One of the most well-known families in Hollywood history was created by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Over the course of six years, while both of their careers were at their peak, six children—both biological and adopted—came together. The family they had built became the contentious focal point of one of the lengthiest and most complicated celebrity divorce cases in recent memory when the relationship ended in 2016. Eight years after the first separation, the divorce was ultimately finalized in 2024.
Adoption was how the family got started. In 2002, before she and Pitt were dating, at the age of 26 and in a very different stage of her life, Angelina Jolie adopted Maddox Chivan from Cambodia. In 2005, Zahara Marley was adopted from Ethiopia. The Jolie-Pitt relationship had started by the time those early adoptions took place, and Pitt went on to adopt both kids. Then came Pax Thien from Vietnam in 2007 and Shiloh Nouvel, their first biological child, in 2006. Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, the twins, were born in 2008. A public obsession that neither of them had fully desired nor fully avoided was mirrored in the tabloid coverage that followed each of their six children in six years, an amazing increase by any standard.
The public’s knowledge of the children’s life is inconsistent, in part because some of them have been more visible than others. The children are now adults or nearing maturity. Zahara’s first year at Atlanta’s Spelman College attracted a lot of attention, partly due to the way she chose to publicly identify herself. In the Broadway musical The Outsiders, which her mother was involved in, Vivienne made an appearance as a producer credit under a name that noticeably omitted “Pitt.” Shiloh’s personal identity and style have been the focus of ongoing media attention, although people close to her have always handled it more gracefully than some media outlets.
Even by her own standards, Jolie’s directness when discussing her kids in a September 2023 Vogue interview was uncommon. “Having children saved me — and taught me to be in this world differently,” she remarked. She explained that she had stayed in a better place during a truly trying time because of her children. She stated that one of her boys was residing in her New York City apartment, which she described as also serving as a crash pad for the others, in an interview with the New York Times in March 2025. The picture of a son requesting her to give him a day to tidy before she arrived was specific enough to feel more like a real-life event than a staged story.
Because little is known, the image on the Pitt side is far less detailed. Pitt has “virtually no contact” with his adult children, according to a source who spoke to People in July 2024. According to the same source, Pitt has visitation rights with the younger children in accordance with their agreement, while Jolie has the kids most of the time. The complete nature of his ties with each of his six children has not been publicly established with any precision, and neither party has specifically corroborated this reporting.
