Zahara Jolie crossed the stage at Spelman College's commencement ceremony in Atlanta identified as Zahara Jolie — not Zahara Jolie-Pitt, not Zahara Pitt — Zahara Jolie, marking at least the second notable public occasion on which she has excised her father's name from her own.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie separated in September 2016. The divorce filing cited irreconcilable differences. What followed has included years of contested custody proceedings involving the former couple's six children: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.
Zahara, 19 at the time of the ceremony, had previously appeared under the Jolie surname at an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority induction event, a moment that generated its own round of coverage. The Spelman graduation repeated the choice in a more formal, credentialed register — one that gets printed on a diploma.
Angelina Jolie was photographed in attendance at the ceremony. Brad Pitt's presence was not reported.
The children have not been minors for a requirement of court-imposed naming conventions, and no filing in the public record compels any of them to maintain a hyphenated surname. Zahara is of legal age to call herself whatever she likes.
The diploma will say Jolie.