Aug. 2, 2026
What Is Happening? Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt’s Kids Legally Dropping Dad’s Names
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RSS Feed News this week that two of Hollywood’s most famous actors both have children who dropped their last names: Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Suri Cruise has changed her name to her mother’s middle name, now going by Suri Noelle. Brad Pitt’s youngest daughter Vivenne has joined older sister and two other siblings in legally dropping Pitt from her name as well. We go over other celebrity kids who dropped their famous father’s last names for varying reasons and go over what the national statistics are for parental estrangement in this country, it’s higher than you might think. But there is good news, long term, for anyone who has distanced themselves from a parent… the chances for reconciliation are statistically high.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks, it is Sunday, August second, and it sounds like one of the coolest things in the world to grow up and have a dad that's one of the biggest movie stars in the world. So why is it that Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt's kids seemingly want nothing to do with him? And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ and episode Robes. That's a little delicate close to the heart, got girls and dads and involved in all this eerobes. And we don't know exactly what's happening in these families. We just say that first and foremost, but we know what these kids have done in regards to their names and their connections to their very famous fathers.
00:00:54
Speaker 2: Yes, we don't know the why, but we know the what.
00:00:57
Speaker 3: And the what is that two of the biggest stars in Hollywood their daughters this week made news that they dropped their dad's last names. That is what we know, and that does beg the question why. I don't know that we'll ever actually know. A lot of folks claim to know. People always fill in the gaps, but at the end of the day, it's sad.
00:01:25
Speaker 2: It's sad. Where yet you would.
00:01:26
Speaker 3: Think, from the outside looking in, how cool is that your dad is like this beloved Hollywood icon who makes millions and millions of dollars wowing audiences.
00:01:37
Speaker 2: They bring people into theaters to cheer them on. They are not just actors or famous actors. They're beloved actors, pubs.
00:01:47
Speaker 1: These are iconic guys. These are not These are Hollywood legends that are just happen to still be around. These are upper echelon, top tier, no matter what, not even a matter of Oscars robes. These guys are legendary. And so let's let's go with just what we know before any speculation and the guesses people make. Go through the kids for me. First of all, for Brad Pitt, right, they have to start there, six, don't they. Yeah, and we'll get more into the detail. But out of his six kids, how many have actually publicly done something to detach the Pit name from their name.
00:02:30
Speaker 2: I'll even go so far as to say legally, no.
00:02:33
Speaker 3: This week, the latest child, the fourth child in the Jolie Pitt gang, has now formally legally changed their name drop Pit. Yes, and so this is Vivian Jolie Pitt now only wants to be known as Vivian and she is the youngest daughter. But also this summer in July, both Sahara and Maddox actually continued their process of legally dropping Pit from their names. They had to take out advertisements in a Los Angeles newspaper to drop their father's surname. So they've already gotten to that step. And Shiloh, the oldest daughter between Julie and Pitt, their their oldest yeah, their oldest daughter period, but the oldest biological daughter too. She made that legal move first back on her eighteenth birthday.
00:03:25
Speaker 2: She's now twenty.
00:03:27
Speaker 1: Wait, well, so how many out of the six have made so, even if it's not official yet. So out of the six, all.
00:03:32
Speaker 3: Of them of the six have like just informally dropped Pitt. So Knox, the oldest one, hasn't really done anything where there's like a name where you would know. But he put out that scathing Instagram post about his dad on Father's Day calling him every name in the book, So he has obviously publicly distanced himself from Brad and then Knox, his biological son, also on a high school diploma, didn't have Now he hasn't made the legal move yet, so I can just say four of them, and the headline was this week at Vivian formally legally made the move as she just turned eighteen to drop pitt from her name.
00:04:15
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Okay, so now, but the I guess a lot of this the biggest headline when it comes to kids dropping the famous daddy's last name. Why is it that Tom Cruise's daughter was in the headlines Because this had kind of been bubbling and we kind of knew this was going in this direction, but Ropes I was getting caught up. And now there are things I'm realizing that other people knew about this relationship that I, frankly I didn't know it.
00:04:40
Speaker 3: Look and a lot of people will come up with their reasons from scientology to whatever, but we know that Surrey Cruz has been going by Surrey Noel. This week it came to light that in her voter registration, which is in Pennsylvania, she goes to Carmen excuse me, Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. So she is registered to vote, and when you're registered to vote, you have to use your legal name.
00:05:03
Speaker 2: Her legal name is Surrey Noel.
00:05:07
Speaker 3: Notably, it's not Surrey Holmes, which is her mom's name, Katie Holmes. It's Surrey Noel, but Noel is Katie Holmes middle name.
00:05:15
Speaker 2: And like, that could suggest a lot of things.
