What Brad Pitt's Relationship With Each Of His Kids Is Like Today

Ever since Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie filed for divorce nearly a decade ago, his relationship with his and Jolie's six children has been contentious. The Hollywood power couple had relationship issues before, but the straw that broke the camel's back happened in 2016 when Pitt and the family took a private plane from France to Los Angeles.

However, details of what occurred on the now infamous flight weren't made public until 2022 after Jolie filed a countersuit against Pitt in a legal fight over the couple's French winery. In the court documents, Jolie accused Pitt of verbally abusing and physically attacking her and their children. A few of their kids have already taken sides in the ongoing court proceedings, while others have quietly become more estranged from their famous dad. However, all of the siblings—Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh, Pax, Knox, and Vivienne Jolie-Pitt—were thrown into a messy situation and had to watch as headlines documented their family's battle through no fault of their own.

As of the time of writing, Jolie has primary custody of the former couple's three minor children, Shiloh and twins Vivienne and Knox, while Brad has visitation rights. Despite the "Fight Club" star's attempts to reconcile with his children, their bond with Jolie has only grown stronger. "After years of legal battles, Brad still isn't ready to give up on his children," a source told Us Weekly in 2024. So, just how estranged is Pitt from his children? We're breaking down what Brad Pitt's relationship with each of his kids is like today.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's oldest child, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, has a strained relationship with his father. Despite keeping relatively quiet about his feelings toward Pitt, reports suggest that the two haven't been on the best terms. 

Jolie-Pitt was born in Cambodia in 2001 and adopted by Angelina Jolie a year later. At the time, Jolie hadn't started dating her "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" co-star, and was raising him as a single mother. Eventually, she and Pitt started seeing each other in 2004, and the actor legally adopted Maddox a few years later. Maddox seems to be on Team Jolie, however, and even testified against his father in one of their previous custody proceedings. "[The testimony] wasn't very flattering toward Brad," an insider told Us Weekly in 2021. "He doesn't use Pitt as his last name on documents that aren't legal and instead uses Jolie."

There might be hope for a reconciliation, as the source revealed Maddox was pleased that his father was working on his previous battles with alcohol addiction. "He doesn't completely hate Brad, but he told the truth in the deposition he gave. He's happy that his dad got help and is sober now," the insider shared. Another source told inTouch Weekly that Pitt's attempts to smooth things over on Maddox's birthday went unnoticed. "He sent him a gift for his 21st birthday and a loving note as a last-ditch effort to make amends, but never heard back," the source said.

Zahara Jolie-Pitt was born in 2005 in Ethiopia and adopted shortly after by Jolie. Pitt made the trip with his then-wife for the adoption and became the child's legal father in 2006. However, since her parents' rocky divorce, Zahara has remained quiet about her relationship with her father. But based on how she presents herself at college, we have some clues about where her support lies.

The Spelman College undergraduate made headlines in the fall of 2023 when she dropped her father's last name while rushing at Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. In an Instagram video from the rush week obtained by Essence, Zahara tells the crowd: "My name is Zahara Marley Jolie. And [I] landed all the way from the Golden State in the city full of angels: Los Angeles, California."

Viewers quickly noted that the sorority sister had left out Pitt in her name, which many took to be as a snub as her father. "She said her name is Zahara Marley JOLIE," one user commented. Another praised Jolie's parenting style with no mention of her father, writing, "Girl! She found her tribe ... Angelina did a great job.

Shiloh Jolie-Pitt arguably has the most complex relationship with her father. She was Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's first biological child, and welcomed to the world in 2006 in Namibia, an African country that Jolie first fell in love with while filming "Beyond Borders."

While sources claim (via inTouch Weekly) that she "has always been daddy's little girl," things seem to be changing recently times as her parent's tension has put a strain on her and Brad Pitt's relationship. She's seemingly been close with her dad over the years, despite his divorce from Jolie. Jolie-Pitt even moved in with the "Bullet Train" actor following her 18th birthday, when she had the option to live with either parent.

Her decision to live full-time with Pitt in 2024 may have hit a speed bump, however. According to People, Jolie-Pitt filed to legally change her last name to Jolie in May of that year (with an Instagram bio change to prove it). "He's aware and upset that Shiloh dropped his last name. He's never felt more joy than when she was born. He always wanted a daughter," a source revealed to the publication. "The reminders that he's lost his children," the source continued, has been difficult for Pitt. "He loves his children and misses them. It's very sad."

Some of Brad Pitt's children aren't staying quiet about the actor's parenting skills, and it doesn't look like he's taking home Father of the Year in their book. Pitt's fourth child and second eldest son, Pax Jolie-Pitt, isn't keeping quiet. Per the Daily Mail, took to Instagram on Father's Day in 2020, writing a scathing post about Pitt that has since been deleted. 

Dubbing his father a "world-class a**hole" and that Pitt causes his four younger children to "tremble in fear." He wrote: "You have made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell," adding, "You may tell yourself and the world whatever you want, but the truth will come to light someday ... So Happy Father's Day, you f*****g awful human being." Sources told the publication that Pitt was disappointed to see the rant on social media, revealing that the claims weren't true and adding Pitt found it "depressing to see this dragged up" (per Daily Mail).

Pax was born in 2003 in Vietnam and later adopted by Jolie in 2007. The actor adopted her son without Brad at first, as the couple weren't married at the time, making it harder to bypass Vietnamese regulations about single mothers adopting children. Pitt became Pax's adoptive father a year later.

While Brad Pitt may be on the outs with many of his kids, there may be hope for his youngest fraternal twins, Knox and Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, who were born in 2008. As of the time of writing, the two are both minors, making their custody rights an ongoing point of contention for their parents.

With a chance of custody rights for his twins hanging in the balance, sources say the "Babylon" star is doing what he can to strengthen his bond with them. "[He] has slowly rebuilt his relationship with [the twins]," an insider told inTouch Weekly in 2024. While Pitt's older children have grown further apart from the star, sources say he still keeps up with Knox and Vivienne. "Brad cherishes time with his kids and loves seeing them when he can, when he's in town, once or twice a week," an insider revealed to OK! Magazine. "It's definitely something he prioritizes."

However, it gets complicated when it comes to Vivienne. The youngest daughter decided to forgo Pitt from her last name when listed as a production assistant on the Broadway musical "The Outsiders" in 2024.