Published on
Updated
Reading 2 min.
in collaboration with
Amélie Boukhobza (Clinical psychologist)
According to American media, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, 18 years old, daughter of Brad Pitt and Angélina Jolie, would have initiated procedures on her birthday to permanently remove her father’s name from her identity. A strong symbolic act that our psychologist Amélie Boukhobza tells us about.
Don’t call her Shiloh Jolie-Pitt anymore. The daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt has decided to officially remove her father’s name from her surname since the day she turned 18, on May 27. A more than symbolic decision, since the young woman “hired her own lawyer and paid for it herself” according to People magazine. His request was registered in the Los Angeles court.
More than tense relations between Brad Pitt and his children
The decision, however, is not very surprising: various acts revealed in the media suggest that family relations between Brad Pitt and his children are at their worst, or even non-existent, eight years after the divorce of the two actors.
Maddox, the eldest of the family, no longer wants to speak to him since their violent altercation on a private jet in 2016. He has not called himself Pitt for a long time. Vivienne and Zahara, made the same choice as him, one crediting themselves with the name of Vivienne Jolie and the other Zahara Marley Jolie in their schooling or their artistic life. Last November Pax made another choice, that of publicly calling the actor a “world-class asshole” on Father’s Day. But Shiloh is the first to begin an official procedure.
Changing your name, a strong symbolic act
By removing her father’s name from her own identity (as Suri Cruise, Tom Cruise’s daughter has also just done) and having this decision recognized by the courts, Shiloh Jolie is sending several symbolic messages as Amélie deciphers for us. Boukhobza, clinical psychologist. Some of them particularly target Brad Pitt, the one she wants to make disappear:
“This change can be seen as a direct message to the father. Which clearly means a desire to distance oneself from him, his influence or his legacy. It can also be a reflection of unresolved tensions or internal conflicts regarding his relationship with him by making this decision as an adult, she marks a clear and assertive break in her identity in relation to that of her father.
The other reason, in the lives of these children of stars, is also public and media, a sort of obligatory passage:
“This name change is not just a personal message. As a public figure, the decision to rename herself as Jolie rather than Pitt sends a strong signal: Shiloh is taking a stand alongside her mother! She is therefore defining herself in relation to the strong and inspiring identity of her mother, a woman recognized for her humanitarian commitment and her personal achievements.
4 letters less and a hyphen transformed into a simple line. An act that is not insignificant.”This change will inevitably mark a crucial stage in his development, towards a new phase of his life. Like a new identity!” assures the psychologist.