Pitt spokesperson had no comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.
Brad Pitt allegedly tried to prevent his daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt from testifying about her preferences for a custody arrangement years ago, it was alleged Wednesday; pictured in LA in 2022
A source said Shiloh — now 18 — expressed a desire to testify at a 2021 hearing amid Pitt’s divorce battle with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie, according to Us Weekly; seen in 2021 in London
She was described as just one of the children who wanted to testify, but it is unclear which other children had hoped to testify.
Pitt and Jolie’s other adopted children — Pax, 20, and Zahara, 19 — would have been older than Shiloh at the time.
Maddox, now 22, would likely have been 18 at the time of the custody hearing, so it may have had little impact on him as he would have been able to choose which parent he wanted to live with.
Pitt was eventually granted joint custody by the judge, but he was soon removed from the case.
In July 2021, the Second District Court of Appeal in California disqualified Judge John W. Ouderkirk, who was serving as a private judge, due to business dealings he had with Pitt’s lawyers.
The Court of Appeals ruled that Ouderkirk had not properly disclosed the business transactions before joining the case.
According to a second source who spoke to Us Weekly, Pitt’s relationship with Shiloh underwent a drastic transformation in recent years.
‘She [used to be] very close with Brad and his family, but that relationship [changed] in recent years,” they claimed.
That change was seemingly illustrated by Shiloh’s request to change her name in May.
Shortly after the filing was reported, a source confirmed to DailyMail.com that the famous daughter had paid her own lawyer to file the name change request.
Shiloh, who was 14 at the time, was reportedly among the other children who wanted to testify, but a judge agreed with Pitt and prevented the testimony before awarding him joint custody; seen with Jolie in 2021 in Rome
“Shiloh hired her own lawyer and paid for it herself, so Angie doesn’t know and can’t speak for it,” they said.
Although Shiloh’s request has not yet been granted, the requests are relatively common, and there is little reason to believe it would be denied.
Days after Shiloh’s dossier was made public, a source close to Pitt said People that he was “aware and angry” about his daughter’s desire to remove his surname from hers.
Shiloh isn’t the only child of the Tree Of Life star and Jolie to try to change their name. The couple share six children: Maddox, 22; Pax, 20; Zahara, 19; Shiloh, 18; and twins Knox and Vivienne, 15.
Recently, her name was mentioned to his daughter Vivienne as “Vivienne Jolie” in a poster for the musical adaptation of The Outsiders, which her mother produced while serving as her assistant. However, it is unknown whether she had legally changed her name.
The former couple’s daughter, Zahara, previously introduced herself as “Zahara Marley Jolie” when she joined the Mu Pi chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College late last year.
And Pitt and Jolie’s eldest sons, Maddox and Pax, reportedly haven’t used their father’s last name publicly in years, and both were openly hostile to him.
Pitt and Jolie began dating publicly shortly after he and his then-wife Jennifer Aniston announced their divorce in 2005.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith costars remained unmarried for years despite having several adopted and biological children together, but they got engaged in 2012 and eventually married in 2014.
However, it wasn’t until about two years later when the Maleficent actress filed for divorce in 2016. She and Pitt were declared legally single in 2019.
However, the two A-listers have been embroiled in an ongoing divorce battle over assets and custody for years.
A central issue appears to be an infamous confrontation between private jets in 2016.
Daughter Vivienne (L) listed her name as ‘Vivienne Jolie’ in a poster for the musical adaptation of The Outsiders, which her mother produced while working as her assistant; seen on April 11 in NYC
Zahara (not pictured) introduced herself to her sorority sisters without her father’s last name, and sons Pax (L) and Maddox (third from right) have both stopped using their father’s name in recent years, too amid their increasingly public feuds with him
In an FBI report on the incident, published in 2022, Jolie accused Pitt of physical assault while she flew to California in 2016. She claimed he was drunk and that he grabbed her by the head and shook her, later pushing her down. , as part of a confrontation reportedly related to their children.
Jolie told the FBI that Pitt told the children she was “confusing this family,” and she said he punched the plane’s ceiling four times, according to a lawsuit.
She claimed that at one point he poured beer on her and a blanket under which she lay with several children.
A source close to Pitt later claimed that he never hit any of the children, although they admitted that he had been drinking.