Last week, on her 18th birthday, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt filed to change her legal name to Shiloh Jolie. She apparently hired a lawyer on her own accord and paid for the legal fees herself, without her mother’s input or assistance. An insider just told Us Weekly that Shiloh’s choice to remove “Pitt” from her surname is “connected to the abuse history. That’s part of it.” I would imagine that Brad Pitt’s reaction to Shiloh’s name change reinforced her desire for a name change too – Brad’s team ran to People Magazine and announced that Brad is “aware and upset” about Shiloh’s filing, and then the Pitt insider said: “He’s never felt more joy than when she was born. He always wanted a daughter.” Brad was already a father to a daughter before Shiloh was born: he and Angelina had adopted Zahara the year before. Well, Entertainment Tonight gave Pitt’s team a chance to make a different statement and this is what Team Pitt chose:

Last week, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s daughter, Shiloh, filed a request to drop her famous father’s last name from her own. Now, the Oscar-winning actor, 60, is apparently having a hard time dealing with the emotional turbulence within his family.

A source tells ET, “Brad has always loved being a father and loves his children.”

“This situation is upsetting to him,” the source adds, “and he recognizes that things have been difficult for him and the whole family.”

On May 27, the day she turned 18, Shiloh filed a request with the court to allow her to drop her father’s surname from her own hyphenated surname, a source familiar with the matter told ET. The source added that the teen is requesting a new legal name, hoping to go by simply, “Shiloh Jolie,” as opposed to “Shiloh Jolie-Pitt.”

“Brad has made a tremendous effort to grow and learn from all of his experiences,” the source tells ET. “He would love to find a way to continue to do this, repair things with his kids, and for everyone to get to a better place.”

Shiloh is not the only one of Brad’s kids who has seemingly decided to stop using their father’s last name. Her younger sister, Vivienne, recently co-produced the Broadway production of The Outsiders, alongside her famous mom, and was credited as “Vivienne Jolie.” Additionally, Zahara recently joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and during an introduction ceremony event, she introduced herself as “Zahara Marley Jolie.”

[From ET]

As always, beware of the passive voice. “He recognizes that things have been difficult for him and the whole family.” HE is the one causing all of the “difficulty.” He terrorized Angelina and the children on that plane in 2016. He repeatedly assaulted Angelina in the air and on the ground. He strangled one of his kids and struck another. Sidenote: this isn’t the first time I’ve posited this theory, but I honestly believe Pitt was blackout drunk on the plane and he truly doesn’t remember his violence. It’s not an excuse, but it would explain why his story has changed so many times and how he’s never understood why there was no coming back from it. Beyond that, his abuse of the kids and Angelina has extended past the 2016 plane terror. His team can talk until they’re blue in the face about how “Brad has made a tremendous effort to grow and learn” but the kids have shown for years that they’ve seen him without his mask and they want nothing to do with him.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.