By Christina Almeida / AP, December 3, 2005

Brad Pitt is seeking to become the adoptive father of Angelina Jolie's children, the actor's publicist announced.

A legal petition seeking to change the names of the children to Zahara Jolie-Pitt and Maddox Jolie-Pitt was filed Friday in Los Angeles, publicist Cindy Guagenti said Friday in a written statement to The Associated Press.

"We are confirming that Brad Pitt is in the process of becoming the adoptive father of both children," the statement said. "No further comment is being made."
Rumors of an off-screen relationship between the stars of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" have been circulating for a year. Pitt accompanied Jolie to Ethiopia in July to pick up Zahara, now about 10 months old.

He and actress Jennifer Aniston announced their separation in January, and Aniston filed for divorce in March, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce became final in October.

Pitt, 41, has denied Jolie, 30, was behind the split.

Jolie, twice-divorce, had often talked of adopting a second child. In 2002, she adopted Maddox in Cambodia, where she filmed "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." The boy is now 4 years old.

As a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Jolie, accompanied by Pitt, recently toured quake-devastated areas in Pakistan. She met with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and toured a town largely destroyed by the Oct. 8 earthquake that killed an estimated 86,000 people.
Yahoo News

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Russell Wilcox is a retired college professor who spends several months in Florida and several months in Rhode Island each year, and whose interests include boating and sailing, political activism, ballroom dancing and bridge. He has an MBA from Harvard, a Computer Systems CAGS from Bryant and a BS from Northeastern. He has worked in industry for EG&G and Texas Instruments, operated his own business with more than 200 employees, and served as Director of the Computer Information Systems Program for Stonehill College. He is a published author of two technical studies, and is the proud father of four children and the proud grandfather of six grandchildren. A holder of two patents in microchip connections and a true product of the melting pot, his father is the son of a Yankee farmer, and his mother the second generation daughter of Italian immigrants who retained their culture, but strove mightily to become Americans, sending four sons to fight against Hitler and Mussolini.