Another knife in Brad Pitt's heart as his estranged children all decide to change their phone numbers... but he has a plan that would bypass Angelina

Despite his two very public and messy divorces, Brad Pitt once said he sees himself as a 'congenital optimist.'

But his glass half-full seems to have drained in recent years, with the 62-year-old actor revealing he felt such emotional pain at one point in his life that it plunged him into a 'period' of feeling suicidal.

'I just thought – I just couldn't – just didn't see a way out. The pain was so oppressive that I wasn't going to act on this, but I could feel the cold steel of the bullet in my head, and it felt like relief,' he told Esquire magazine in August.

The cause, he said vaguely, was 'family stuff'. But it is no secret what he was referring to.

Pitt's last decade has been plagued by an acrimonious and lengthy divorce from Angelina Jolie – the result of an alleged altercation aboard a private jet in 2016 which saw her accuse him of 'physical abuse.' The incident forced Pitt into Alcoholics Anonymous and obliterated his relationship with his children Maddox, now 25, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 18.

But, sources tell the Daily Mail, Pitt has renewed optimism about reconnecting with his six estranged kids, eyeing Jolie's plans to live a nomadic lifestyle abroad as the perfect opportunity to find a way back to his brood.

'Angie now intends to live out of the States more and Brad's hearing it doesn't appear any of them plan to relocate with their mother,' a source close to the actor told the Daily Mail. 'That could serve as an opportunity to try to get at least some of them back in his life.

'As unlikely as that sounds, he's going to give it his best shot. It's definitely a case of when the cat's away the mice will play for Brad.'

In fact, Pitt plans to recruit friends who stuck by him after his divorce to help with how to navigate such a reunion, the insider said.

'He and Angie shared a number of friends while they were a couple. Some of them didn't take sides when they split. Brad's relying on a couple of them to help,' the insider said.

'In the past he's tried to connect with the kids even though he felt sure Angie would shut any communication down. What he's found out is they've all changed their contact info. That's not going to stop him though.

'He'll do everything in his power to unite with them again. He can't be more heartbroken than he has been about being abandoned and all of them dropping his last name. That was a huge slap in the face, but he saw it coming. Even before Shiloh did it.' 

When Shiloh turned 18 in May 2024, she filed to change her name to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie, which was granted a few months later in a Los Angeles court. 

That same month, Vivienne, then 15, went by the name of 'Vivienne Jolie' in the Playbill for Broadway's The Outsiders, which she produced alongside her mother. She later filed a petition at Los Angeles County Superior Court requesting that her legal name be changed from Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt to Vivienne Marcheline Jolie for 'personal' reasons, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail. An official hearing is scheduled for November 2.

In May this year, Maddox legally dropped his father's last name, and Zahara was announced as 'Zahara Marley Jolie' when she graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. The following month she filed a petition in the Los Angeles Superior Court to officially change her name, which was approved by a California judge in September.

Her younger brother Knox also dropped the name Pitt from his high school graduation diploma this summer.

Having disposed of the Pitt name, establishing even basic communication with his children may seem impossible, even more so with Pax who attacked his 'f***ing awful human being' of a father in an explosive Instagram rant on Father's Day in 2020.

He accused the actor of making life a 'constant hell' for their family, and claimed Pitt will 'never understand the damage' he inflicted on them because he is 'incapable.' He added: 'The truth will come to light someday.'

Despite the estrangement – which a source previously told the Daily Mail 'was the worst thing that ever happened' to the actor – Pitt has continued to talk about his children publicly over the years.

He gave them a shout out at the 2020 Oscars after winning Best Supporting Actor: 'This is for my kids, who color everything I do. I adore you.'

Then, in 2022, he voiced his support for Shiloh's dance skills, saying 'it brings a tear to the eye,' and gushed that he was 'so proud' of his 'smart' daughter Zahara on starting at Spelman College, a historically black women's university in Atlanta, Georgia.

'He hasn't given up but he's not going to contact them immediately,' said another source close to Pitt's camp. 'He hopes to be able to rebuild and there is an understanding that there is a time and a place.'

Jolie and Pitt, affectionately dubbed 'Brangelina' after they met on the set of their movie Mr and Mrs Smith in 2004, were married for two years when Jolie, now 51, filed court papers sensationally accusing Pitt of drunkenly attacking her and some of their children during the alleged altercation on the private jet back in September 2016.

FBI documents made public in 2022 detailed the extent of the alleged ordeal. The documents claimed Pitt 'lunged' at one of the children as they tried to defend their mother, and later 'choked' one of them and 'struck another in the face.'

'Some of the children pleaded with Pitt to stop. They were all frightened. Many were crying,' the documents claimed. 'At one point, he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children. After many tense hours, Pitt finally fell asleep.'

On landing, Jolie claimed she woke him up and told him she and the children were going to a hotel instead of to their home but, according to the court documents, Pitt 'shouted that nobody was getting off the plane and prevented the family from deplaning for about 20 minutes.'

It was only 'after a child intervened and demanded to leave' that Pitt 'finally relented,' Jolie claimed.

'But once outside the plane door, Pitt again physically abused one of their children,' the documents added. 'He also grabbed and shook Jolie by the head and shoulders, causing one of the children to beg, "Don't hurt her."

'He let Jolie go but then called her a "b****," before adding, "F*** you, f*** you all."'

However, a subsequent FBI investigation was launched and cleared Pitt of any wrongdoing. No charges were ever filed. Child services also did not find abuse. Pitt has always denied any allegations against him.

In the aftermath, Pitt was in Alcoholics Anonymous and was sober for seven years until recently, revealing to Esquire that he now enjoys an occasional drink.

A source close to Pitt recently told the Daily Mail: 'Pitt never had a drink problem, he had an Angelina problem.'

After nearly five years fighting in the courts for equal rights to their six children, Pitt was granted joint custody in May 2021 by John Ouderkirk, a private judge who had been hired by the former couple to oversee the case. One year prior, Jolie had made a legal bid to disqualify Ouderkirk, claiming in a court filing that he had 'denied Ms. Jolie a fair trial, improperly excluding her evidence relevant to the children's health, safety, and welfare, evidence critical to making her case.'

But any euphoria from the win was short lived.

'Brad had enjoyed a good relationship with his kids,' said our source close to Pitt's camp. 'He was very happy to have the co-parenting but unfortunately that's not what has happened since. He would absolutely welcome a relationship with them all but understands he has to be patient. And it has to be about the kids and not Angie. The whole experience has been traumatic for the family.'

Meanwhile, Pitt has the full support of his girlfriend of four years, jewelry executive Ines de Ramon, 33.

'Ines is totally behind Brad's plan,' said our first insider. 'They both feel he's been publicly maligned and humiliated. If it works out and any of [the children] respond positively to him, it won't be as if they'll be living with him and Ines. 

'But he wants them to know he'll always be their father and be there if they need him. Also that he loves them unconditionally despite the hurt they've caused him.'

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Pitt for comment.