Somehow, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s daughter Zahara is old enough to be a sophomore at Spelman College. And this week, she joined the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha at the historically Black women’s liberal arts college in Atlanta. A video shared by Essence shows Zahara’s new sorority sisters cheering as the 18-year-old takes center stage and proudly announces: “My name is Zahara Marley Jolie,” seemingly ditching her dad’s last name before flipping her hair and dancing.
Last year, Zahara made headlines when her mother announced that she would be attending an HBCU. After dropping her freshman daughter off, Jolie wrote that it was “an honor to have a family member as a new Spelman girl.” The teen’s decision to attend an HBCU sparked conversations about the importance of non-Black parents who adopt Black children allowing those children to be connected to their racial and cultural identity. Now, many fans are applauding Zahara’s decision to join the country’s oldest Black sorority, whose members include Vice-President Kamala Harris and writer Toni Morrison.
As for the last name, if Zahara is intentionally not using her dad’s name, she wouldn’t be the first of her siblings. A source told Us Weekly back in 2021 that following the couple’s acrimonious divorce proceedings — which have included allegations that Pitt verbally and physically assaulted Zahara’s brother Maddox and Jolie on a private plane in 2016 — Maddox also only uses his mother’s last name.
