Brad Pitt Skips Zahara’s Graduation, Steps Out With Ines

Zahara Marley Jolie walked across the stage at Spelman College on Sunday, May 17, diploma in hand, surrounded by her mother and siblings — and without her father anywhere in sight. Brad Pitt, sources say, didn’t just skip the ceremony. He never even reached out.

According to TMZ, Pitt made no contact with Zahara or anyone at the school about securing a ticket to the graduation. A source close to Angelina Jolie put it plainly: “Nothing prevented him from showing up for her. Or ever visiting her. The day was about all she accomplished. Not whether he was willing to attend.”

Jolie was in Atlanta for the full celebration weekend, cheering on her eldest daughter alongside sons Pax, 22, and Knox, 17. The 21-year-old earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology — and, as The Daily Mail noted, a minor in educational studies — from the historically Black college in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a genuine achievement, and by all accounts the day was filled with joy for the Jolie side of the family.

Sources connected to Pitt offered a different framing for his silence. They told TMZ that the actor has become so estranged from his kids — in large part due to animosity connected to his split from Jolie — that any outreach on his part would have been “unwelcome.” The distance, those sources say, hasn’t cooled.

A Name That Says Everything

The moment that landed hardest wasn’t his absence — it was the name called over the loudspeaker. While Spelman’s official commencement program listed her as Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt, the name read aloud as she crossed the stage was simply: Zahara Marley Jolie.

It wasn’t the first time. Zahara introduced herself as Zahara Marley Jolie when she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in November 2023. In April 2026, she went by Zahara Jolie at the Pearls of Purpose Foundation’s mother-daughter brunch — where she also delivered a speech about her mother that, by multiple accounts, moved people in the room to tears. She spoke about Angelina’s compassion, her humanitarian work, her unwavering strength. She didn’t mention her father.

Zahara is far from alone among her siblings. Shiloh has filed legal documents to remove Pitt from her name. Vivienne used Vivienne Jolie in the credits of the Broadway production of The Outsiders. Maddox, now 24, has gone by Jolie in professional credits as well, including his work as a production assistant on his mother’s Netflix project Maria. That’s four of Pitt’s six children who have, in one form or another, publicly stepped away from his name.

Sources told People back in 2024 that Pitt has “virtually no contact” with his adult kids. A separate insider told Us Weekly that despite “several efforts to reconnect,” his relationships with all six children remain “strained” — and that it “has caused him a lot of heartbreak.” He reportedly “carries a deep emotional weight” about his family.

Moving On, Red Carpet in Hand

Two days after the graduation, Brad Pitt was on a red carpet in Los Angeles — hand in hand with girlfriend Ines de Ramon.

The couple attended the Mercedes-AMG world premiere at Sixth Street Bridge on Tuesday night, posing together and looking very much like two people having a good evening. Pitt, 62, wore a suit. De Ramon, 33, turned heads in a strapless red dress. The smiles looked easy.

The pair have been together since 2022, and by all accounts the relationship has become something real and steady. A source previously described it as “serious,” and Us Weekly reported that de Ramon was a grounding presence for Pitt during the final stretch of his years-long legal battle with Jolie, which was formally resolved in 2024.

A source close to Pitt pushed back on the narrative surrounding the graduation, telling Page Six: “It’s a shame people feel the need to cast a shadow over [the graduation] by taking a dig at a father who has already been separated from his family.”

Pitt and Jolie split in 2016 after more than a decade together — they met on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, married in 2014, and their separation set off years of custody disputes and legal fights, including a bitter battle over their Château Miraval winery that ended with Jolie selling her stake to the Stoli Group for a reported $67 million, a move Pitt later challenged in court.

After the divorce, Pitt acknowledged he had made mistakes he wanted to learn from and move past. He’s since channeled some of his paternal energy elsewhere — sources told RadarOnline that he has taken his role in the lives of late friend Chris Cornell’s children seriously, finding in those relationships “the kind of connection his own kids have denied him.”

Meanwhile, Zahara has her degree. She’s 21, she’s a psychology graduate, and when her name was called at Spelman College, it was the name she chose for herself.