Zahara Jolie's Gorgeous Transformation

As the oldest daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Zahara Jolie has been in the public eye since she was a baby. Jolie adopted Zahara from her native country of Ethiopia in 2005 when she was only seven months old. According to Jolie, when her son Maddox was young, he was in love with Africa and kept asking if he could have a brother or sister from one of the countries on the continent. Jolie, of course, delivered.

"My daughter is from Ethiopia, one of my children... And I have learned so much from her," Jolie said of Zahara during a talk with Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate for a TIME 100 Talk. "She is my family, but she is an extraordinary African woman and her connection to her country, her continent, is her own and it's something I only stand back in awe of."

Now 19 and a student at Spelman College, Zahara isn't just the daughter of two world-famous actors, but a young woman coming into her own. And like her mother Angelina, she's doing it on her terms and with a unique twist.

When your parents are Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, it's hard not to have style from the get-go — especially since one of those stylish parents is dressing you. While some celebrities dress their kids in designer duds that cost enough to feed several families of four for months, Jolie and Pitt, the latter of the two who came from humble Oklahoma beginnings, always ensured their kids were dressed like regular kids. But with a little something extra, of course.

Seen here at the age of four, Zahara holds Brad's hand while they exit a toy store in Washington DC. At this point, baby Zahara would have been in the States for about 3.5 years and had no idea what was to come. It's hard not to succeed when you have two successful parents, and it's also hard not to flourish into a beautifully empathic adult when your mom is world-renowned for her activism and humanitarian efforts. You could say Zahara's life was off to a good start.

In 2015, Zahara Jolie attended Nickelodeon's 28^th Annual Kids' Choice Awards with her mother Angelina, and sibling Shiloh Nouvel Jolie. During the ceremony, Jolie won the award for "favorite villain" thanks to her performance in "Maleficent" as the titular character. 

While the series of Getty photos taken of the family that night show two kids ecstatically rooting for their mom and basically losing it, in a good way, when she won, the real standout of the night was the fact that Zahara was no longer a little kid. You could tell by her clothing choices, her straightened hair, and her decision to wear her event badge in a unique way that she wasn't just a regular tween, which also meant she wouldn't be just a regular teenager. In fact, in four years, she'd launch her own jewelry line — not exactly a conventional teenage endeavor, but it's important that kids of celebrities carve out their way in life and not always follow in mom and dad's footsteps.

In 2017 at the age of 12, Zahara Jolie attended the premiere of the animated film, "The Breadwinner" at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is about an 11-year-old girl living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule and one of the production companies involved in getting the film made was Jolie Pas, as in Angelina Jolie's company.

Wearing a red lace dress and surrounded by her siblings — this family doesn't seem to leave the house without everyone in tow — it appears that Zahara has stopped straightening her hair and decided to embrace her natural texture. She rocked the look with confidence, and while the red lace dress may not mean much at the moment, it was a step toward Zahara figuring out her style, one that won't necessarily mimic that of her parents.

By 2023, at 18 years old, Zahara Jolie had been testing the waters of different styles and finally found herself. She enrolled at Spelman College, a historically Black women's college in Atlanta, Georgia, and also joined a sorority.

In August 2022, while promoting his latest film, "Bullet Train," Brad Pitt talked to Vanity Fair and said of Zahara's acceptance into Spelman, "I'm so proud of her. She's so smart. She's going to flourish even more at college. It's an exciting and beautiful time to find her own way and pursue her interests. I'm so proud," said Pitt.

Although Pitt was proud of his eldest daughter, the divorce proceedings between him and Angelina Jolie were taking a toll on not just the exes, but their kids. In a video posted to X by Essence, Zahara introduced herself as a member of the Mu Pi chapter of the AKA sorority. In it, she announced her name as Zahara Marley Jolie from Los Angeles, California. Angelina also dropped her father's surname back in 2002 due to their complicated father-daughter relationship.

When you have a mother who has impeccable old Hollywood style like Angelina Jolie, you sometimes inherit that taste for day-gone-by fashion. In September 2024, Zahara Jolie attended the "Maria" screening at the 62^nd New York Film Festival with her family. For the screening, Zahara wore a full-length, white satin gown with a deep-V neckline. Although not exactly the same, it was eerily similar to the Marc Bower gown that Angelina wore to the 76th Annual Academy Awards. Both dresses conjure up ultimate Hollywood glam thanks to the designs being so similar to the one Marilyn Monroe wore in the "Seven Year Itch."

With her hair styled swept to the side, and wearing a single pearl on a strand, the 19-year-old was an absolute vision, radiating confidence and beauty. But considering her age, her gorgeous transformation is far from over — she still has a lot of evolving to do and it's going to be wonderful to watch.