An attorney for Shiloh, the daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, has spoken out for the first time about her “significant” decision to drop “Pitt” from her last name.
It was reported over the weekend that Shiloh placed an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times stating that she had requested to change her name from “Shiloh Jolie-Pitt” to “Shiloh Jolie.”
According to previous reports, Shiloh first filed a request to change her name on her 18th birthday, May 27. The LA Times notification was the next step in the legal process, where under California law, the applicant must publish legal forms in a newspaper for a month before a judge can approve the request.
Now, amid speculation surrounding the newspaper’s announcement, Shiloh’s attorney, Peter Levine, has issued a statement clearing up any confusion about how she has navigated the process.
“The media should be more careful in their reporting,” the lawyer said, “especially when covering a young adult who has made an independent and significant decision after painful events and is simply following a legal process.”
Levine’s mention of the “painful events” that led to Shiloh’s decision comes amid speculation that she and her five siblings (Maddox, 22; Pax, 20; Zahara, 19; and 16-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne) are largely estranged from their father in the wake of his split from Angelina in 2016.
Their divorce is still ongoing, and Angelina’s initial request to end the marriage in September 2016 is believed to have been prompted by an alleged incident on a private jet, in which Brad was accused of physically abusing Maddox, then 15.
Although Shiloh is the first of her siblings to file a legal petition to change her name, her sisters, Zahara and Vivienne, have also publicly dropped “Pitt” from their last names on separate occasions.
Earlier this month, People published reports that Brad has “virtually no contact” with his adult children and “has visitation rights to the younger children” under a custody agreement with Angelina. He is also said to be “aware and upset” that Shiloh has requested to change her name.