Back in May 2005, Brad Pitt, recently separated and single, was staying low-key at the Chateau Marmont. He took refuge in the hotel’s private bungalow, infamously known as the site where John Belushi passed away in the 1980s, under the shelter of a paparazzi-proof cover.

The nation was stirred by Pitt’s split from Jennifer Aniston, while Hollywood was buzzing with speculations about his rumored relationship with actress Angelina Jolie.

Fast forward 20 years, and it was Pitt and Jolie’s adopted son who took shelter within the Chateau’s mock Gothic walls.

Last month, 21-year-old Pax was spotted leaving the same hotel with a sleepy grin and an unsteady gait. Supported by several friends, they made their way to the Deja Vu strip club in the Hollywood Hills, eventually departing at 2:30 in the morning.

It was a concerning scene, not overlooked by Pitt’s camp.

Indeed, in exclusive comments to the Daily Mail, a source close to the Oscar-winning actor says Pitt has washed his hands of Pax’s drama: ‘He has zero concern with what Pax does or doesn’t do. [Pax’s] actions reflect who he is.’

‘Brad honestly considers his relationship with Pax unfixable,’ they added.

It’s a remarkable statement for a father to make, but nine years on from Angelina and Brad’s 2016 split, Pitt now appears ready to cut ties with at least two of his children… while desperately holding out hope for reconciliation with the other four.

Shiloh, Pitt and Jolie’s 19-year-old Namibia-born daughter, whose baby photos fetched a record $4.1 million, legally changed her last name last year on the day she turned 18, dropping Pitt and officially opting to be known as Shiloh Nouvel Jolie.

At least three of the other four kids appear to have informally dropped the famous last name.

Zahara, a 20-year-old student at Spelman College in Georgia, adopted in 2005, reportedly goes by the surname Jolie – as does Vivienne, who with her twin brother Knox will turn 17 on July 12.

Indeed, the familial strain is most apparent with the adopted boys; Maddox, 23 (adopted in 2001) and 21-year-old Pax (adopted in 2007).

As far back as 2021, Maddox was reported to call himself Maddox Jolie.

A pilot, who studied biochemistry at South Korea’s Yonsei University, Maddox was reportedly involved in a physical confrontation with Pitt on a private jet in 2016 that sparked Pitt’s separation and divorce from Jolie.

Adopted from a Cambodian orphanage by Jolie, and then legally adopted by Pitt, Maddox was asked in 2019 by In Touch Weekly if his relationship with Pitt was done for good, and replied: ‘Whatever happens, happens.’

Pax has called Pitt ‘a world class a**hole.’

On Father’s Day in 2020, he wrote, with a photo of Pitt receiving his Oscar: ‘You time and time again prove to be a terrible and despicable person. You have no consideration or empathy toward your four youngest children who tremble in fear when in your presence. You have made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell. You may tell yourself and the world whatever you want, but the truth will come to light someday.’

The source close to Pitt told Daily Mail that the 61-year-old actor blames his ex-wife, who had primary custody of the children for years, for their rebellions.

‘Brad believes that whatever his kids are going through right now is a direct result of how they have been raised,’ said the person familiar with Pitt’s thinking.

‘They are now old enough to make their own choices and if their choices include drama that is all on them. Brad would be there to give advice, but he cannot be when he is unable to have a relationship with them at this time.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Jolie and Pitt but has not received a response.

However, a source close to Jolie hit back at her ex husband, saying: ‘Brad continues to play the victim. His fractured relationship with his children is a direct result of how he has treated them. He should stop blaming others. If he wants to rebuild a relationship with the kids, he should acknowledge his own actions and make amends.’ 

Pitt’s problems with the adopted boys were perhaps foreshadowed in 2009, when he told a magazine that he saw it as his job to rein them in. 

‘I am [a disciplinarian] with the boys,’ he said. ‘Girls do no wrong, so I don’t have to be. I feel like my job is to show them around, help them find what they want to do with their life, put as many things in front of them, and pull them back when they get out of line, so they know who they are.’

Our source close to Pitt also said that the actor doesn’t appear to be planning any outreach to either of his adopted sons: ‘Pax and Maddox have made it abundantly clear how they feel, and Brad has nothing to say about either of them.’

As to his other children, Pitt, the source says, ‘holds out hope that the others will one day come around. Time heals wounds.’

Pitt’s sprawling Missouri-based family – in particular his parents Jane, 85, a retired school counselor, and William, 84, who ran a trucking company – also hope the children will repair their frayed ties to their father.

‘The Pitt family was hoping that after Brad and Angelina’s divorce was finalized [in December 2024] the kids would come around and re-establish a relationship,’ a Pitt family insider told the Daily Mail.

In contrast, Jolie doesn’t have much close family to speak of, something that isn’t lost on the Pitt family.

‘[The Pitt-Jolie children] have no other family because Angelina is estranged from her brother and has no nieces and nephews,’ the source said. ‘Her mother is dead, and she has a difficult relationship with her dad.

‘But the Pitt family is so loving, and they are so close – all of them. Brad’s children have 30 cousins who they were previously close to. They would spend vacations together at Brad’s beach house and would visit. They haven’t had any contact in years.’

Meanwhile, Brad and Jolie remain in demand and busy. Pitt is in the midst of a promotional tour for his much-anticipated $200 million motor-racing film, F1, which is released on June 27. Jolie, who turned 50 on June 4, finished filming Paris fashion drama Couture in the spring, and is in pre-production for Maleficent 3.

And, the drama shows little sign of abating.