00:05:17
Speaker 3: It could suggest, yes, she wants to distance herself from her father, which many people believe she hasn't seen. Look, there hasn't been a public image of the two of them together since twenty thirteen, and there has been no private confirmation from either party that they have ever been together, been documented together, seeing each other, had any contact with one another. We don't know, but no one has privately said otherwise. So that is what a lot of folks are saying. Hey, thirteen years and there's no known contact between the two. So she look also just might want to distance herself from the publicity having that last She looked exactly like.
00:06:02
Speaker 2: Mama, Right, she looks like Katie Holmes. But you can see Tom and her too, Like, I feel like she looks like she is.
00:06:07
Speaker 3: So recognizable, I guess, so I can understand maybe why she doesn't want that last name period.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: But it's sad. It's sad. I mean, that's choice to make that legal move. You want to distance yourself from your father's name.
00:06:23
Speaker 1: Okay, but there's a couple of ways. You can want to distance yourself from the name for professional reason. It might not have nothing to do with the relationship you have with your dad. Is that fair?
00:06:33
Speaker 2: Absolutely, we have some examples of where that is true.
00:06:35
Speaker 1: Okay, But in these instances robes, when you're talking about there's no real confirmation, not that we need it and we're owed it, right, But when we talk about him not having a relationship with her over a decade potentially, and I don't know what is that real? Is that right? Is that's bullshit? I mean, I don't want No.
00:06:55
Speaker 2: One has said otherwise. I guess that's the point.
00:06:58
Speaker 1: And we haven't seen otherwise either. And we don't have to. You don't have to prove to us that you're a good dad. But these things that brobably is like a cascade of kids wanting to distance themselves in robes. Is not a matter of because I want to make it on my own kind of a thing. Is that I don't want to be associated with that other person.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:07:20
Speaker 3: And the other big famous son that's been making headlines, of course is Brooklyn Beckham with his father and his mother.
00:07:28
Speaker 2: Now he has not dropped his last name, but it was notable.
00:07:31
Speaker 3: When he got married to his wife, they actually changed both of their names to Peltz Beckham, so he did add his wife's name to his last name. Now he hasn't dropped Beckham. She hasn't dropped Beckham's, but.
00:07:46
Speaker 1: She's Pelts Beckham as well.
00:07:48
Speaker 2: Yes, they're both Pelts.
00:07:49
Speaker 1: She picked up the Beckham name. She did, but I'm sorry.
00:07:53
Speaker 2: Yes, they have publicly, and he, some would say cruelly even viciously distanced himself from his parents by airing his grievances with them on social media. That was pretty awful. And that was just a couple of months ago.
00:08:10
Speaker 3: So it just feels like there have been a lot of recent people call them nepo babies, but the kids of uber famous folks publicly distancing themselves from their famous parents or from their famous fathers positively.
00:08:27
Speaker 2: So there are some theories.
00:08:28
Speaker 3: One of them is that, look, if you've lived under the tabloid microscope your entire life, maybe it's just there's a point in which you want to distance yourself from your famous last name. You want to be known for what you've contributed and what you can do in the world, and that could possibly be We don't have to jump to the conclusion that they have some necessarily bad relationship, although in the Brad Pitt situation, some of the kids have been outspoken and at least one of them has and we know just from Angelina and Brad's awful divorce that went on forever, there were lots of accusations flying around, and it does appear that the kids all sided with their mom in that case.
00:09:11
Speaker 2: So it does seem to be specifically targeted towards it.
00:09:15
Speaker 3: I mean, they've all kept Jolie, they've just dropped picked at least in the Surrey Cruise one. She dropped cruise, but she didn't pick up home. She did Noel, So maybe we don't know.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: As much on that one.
00:09:28
Speaker 1: I just I hate that the Brad Pitt guin robes like there's a domino effect the kid after kid after kid you're not proud of, like a guy that we are celebrating like I am. So he's one of my favorites all time, Like, how is it that the house isn't work, that's kid after kid and that there's no indictment of him and his parenting and whatever's going on. I have no idea. I really don't but Robes we are parents of that's tough of a lot of kids and we are around a lot of kids and Robes to us, just what that would feel like that your kid owns no affiliation, no association with your name, which no matter what, robes, that's the one thing you can give them that they.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: Can It's a legacy in a way, right, and you.
00:10:20
Speaker 1: Don't want it. Jolie Pitt should be one of the most robes. That's why is there a better last name you can possibly have?
00:10:29
Speaker 3: Entertainment though, when your parents are no longer together and certainly not getting along, that's a tough hyphenated name to have.
00:10:39
Speaker 1: I would say it is one of the most important, the most dynamic, the most photographed, the most whatever you want to call it, even relevant relationships in Hollywood history. It actually is. It created things, It ended things. It was so it was a legacy. Now, I would like to think Robes that that name and their last name came from at the time a genuine place of love. Genuinely, you were created in some instances or adopted and this name came to you because these two people were in a good place and they wanted I am singing it in the most robes. I don't know what's happening to me over here, but I see it that way, and for them, I think they realize that. So for them to want to cut part of it out says a lot to me.
