Angelina Jolie’s children get Brad Pitt’s name

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Los Angeles judge on Thursday
granted Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie’s request to
change the last names of her children to reflect Brad Pitt’s
status as their adoptive father.

Superior Court Judge Linda Lefkowitz granted Jolie’s
petition during a brief and routine name change hearing that
was not attended by either parent, a court clerk said.

The ruling means that Jolie’s children, 4-year-old Maddox
and Zahara, who just turned one, will now carry the last name
Jolie-Pitt.

A spokeswoman for Pitt, 42, confirmed last week that Jolie,
30, was pregnant with a child fathered by the actor, the first
official confirmation of a relationship that had been the
subject of furious tabloid news coverage.

Pitt and Jolie met in 2004 while working together on the
film “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” in which they played married
assassins ordered to kill each other.

Rumors of an affair heated up after Pitt and his ex-wife,
former “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston, split up in January
2005.

Pitt also recently joined Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for
a U.N. refugee agency, in efforts to promote various
humanitarian causes, including fighting poverty in Africa. The
actor accompanied Jolie to Ethiopia in July when she visited
that country to complete the adoption of her infant daughter.

Jolie, who won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her
role in the 1999 film “Girl, Interrupted,” was divorced from
actor Billy Bob Thornton in 2003.