Brad Pitt 'Taking Responsibility' for Family's Estrangement as His and Angelina Jolie's Kids Move to Legally Drop His Last Name, Sources Claim

Brad Pitt is allegedly trying to make amends after nearly all of his and ex Angelina Jolie's children moved to remove "Pitt" from their hyphenated last names.

Rob Shuter's Naughty But Nice revealed how Pitt is allegedly handling the rift in his family.

"Brad understands why the children feel the way they do,” one source claimed. “He doesn’t put all the blame on Angelina. He knows he made mistakes, too.”

Jolie and Pitt split in 2016, just two years after tying the knot, though they first got together in 2005. Their divorce took eight years to settle.

During their decade-long relationship, the former couple welcomed six children: Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and 18-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

Zahara, Vivienne and Maddox have each filed petitions to legally change their last names from "Jolie-Pitt" to just "Jolie." Shiloh has already successfully altered her legal name.

Sources claimed Pitt is "taking responsibility" for his part in what may have gone wrong in the relationship with his kids.

“Getting sober meant taking responsibility,” they explained. “Brad has never claimed to be perfect. He’s accepted his share of what happened.”

Some sources have suggested that Jolie "deliberately" drove a wedge between the actor and his children amid their very messy divorce settlement.

"It’s unfortunate when a parent deliberately alienates their children from the other,” a source told Us Weekly.

Things between the exes hit an all-time low when the actress accused her former husband of physically and verbally abusing her and the kids. Pitt denied the allegations and was cleared after an FBI investigation.

Others suggested that the actor is trying to "paint himself as the victim" as his kids choose sides in their parents' split. But an insider explained that Pitt is simply hoping for reconciliation.

“Brad is just looking for a chance to make this right,” the source explained. “He just wants his family back — and he’ll keep waiting for that day."

Not only is Pitt allegedly hurting over the distance between himself and his kids, but his own parents and close relatives are reportedly growing more and more distant as well.

“Brad’s father, William, is now in his 80s, and his mother, Jane, died in 2025 without ever seeing the family reunited," a close friend explained. “Cousins who once grew up together are now strangers, and birthdays and holidays pass with empty chairs where loved ones should be."

As Pitt looks to heal from his family wounds, Jolie has revealed how her children are helping her look forward to the next chapter of her life.

"I’ve come around a little bit to being more of the person I used to be,” she told Yahoo Entertainment in June. "I’m discovering something now that my daughters are older, and they’re talking to me as young women."

“I’m seeing what I want for them and I’m seeing what I don’t want them to lose and what I want them to hold on to,” she added. “It’s kind of reminding me what I may have lost. And I think in some way they’re bringing me back to my old self."