00:11:34
Speaker 2: Because there's still half of who they.
00:11:36
Speaker 3: Are or not and I do it makes me sad because look, we've been through divorce and we know some are.
00:11:44
Speaker 2: Easier than others, some are harder than others.
00:11:46
Speaker 3: But the reality is that just because you are no longer with your spouse should not, in any way, shape or form, mean that you're no longer with your kids.
00:11:57
Speaker 2: And that's the unfortunate part of it. And who's to blame. No one knows, We'll never know.
00:12:03
Speaker 1: But it's just sad.
00:12:06
Speaker 3: But it's just a big headline. It just feels like there's been a lot of it lately. But it was interesting because there are other NEPO babies who've dropped their last names, not because they've had some awful just riffed with their parent, but I even Malia Obama Barack and Michelle's daughter, she has dropped the Obama from her professional credits because she wants to be She wants to be known for her own work.
00:12:33
Speaker 2: So she goes by Malia Anne.
00:12:35
Speaker 3: Because when you have the last name Obama, it could be divisive in some circles, for sure, but also you don't want it to be that leg up like.
00:12:43
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, of course, yes, we can see why she got that. It's tough. You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.
00:12:50
Speaker 1: Hers is not like Smith, it's not like even it's not like even Holmes. When you see Obama, there is one place your mind is going to go.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And she looks a lot like him too. She looks like the spitting image of him. Actually I thought this was cool. I didn't realize this.
00:13:07
Speaker 3: Liam Neeson's son Michael, dropped Neisson as his last name and actually legally changed it to Richardson for his mom, Natasha Richardson, who God, we loved her. But she died in that freak accident, that ski accident. She was just standing there. It was in Canada. It was in I believe, just outside of Montreal, but or Quebec. She just was standing there and slipped on ice, hit her head. Said she was fine and had a brain beleeve that no one knew of, and just like tragically, suddenly died. So, yes, he changed her last name to honor her. You forgot Amelia Estevez. I love that he kept his father's actual name, his father Martin Sheen, and Martin Sheen changed his last name because he was kind of pressured into it, because no one the whole just you don't want to be Estevez. So he changed his name to like an American's house name. His real name was Ramon Ramone Estevez, and he said he was influenced to change his last name for racist reasons.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: How many people listening right now are learning for the first time that Martin Sheen's name.
00:14:15
Speaker 2: Is actually Ramone Estevez. Yes, his name, and so it's interesting.
00:14:20
Speaker 3: Emelio decided to go with Emelia Estevez, and of course Charlie Sheen chose his dad's last name.
00:14:26
Speaker 2: Here's when you might not know either. Nicholas Cage do you know he changed?
00:14:29
Speaker 1: I know this, I did not. I knew the family connection, but I didn't put it all. I didn't together with the name changed.
00:14:36
Speaker 3: I did not know he was Nicholas Coppola. His aunt obviously, his uncle is Francis Ford Coppola. And he said, as a young actor in the eighties, he did not want to think he made it because his last name was Coppola, and he said a lot.
00:14:51
Speaker 2: This was his quote, I love this.
00:14:52
Speaker 3: People would not stop saying things to me like I love the smell of Nicholas in the morning because of his role in Apocalypse Now or his directing that movie. He said, I decided I don't need this, and I changed it to Cage. It's a combination of Luke Cage from Marvel Comics and John Cage, the avant garde composer speaks volumes about what I've been up to ever since.
00:15:13
Speaker 2: So, yeah, I didn't. I had no idea he was a member of the Coppola family.
00:15:18
Speaker 1: See, I didn't realize the name thing. I knew the connection to the Coppola family, I did not know the explanation behind him.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was his actual name.
00:15:27
Speaker 3: So there are reasons other than parental riffs that cause name changes. When we come back, though, I was curious about just us normal folks, like why would someone change their name from their father's last name, and how many Americans are actually estranged from their fathers from their parents. It's actually surprising and welcome back to Amy and TJ. We are talking about why why someone would choose to change their last name other than obviously getting married, which I still am always surprised. Eighty percent of women, by the way, changed their last name when they get married.
00:16:10
Speaker 1: Are you surprised women do that?
00:16:11
Speaker 3: I'm still I'm surprised it's still that high. I know where we live in New York. I know I was the only person I knew growing up who didn't change their last name.
00:16:19
Speaker 1: Were you surprised that, Hi? You surprised women do that?
00:16:22
Speaker 3: I think I would think in this day and age, more women would keep their last name y, because everyone I know in this industry here in New York is tends to be more like that. I'm surprised, Yes, my bubble, I know how I grew up. Obviously everyone I know changed their last name. That was just interesting. So we're not talking about that. We're talking about actually choosing to change your last name.
00:16:46
Speaker 2: And the question is why.
00:16:47
Speaker 1: Going back to us now, what we're gonna do with the last name here? We haven't.
