Angelina Jolie just gave an interview to Italian Vanity Fair in which she says working is no longer her priority – her children are. Angelina says she no longer has the ambition that she had in her twenties –though I’m assuming what she means is that she no longer has the same ambitions, because most would agree that her family plans are still pretty ambitious. She also talks about the ways motherhood has made her a better, less selfish person and helped her find her real self.
Angelina Jolie says that her priorities have changed from career to motherhood since giving birth to twins in July. “The kids are my priority, so it’s possible that from now on I will make fewer movies. I may even stop altogether,” Jolie tells the Italian edition of Vanity Fair. “I no longer have the ambition I had in my 20s.”
Jolie, 33, who spoke to the magazine while promoting her new movie Changeling, says that as she has had more children, she’s come into her own as a mother. “In reality my life is a lot more chaotic and adventurous now. Brad [Pitt] and I pilot airplanes, we travel non-stop, we go to difficult places and we have chosen to do it taking all of the kids with us,” said the mother of six. “I feel a lot braver now than when I was an angry young woman.”
Of her past, she says, “I knew little about the world and I was completely self-absorbed. It was only when I came out of my shell and started taking care of others that I found the real Angelina.” Jolie says her children have inherited her taste for globe-trotting. “Sure I am still restless, but do you know that my kids are the same way? We were in France these last few months and after a while they started asking when we could get back on a plane.”
That curiosity about the world is a value she wants her kids to maintain throughout their lives. “I want them to be able to walk through a marketplace in Adis Ababa and not bat and eye, not think it is dirty and ugly, but that it just represents another part of the world and humanity.”
[From People]
Jolie admits there’s a chance she and partner Brad Pitt will get married in the future, but she says it’ll probably be due to questions from their kids. They ask her why Shrek and Fiona are married but there own parents aren’t. And it’s a fair questions: Shrek and Fiona’s biggest obstacles were their unattractive looks. You’d think that if they could manage to get over it and see what’s on the inside, Brad and Angie could too. I’m kidding, naturally. Except about Brad. That guy is hard to look at.
I think Angelina describes a feeling a lot of women deal with as they have children. The question of if you should worry about some company that doesn’t care about you versus spending time raising your child seems like a rather moot one at times. In Angelina’s case she doesn’t exactly have to stress about the financial ramifications and can just do what suits her best. And that’s one of the ways she’s luckiest of all.
Here’s Angelina and Maddox and Pax in New Orleans on the 7th. Images thanks to Fame.
I don’t believe a word that comes out of her mouth…Im sure Shiloh and the twins want to travel the world…IMO shes a moron.
The words of a woman who has spent a large part of the past dozen years famous. The words of a woman comfortable in her own skin. The words of a woman who found happiness and contentment the hard way.
God, I love her. Angelina is a feminist icon.
Have they thought that the kids are wondering when they can get back on the plane is because now they’re conditioned that way? That’s their ‘system’: their structure is a complete lack of structure and they’re getting antsy with all this routine?
blah, blah, blah
Kids are a reflection of their parents. Of course they wonder when they’re getting back on a plane — because that’s all mommy does is fly them all over the world. So, they can “appreciate” other cultures. She has NO CLUE as to how to maintain a real stable home.
I’m sick of her.
You know, we are a military family that has had to move so many times over a six year period. We are facing another move at the beginning of next year. I have a three year old AND 2 year old who are already asking when we are going to “get a new house.” I haven’t said a word to them about it since we don’t know where we are moving to.
Not every kid is as stupid as you assume. Besides, the twins as a reason? Really?
Sorry Kaiser, you started losing me at her finding happiness and contentment in her own skin etc. the hard way. How so? What exactly did she overcome the hard way when she was beautiful, smart and the daughter of an Oscar winning actor with money? