Brad Pitt may be winning the legal fight, but Angelina Jolie has already won the family war

Entertainment

By Sara Nathan

Father’s Day will come and go for Brad Pitt — and he may not even hear from his six kids.

Things seem to have finally reached a tipping point as the children the Oscar winner shares with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie are, one by one, making it clear whose side they’ve chosen.

Although Pitt, 60, has won a series of recent legal challenges against Jolie, 49, it is the actress who is winning the family war. Several of the Jolie-Pitt children no longer use Pitt in their surname, Page Six can reveal.

“It’s extremely upsetting,” admitted a Pitt source, claiming, “She has used the kids as a weapon against Brad … she has separated them from him.

“There is a whole pattern: Any time he has a win in court, she hits back with something to do with the kids.”

The “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” star has been embroiled in a custody fight with Jolie since their 2016 split and things have become increasingly bitter over the years. 

Pitt lost a 50-50 custody agreement that was sealed for privacy in 2021. But just weeks ago, the family’s former security guard Tony Webb alleged in court documents that Jolie had encouraged the children to “avoid” their father during visits.

And now, their daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, whom Page Six is told was home schooled alongside her siblings, has legally applied to remove the “Pitt” from her surname.

Multiple reports stated that Shiloh hired — and paid for — her own lawyer when she turned 18 on May 27. Page Six has seen the filing, issued on behalf of Shiloh by LA-based lawyer Peter K. Levine, which she has signed as Shiloh Jolie.

However, Pitt insiders question who was really behind the move, telling Page Six: “Reasonable people should draw their own conclusions as to who was actually behind it.”

We can also confirm that the couple’s oldest son, Maddox, 22, who has been studying in South Korea and has no relationship with Pitt, dropped “Pitt” back in 2021 and just goes by Jolie.

In the Playbill for the new Broadway musical “The Outsiders,” which 15-year-old daughter Vivienne helped Jolie produce, she’s listed as “Vivienne Jolie.” It is unclear if her twin brother, Knox, still uses their father’s name. The two turn 16 next month.

Meanwhile, Pitt and Jolie’s eldest daughter Zahara, 19, introduced herself as “Zahara Marley Jolie” upon joining the Mu Pi chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College last November.

Son Pax, 20, made an explosive Instagram rant against on Father’s Day 2020.

“Happy Father’s Day to this world class a–hole!! You time and time again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person,” he wrote. “You have no consideration or empathy toward your 4 youngest children who tremble in fear when in your presence.”

Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016 after a now-infamous flight from Nice to the US when she alleged that Pitt grabbed her by the head and shook her, then choked one of their children and struck another when they tried to defend her.

She also claimed that Pitt poured alcohol on both her and their children.

He was cleared by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and never charged with any offense.

The couple, both Oscar winners, have been battling over assets and custody ever since.

“Brad admitted that his behavior on the plane was wrong,” said the Pitt source. “He took steps to improve himself.”

Indeed, Pitt told GQ in 2017 that he had quit smoking and drinking, adding, “I don’t have that ability to do just one or two [drinks] a day. It’s not in my makeup. I’m all in. And I’m going to drive into the ground. I’ve lost my privileges.”

Still, an industry source who knows Jolie points out that Pitt has never actually apologized for what happened on the flight.

Twins Knox and Vivienne are the only minor children and the only ones who would be held to a visitation agreement with their father.

However, when Pitt does see his children, “it’s very difficult,” admitted the Pitt insider.

Aside from their custody fight, Pitt and Jolie have been scrapping over their French vineyard, Chateau Miraval.

Jolie sold her $62 million stake to Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler in 2021, which Pitt argues went against their agreement to offer the other person right of first refusal.

Last month, the ‘Tomb Raider’ actress was ordered by a judge in LA Superior Court to produce every NDA agreement that she signed with a third-party over an eight-year period from 2014 — the year they married — to 2022.

NDA’s have become a key battleground in the dispute over Miraval after Jolie claims she backed out of their agreement because Pitt asked her to sign one as part of their business deal. Jolie is now challenging the judge’s decision on the NDAs, we’re told.

Pitt insiders also feel that Jolie should have never even sold her share of Miraval and instead, help build it up for their children.

“This is only for her benefit,” argued another Pitt source. “How does separating your children from their father help and how does selling your share of Miraval help them? Anything related to Brad has been directed or choreographed by her to inflict the maximum pain on him without any regard for the longterm damage it does to the family.

“She’s made Miraval into a thing about the family when it was just a business dispute and she introduced the family into it.”

Pitt is currently filming an as-yet-untitled movie about Formula One and living with his jeweler girlfriend Ines de Ramon in Los Angeles, while Jolie looked triumphant as she and daughter Vivienne supported Kristen Bell at the opening night of the “Reefer Madness: The Musical” revival in LA on May 31.

“He has consistently refused to comment on anything relating to his children or to say anything negative about their mother despite all of these efforts to separate him from his kids,” said the Pitt insider.

As for the future with his children, his friends have encouraged him to believe that things will get better.

“As the kids get older and end up having a life as their own,” the Pitt insider said, “he can only hope that they will forget a relationship.”