00:16:50
Speaker 2: That's another episode. I've never changed my name.
00:16:54
Speaker 1: This episode, never changed my never. Maybe in those marriages didn't work out, did they?
00:17:00
Speaker 2: How would you feel about changing your last name to with me? Robot Holmes the record, you don't have a middle name.
00:17:09
Speaker 1: I do not.
00:17:10
Speaker 2: I would be open to do.
00:17:11
Speaker 1: Its outstanding, Amy robot Holmes.
00:17:18
Speaker 2: I'm I'm willing to consider it. Willing to consider Yes, I've never considered it before.
00:17:23
Speaker 1: You heard it here. It is there.
00:17:26
Speaker 3: We are back to white people drop their father's last name. Some of it is safety hiding from someone that they don't want them to find them, so they change their last name just because they have stalking harassment issues.
00:17:40
Speaker 2: They just want to hide.
00:17:41
Speaker 3: The other thing is a fresh start, creating a new personal or professional identity independent of family history Allah Nick Cage. And the other one is, yes, the one that we're hearing about that possibly could be cutting symbolic ties to either an absent parent or an abusive parent. But when you hear that name, you just feel ick. You just feel like that person wasn't my father, That person didn't take care of me. Being a father isn't just about financially filling the gap, but also being there on a daily basis, being the person you can turn to if you need advice, someone who's there to care for you and protect you. Yes, so some people feel like they want to symbolically cut the ties because they didn't feel like that was a parent.
00:18:23
Speaker 2: So that is why people make that. It's like a It is a big move. It's a bold move.
00:18:28
Speaker 1: These kids, and especially in the Brad Pitt situation, roped as soon as soon as they were of age and legally able, they ran out and did this.
00:18:40
Speaker 3: They lined up what the actual HEPP I know it does speak volumes, and I was curious, Look, we're looking at this through a celebrity lens, but in terms of just Americans. This is from the National Institutes of Health. I thought this was the best place I could find some real statistics.
00:18:57
Speaker 2: I thought this was so interesting.
00:19:00
Speaker 3: Percent of people report a period of estrangement from their mothers, and the average age of that estrangement is twenty six. So okay, that gives you an idea people the strange from their moms. It's a really low number. Eighty one percent of those people end up making up become unestranged. I think that's like such an important thing to remember, the right So six percent is low. That's good to see. It's around twenty six.
00:19:27
Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting.
00:19:28
Speaker 3: Is that average point where you say I'm done and but eighty one percent eventually come back together.
00:19:34
Speaker 1: Ah, that's cool, all right, you're.
00:19:36
Speaker 3: Gonna like this one too, And I'm hoping that this the one's to end on a bio note that.
00:19:41
Speaker 2: When it comes to fathers, listen to this.
00:19:43
Speaker 3: Twenty six percent of people report being estranged from their fathers, and the average age of the first parental estrangement where you're like, I want nothing to do with you is twenty three. It makes sense when you get to a certain place in your life, you have some perspective. Maybe as a kid, you're still hoping and you're, you know, don't fully understand. When you get to be twenty three, you're like, you know what, he wasn't there for me. So twenty six percent of people say they have had a period of estrangement from their fathers, and the average age starts at twenty three. Sixty nine percent of those people eventually become unestranged. That is the vast majority. So I am hopeful. We can all be hopeful. Yes, we see the Surrey Cruz or I guess Surre Noel and now the just jo Lee klan, not the pi Joli clan that maybe look that's how they feel right now, they're young adults. They're looking at the immediate history that they know and what they've experienced. But maybe with some perspective and some time and some opportunity for Brad and for Tom to reflect, for the kids to reflect, maybe if you look at these numbers from the National Institutes of Health, there is hope that there will be a period or a point of reconciliation.
00:20:56
Speaker 1: Okay, well, thank you for that. That was a very hopeful note. Right, we don't get statistics on people that make up, right.
00:21:07
Speaker 3: We always hear about the breakup, but the makeup part is important to remember. And when it comes to parents and children, I always hope that you can leave a space for hope, you can leave a.
00:21:17
Speaker 2: Space for maybe you didn't know what.
00:21:20
Speaker 3: Your parent was going through, or you didn't know until you have a kid. I think a lot of times when you have a kid, all of a sudden, you understand your mom more, you understand your dad more. You're like, that's why they always said that, That's why they always did that, And you like you want to call your mom and your dad and give them a big old hug and say I'm sorry for what an asshole I was.
00:21:39
Speaker 2: When you have a teenager.
00:21:40
Speaker 3: Like, it's true, like different parts of my bringing up my daughters, I had different levels of empathy for my parents.
00:21:47
Speaker 1: But also sometimes when stuff goes on around the house, we can also look at it. When we get pushback from teenagers and young adults, we can just go just wait, like we don't have to put we don't have to convince them of anything, because we know they're going to get to where we are and realize that we were right, yeah, just like we realized our parents were right exactly.
