Angelina Jolie And Brad Pitt Have Fully Embraced John Jolie-Pitt's Identity From The Start

Jan 15, 2021 by apost team

After super couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt got together, the world wondered if they would have any biological children alongside Jolie's first two adopted children, Maddox and Zahara Jolie-Pitt. Speculation was put to rest when Jolie became pregnant. Media attention was so intense that she traveled to Namibia to deliver her child on May 27, 2006.

Named Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, the child was extraordinary from day one. The baby, who was assigned a female gender at birth, was photographed, and those first photographs were sold for millions, which Pitt and Jolie donated to charity. The John Jolie-Pitt obsession continued as people wondered how perfect a child of such parents could be.

For the Jolie-Pitt family, privacy is vital. They have no known social media presence. More is unknown than known about this famous family. However, one story about young Shiloh has recurred in the media. The child has not gone by Shiloh Jolie-Pitt for years, instead choosing to be called John Jolie-Pitt. The world expected nothing short of genetic perfection from the two Oscar winners as a bidding war for the child's first photos ensued.

The public gaze was hard on the young family, forcing them to the southern African nation of Namibia for the birth in late May 2006. From early in the child's life, the family's privacy became even more important because the question of Shiloh's gender identity didn't take long to emerge. Still, the paparazzi sought information as Shiloh Jolie-Pitt became a toddler. Brad Pitt told Oprah Winfrey that their child didn't want to be called Shiloh even at age 2. At first, Brad Pitt passed it off as a childhood phase.

"She only wants to be called John. John or Peter. So it's a Peter Pan thing," he told Oprah during a 2008 episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

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He went on,

"So we've got to call her John. 'Shi, do you want …' – 'John. I'm John.' And then I'll say, 'John, would you like some orange juice?' And she goes, 'No!' So, you know, it's just that kind of stuff that's cute to parents, and it's probably really obnoxious to other people."

Over the next few years, it appeared the name "John" was there to stay. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt took it in stride. John Jolie-Pitt emulated his brothers and preferred what was traditionally seen as male clothing. Two years later, in the August 2010 edition of Vanity Fair, Angelina Jolie stated, "She wants to be a boy. So we had to cut her hair. She likes to wear boys' everything. She thinks she's one of the brothers."

Rumors persisted that the Jolie-Pitt family and close friends only refer to the child as John and have done so for many years. There were still more rumors, particularly that John Jolie-Pitt had begun to take hormone blockers to stop puberty and change the way his body expressed its gender. Neither Brad Pitt nor Angelina Jolie have ever commented publicly or confirmed this, however.

Just last year, Brad Pitt spoke with Entertainment Tonight about his child, using the name Shiloh. He reminisced and talked about how proud he is of his child, who is now 14 years old. Angelina Jolie has followed suit, also referring to the 14-year-old as Shiloh.

"Brad is so proud of Shiloh and who she has become," a source told The Mirror. "He loves that she always stays true to herself and is so good to her brothers and sisters." 

Angelina Jolie expounded on the name Shiloh's special significance to Vanity Fair back in 2010. "It was a name my parents almost named their first child — there was a miscarriage: Shiloh Baptist. Because my father had been shooting in Georgia and that was the most southern name [they] could come up with." 

"It's a name I always liked. I used to go under it in hotels: Shiloh Baptist. I'd gone under it when Brad called hotel rooms where I was staying." But if you search the internet for "Shiloh Jolie-Pitt," you are often redirected by the search results to the name John. Many people want to know what's up with that. But the truth is, if the Jolie-Pitt clan wants to be private about it, we should all respect that. Still, it brings up some hot-button issues about naming, pronouns and gender identity.

Perhaps John Jolie-Pitt is okay with only his parents calling him "Shiloh." Or Shiloh could be the name they use in public to protect the child's privacy before any life-altering decisions are finalized. After all, such decisions are awfully weighty for a child of 14. It may help that Shiloh, whose namesake is a city in Georgia, is not considered an exclusively female name. This gives the child the option of identifying as male but keeping his original name.

The possibilities for young John Jolie-Pitt are endless, and the decisions are no doubt difficult. What would you want others to do if you were in similar circumstances? You would probably want people to be respectful of your choices and privacy. For the Jolie-Pitt family, that privacy wall is up. There have never been any official comments about the child's gender identity, and there may never be. More to the point, they don't owe the public any answers because of their celebrity status.

The key thing for parents Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is that John Jolie-Pitt is healthy and happy. He counts among his friends Suri Cruise and Millie Bobby Brown. He, his parents and his siblings have a tight-knit family bond, even in a family where the siblings are so different in age.

Maybe we can learn something from the way Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have taken this on. There's no doubt their first biological child is different, but they don't see that as a negative. They didn't seem to overreact or try to change their child to fit established gender norms. They are allowing John Jolie-Pitt to be comfortable in his own skin, exploring how he (or they) wants to dress, what he wants to be called, and, most importantly, who he wants to be. From an outside perspective, it looks like John Jolie-Pitt is getting nothing but support from his family.

Sunnivie Brydum, an LGTBQ activist and writer for The Advocate, has something to say about all this:

"It's possible that children who consistently express a desire to be another gender (rather than simply a preference for toys and clothing commonly associated with the opposite gender) will grow up to be transgender or otherwise gender-nonconforming, but they may also just be exploring their own identity."

"Whether the young Jolie-Pitt will grow up to identify anywhere along a gender-nonconforming or LGBT spectrum is impossible to tell, but one thing is certain—having parents that embrace a child's curiosity, independence, and self-direction is sure to make that young person's life easier as they go through the fundamentally human process of discovering who they truly are."

It is completely natural to look for answers about things we don't understand. We often want people to fit into comfortable categories or labels, complete with pronouns to match. It's fine to want those things in our own lives, but it's essential to recognize that we won't always get them from others.

The bottom line is John Jolie-Pitt is a human being who deserves a family's love and the room to explore and discover just who he is. What do you think about John's Jolie-Pitt's choices and how Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have handled them? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to spread the word about this article if you've enjoyed it.