It's official: Maddox, the eldest son of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, has decided to stop using his last name Tour, choosing to appear in the film credits simply as Maddox JolieThe choice was seen in the film's closing credits. Couture, released in French theaters and previewed at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, where the 24-year-old appears as an assistant director with only his mother's surname.
The decision marks a clear step for Maddox toward a personal identity distinct from his father's, and comes years after a stormy separation between Jolie and Pitt. The two, one of Hollywood's most famous couples – dubbed Brangelina – they separated more than a decade ago, with a long legal battle for child custody that affected their family life.
This is not an isolated case: the couple's other two daughters – Zahara and Shiloh – had already adopted only the surname Jolie in public and legal contexts in recent years, a fact that has attracted international media attention as a sign of a growing identity process in the children of the former couple.
Maddox's gesture, suggested by the closing credits of Couture, has been met with attention and some public backlash. Some sources report criticism from Pitt's friends, who point to long-standing family tensions and question the dynamic between Jolie and her children after their separation.
In any case, Maddox's choice is part of a broader framework of personalization of identity by the new generations of Hollywood stars: not only to free themselves from their father's fame, but also to define their own career and personal path with greater autonomy.