00:22:10
Speaker 3: And so there is hope that maybe there can be an unestrangement perhaps of some of these folks we were just talking about, but without everyone. We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roebuck alongside TJ.
00:22:23
Speaker 2: Holmes. We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks, it is Sunday, August second, and it sounds like one of the coolest things in the world to grow up and have a dad that's one of the biggest movie stars in the world. So why is it that Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt's kids seemingly want nothing to do with him? And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ and episode Robes. That's a little delicate close to the heart, got girls and dads and involved in all this eerobes. And we don't know exactly what's happening in these families. We just say that first and foremost, but we know what these kids have done in regards to their names and their connections to their very famous fathers.
00:00:54
Speaker 2: Yes, we don't know the why, but we know the what.
00:00:57
Speaker 3: And the what is that two of the biggest stars in Hollywood their daughters this week made news that they dropped their dad's last names. That is what we know, and that does beg the question why. I don't know that we'll ever actually know. A lot of folks claim to know. People always fill in the gaps, but at the end of the day, it's sad.
00:01:25
Speaker 2: It's sad. Where yet you would.
00:01:26
Speaker 3: Think, from the outside looking in, how cool is that your dad is like this beloved Hollywood icon who makes millions and millions of dollars wowing audiences.
00:01:37
Speaker 2: They bring people into theaters to cheer them on. They are not just actors or famous actors. They're beloved actors, pubs.
00:01:47
Speaker 1: These are iconic guys. These are not These are Hollywood legends that are just happen to still be around. These are upper echelon, top tier, no matter what, not even a matter of Oscars robes. These guys are legendary. And so let's let's go with just what we know before any speculation and the guesses people make. Go through the kids for me. First of all, for Brad Pitt, right, they have to start there, six, don't they. Yeah, and we'll get more into the detail. But out of his six kids, how many have actually publicly done something to detach the Pit name from their name.
00:02:30
Speaker 2: I'll even go so far as to say legally, no.
00:02:33
Speaker 3: This week, the latest child, the fourth child in the Jolie Pitt gang, has now formally legally changed their name drop Pit. Yes, and so this is Vivian Jolie Pitt now only wants to be known as Vivian and she is the youngest daughter. But also this summer in July, both Sahara and Maddox actually continued their process of legally dropping Pit from their names. They had to take out advertisements in a Los Angeles newspaper to drop their father's surname. So they've already gotten to that step. And Shiloh, the oldest daughter between Julie and Pitt, their their oldest yeah, their oldest daughter period, but the oldest biological daughter too. She made that legal move first back on her eighteenth birthday.
00:03:25
Speaker 2: She's now twenty.
00:03:27
Speaker 1: Wait, well, so how many out of the six have made so, even if it's not official yet. So out of the six, all.
00:03:32
Speaker 3: Of them of the six have like just informally dropped Pitt. So Knox, the oldest one, hasn't really done anything where there's like a name where you would know. But he put out that scathing Instagram post about his dad on Father's Day calling him every name in the book, So he has obviously publicly distanced himself from Brad and then Knox, his biological son, also on a high school diploma, didn't have Now he hasn't made the legal move yet, so I can just say four of them, and the headline was this week at Vivian formally legally made the move as she just turned eighteen to drop pitt from her name.
00:04:15
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Okay, so now, but the I guess a lot of this the biggest headline when it comes to kids dropping the famous daddy's last name. Why is it that Tom Cruise's daughter was in the headlines Because this had kind of been bubbling and we kind of knew this was going in this direction, but Ropes I was getting caught up. And now there are things I'm realizing that other people knew about this relationship that I, frankly I didn't know it.
00:04:40
Speaker 3: Look and a lot of people will come up with their reasons from scientology to whatever, but we know that Surrey Cruz has been going by Surrey Noel. This week it came to light that in her voter registration, which is in Pennsylvania, she goes to Carmen excuse me, Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. So she is registered to vote, and when you're registered to vote, you have to use your legal name.
00:05:03
Speaker 2: Her legal name is Surrey Noel.
00:05:07
Speaker 3: Notably, it's not Surrey Holmes, which is her mom's name, Katie Holmes. It's Surrey Noel, but Noel is Katie Holmes middle name.
00:05:15
Speaker 2: And like, that could suggest a lot of things.
00:05:17
Speaker 3: It could suggest, yes, she wants to distance herself from her father, which many people believe she hasn't seen. Look, there hasn't been a public image of the two of them together since twenty thirteen, and there has been no private confirmation from either party that they have ever been together, been documented together, seeing each other, had any contact with one another. We don't know, but no one has privately said otherwise. So that is what a lot of folks are saying. Hey, thirteen years and there's no known contact between the two. So she look also just might want to distance herself from the publicity having that last She looked exactly like.
00:06:02
Speaker 2: Mama, Right, she looks like Katie Holmes. But you can see Tom and her too, Like, I feel like she looks like she is.
00:06:07
Speaker 3: So recognizable, I guess, so I can understand maybe why she doesn't want that last name period.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: But it's sad. It's sad. I mean, that's choice to make that legal move. You want to distance yourself from your father's name.
00:06:23
Speaker 1: Okay, but there's a couple of ways. You can want to distance yourself from the name for professional reason. It might not have nothing to do with the relationship you have with your dad. Is that fair?
00:06:33
Speaker 2: Absolutely, we have some examples of where that is true.
00:06:35
Speaker 1: Okay, But in these instances robes, when you're talking about there's no real confirmation, not that we need it and we're owed it, right, But when we talk about him not having a relationship with her over a decade potentially, and I don't know what is that real? Is that right? Is that's bullshit? I mean, I don't want No.
00:06:55
Speaker 2: One has said otherwise. I guess that's the point.
00:06:58
Speaker 1: And we haven't seen otherwise either. And we don't have to. You don't have to prove to us that you're a good dad. But these things that brobably is like a cascade of kids wanting to distance themselves in robes. Is not a matter of because I want to make it on my own kind of a thing. Is that I don't want to be associated with that other person.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:07:20
Speaker 3: And the other big famous son that's been making headlines, of course is Brooklyn Beckham with his father and his mother.
00:07:28
Speaker 2: Now he has not dropped his last name, but it was notable.
00:07:31
Speaker 3: When he got married to his wife, they actually changed both of their names to Peltz Beckham, so he did add his wife's name to his last name. Now he hasn't dropped Beckham. She hasn't dropped Beckham's, but.
00:07:46
Speaker 1: She's Pelts Beckham as well.
00:07:48
Speaker 2: Yes, they're both Pelts.
00:07:49
Speaker 1: She picked up the Beckham name. She did, but I'm sorry.
00:07:53
Speaker 2: Yes, they have publicly, and he, some would say cruelly even viciously distanced himself from his parents by airing his grievances with them on social media. That was pretty awful. And that was just a couple of months ago.
00:08:10
Speaker 3: So it just feels like there have been a lot of recent people call them nepo babies, but the kids of uber famous folks publicly distancing themselves from their famous parents or from their famous fathers positively.
00:08:27
Speaker 2: So there are some theories.
00:08:28
Speaker 3: One of them is that, look, if you've lived under the tabloid microscope your entire life, maybe it's just there's a point in which you want to distance yourself from your famous last name. You want to be known for what you've contributed and what you can do in the world, and that could possibly be We don't have to jump to the conclusion that they have some necessarily bad relationship, although in the Brad Pitt situation, some of the kids have been outspoken and at least one of them has and we know just from Angelina and Brad's awful divorce that went on forever, there were lots of accusations flying around, and it does appear that the kids all sided with their mom in that case.
00:09:11
Speaker 2: So it does seem to be specifically targeted towards it.
00:09:15
Speaker 3: I mean, they've all kept Jolie, they've just dropped picked at least in the Surrey Cruise one. She dropped cruise, but she didn't pick up home. She did Noel, So maybe we don't know.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: As much on that one.
00:09:28
Speaker 1: I just I hate that the Brad Pitt guin robes like there's a domino effect the kid after kid after kid you're not proud of, like a guy that we are celebrating like I am. So he's one of my favorites all time, Like, how is it that the house isn't work, that's kid after kid and that there's no indictment of him and his parenting and whatever's going on. I have no idea. I really don't but Robes we are parents of that's tough of a lot of kids and we are around a lot of kids and Robes to us, just what that would feel like that your kid owns no affiliation, no association with your name, which no matter what, robes, that's the one thing you can give them that they.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: Can It's a legacy in a way, right, and you.
00:10:20
Speaker 1: Don't want it. Jolie Pitt should be one of the most robes. That's why is there a better last name you can possibly have?
00:10:29
Speaker 3: Entertainment though, when your parents are no longer together and certainly not getting along, that's a tough hyphenated name to have.
00:10:39
Speaker 1: I would say it is one of the most important, the most dynamic, the most photographed, the most whatever you want to call it, even relevant relationships in Hollywood history. It actually is. It created things, It ended things. It was so it was a legacy. Now, I would like to think Robes that that name and their last name came from at the time a genuine place of love. Genuinely, you were created in some instances or adopted and this name came to you because these two people were in a good place and they wanted I am singing it in the most robes. I don't know what's happening to me over here, but I see it that way, and for them, I think they realize that. So for them to want to cut part of it out says a lot to me.
00:11:34
Speaker 2: Because there's still half of who they.
00:11:36
Speaker 3: Are or not and I do it makes me sad because look, we've been through divorce and we know some are.
00:11:44
Speaker 2: Easier than others, some are harder than others.
00:11:46
Speaker 3: But the reality is that just because you are no longer with your spouse should not, in any way, shape or form, mean that you're no longer with your kids.
00:11:57
Speaker 2: And that's the unfortunate part of it. And who's to blame. No one knows, We'll never know.
00:12:03
Speaker 1: But it's just sad.
00:12:06
Speaker 3: But it's just a big headline. It just feels like there's been a lot of it lately. But it was interesting because there are other NEPO babies who've dropped their last names, not because they've had some awful just riffed with their parent, but I even Malia Obama Barack and Michelle's daughter, she has dropped the Obama from her professional credits because she wants to be She wants to be known for her own work.
00:12:33
Speaker 2: So she goes by Malia Anne.
00:12:35
Speaker 3: Because when you have the last name Obama, it could be divisive in some circles, for sure, but also you don't want it to be that leg up like.
00:12:43
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, of course, yes, we can see why she got that. It's tough. You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.
00:12:50
Speaker 1: Hers is not like Smith, it's not like even it's not like even Holmes. When you see Obama, there is one place your mind is going to go.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And she looks a lot like him too. She looks like the spitting image of him. Actually I thought this was cool. I didn't realize this.
00:13:07
Speaker 3: Liam Neeson's son Michael, dropped Neisson as his last name and actually legally changed it to Richardson for his mom, Natasha Richardson, who God, we loved her. But she died in that freak accident, that ski accident. She was just standing there. It was in Canada. It was in I believe, just outside of Montreal, but or Quebec. She just was standing there and slipped on ice, hit her head. Said she was fine and had a brain beleeve that no one knew of, and just like tragically, suddenly died. So, yes, he changed her last name to honor her. You forgot Amelia Estevez. I love that he kept his father's actual name, his father Martin Sheen, and Martin Sheen changed his last name because he was kind of pressured into it, because no one the whole just you don't want to be Estevez. So he changed his name to like an American's house name. His real name was Ramon Ramone Estevez, and he said he was influenced to change his last name for racist reasons.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: How many people listening right now are learning for the first time that Martin Sheen's name.
00:14:15
Speaker 2: Is actually Ramone Estevez. Yes, his name, and so it's interesting.
00:14:20
Speaker 3: Emelio decided to go with Emelia Estevez, and of course Charlie Sheen chose his dad's last name.
00:14:26
Speaker 2: Here's when you might not know either. Nicholas Cage do you know he changed?
00:14:29
Speaker 1: I know this, I did not. I knew the family connection, but I didn't put it all. I didn't together with the name changed.
00:14:36
Speaker 3: I did not know he was Nicholas Coppola. His aunt obviously, his uncle is Francis Ford Coppola. And he said, as a young actor in the eighties, he did not want to think he made it because his last name was Coppola, and he said a lot.
00:14:51
Speaker 2: This was his quote, I love this.
00:14:52
Speaker 3: People would not stop saying things to me like I love the smell of Nicholas in the morning because of his role in Apocalypse Now or his directing that movie. He said, I decided I don't need this, and I changed it to Cage. It's a combination of Luke Cage from Marvel Comics and John Cage, the avant garde composer speaks volumes about what I've been up to ever since.
00:15:13
Speaker 2: So, yeah, I didn't. I had no idea he was a member of the Coppola family.
00:15:18
Speaker 1: See, I didn't realize the name thing. I knew the connection to the Coppola family, I did not know the explanation behind him.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was his actual name.
00:15:27
Speaker 3: So there are reasons other than parental riffs that cause name changes. When we come back, though, I was curious about just us normal folks, like why would someone change their name from their father's last name, and how many Americans are actually estranged from their fathers from their parents. It's actually surprising and welcome back to Amy and TJ. We are talking about why why someone would choose to change their last name other than obviously getting married, which I still am always surprised. Eighty percent of women, by the way, changed their last name when they get married.
00:16:10
Speaker 1: Are you surprised women do that?
00:16:11
Speaker 3: I'm still I'm surprised it's still that high. I know where we live in New York. I know I was the only person I knew growing up who didn't change their last name.
00:16:19
Speaker 1: Were you surprised that, Hi? You surprised women do that?
00:16:22
Speaker 3: I think I would think in this day and age, more women would keep their last name y, because everyone I know in this industry here in New York is tends to be more like that. I'm surprised, Yes, my bubble, I know how I grew up. Obviously everyone I know changed their last name. That was just interesting. So we're not talking about that. We're talking about actually choosing to change your last name.
00:16:46
Speaker 2: And the question is why.
00:16:47
Speaker 1: Going back to us now, what we're gonna do with the last name here? We haven't.
00:16:50
Speaker 2: That's another episode. I've never changed my name.
00:16:54
Speaker 1: This episode, never changed my never. Maybe in those marriages didn't work out, did they?
00:17:00
Speaker 2: How would you feel about changing your last name to with me? Robot Holmes the record, you don't have a middle name.
00:17:09
Speaker 1: I do not.
00:17:10
Speaker 2: I would be open to do.
00:17:11
Speaker 1: Its outstanding, Amy robot Holmes.
00:17:18
Speaker 2: I'm I'm willing to consider it. Willing to consider Yes, I've never considered it before.
00:17:23
Speaker 1: You heard it here. It is there.
00:17:26
Speaker 3: We are back to white people drop their father's last name. Some of it is safety hiding from someone that they don't want them to find them, so they change their last name just because they have stalking harassment issues.
00:17:40
Speaker 2: They just want to hide.
00:17:41
Speaker 3: The other thing is a fresh start, creating a new personal or professional identity independent of family history Allah Nick Cage. And the other one is, yes, the one that we're hearing about that possibly could be cutting symbolic ties to either an absent parent or an abusive parent. But when you hear that name, you just feel ick. You just feel like that person wasn't my father, That person didn't take care of me. Being a father isn't just about financially filling the gap, but also being there on a daily basis, being the person you can turn to if you need advice, someone who's there to care for you and protect you. Yes, so some people feel like they want to symbolically cut the ties because they didn't feel like that was a parent.
00:18:23
Speaker 2: So that is why people make that. It's like a It is a big move. It's a bold move.
00:18:28
Speaker 1: These kids, and especially in the Brad Pitt situation, roped as soon as soon as they were of age and legally able, they ran out and did this.
00:18:40
Speaker 3: They lined up what the actual HEPP I know it does speak volumes, and I was curious, Look, we're looking at this through a celebrity lens, but in terms of just Americans. This is from the National Institutes of Health. I thought this was the best place I could find some real statistics.
00:18:57
Speaker 2: I thought this was so interesting.
00:19:00
Speaker 3: Percent of people report a period of estrangement from their mothers, and the average age of that estrangement is twenty six. So okay, that gives you an idea people the strange from their moms. It's a really low number. Eighty one percent of those people end up making up become unestranged. I think that's like such an important thing to remember, the right So six percent is low. That's good to see. It's around twenty six.
00:19:27
Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting.
00:19:28
Speaker 3: Is that average point where you say I'm done and but eighty one percent eventually come back together.
00:19:34
Speaker 1: Ah, that's cool, all right, you're.
00:19:36
Speaker 3: Gonna like this one too, And I'm hoping that this the one's to end on a bio note that.
00:19:41
Speaker 2: When it comes to fathers, listen to this.
00:19:43
Speaker 3: Twenty six percent of people report being estranged from their fathers, and the average age of the first parental estrangement where you're like, I want nothing to do with you is twenty three. It makes sense when you get to a certain place in your life, you have some perspective. Maybe as a kid, you're still hoping and you're, you know, don't fully understand. When you get to be twenty three, you're like, you know what, he wasn't there for me. So twenty six percent of people say they have had a period of estrangement from their fathers, and the average age starts at twenty three. Sixty nine percent of those people eventually become unestranged. That is the vast majority. So I am hopeful. We can all be hopeful. Yes, we see the Surrey Cruz or I guess Surre Noel and now the just jo Lee klan, not the pi Joli clan that maybe look that's how they feel right now, they're young adults. They're looking at the immediate history that they know and what they've experienced. But maybe with some perspective and some time and some opportunity for Brad and for Tom to reflect, for the kids to reflect, maybe if you look at these numbers from the National Institutes of Health, there is hope that there will be a period or a point of reconciliation.
00:20:56
Speaker 1: Okay, well, thank you for that. That was a very hopeful note. Right, we don't get statistics on people that make up, right.
00:21:07
Speaker 3: We always hear about the breakup, but the makeup part is important to remember. And when it comes to parents and children, I always hope that you can leave a space for hope, you can leave a.
00:21:17
Speaker 2: Space for maybe you didn't know what.
00:21:20
Speaker 3: Your parent was going through, or you didn't know until you have a kid. I think a lot of times when you have a kid, all of a sudden, you understand your mom more, you understand your dad more. You're like, that's why they always said that, That's why they always did that, And you like you want to call your mom and your dad and give them a big old hug and say I'm sorry for what an asshole I was.
00:21:39
Speaker 2: When you have a teenager.
00:21:40
Speaker 3: Like, it's true, like different parts of my bringing up my daughters, I had different levels of empathy for my parents.
00:21:47
Speaker 1: But also sometimes when stuff goes on around the house, we can also look at it. When we get pushback from teenagers and young adults, we can just go just wait, like we don't have to put we don't have to convince them of anything, because we know they're going to get to where we are and realize that we were right, yeah, just like we realized our parents were right exactly.
00:22:10
Speaker 3: And so there is hope that maybe there can be an unestrangement perhaps of some of these folks we were just talking about, but without everyone. We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roebuck alongside TJ.
00:22:23
Speaker 2: Holmes. We'll talk soon.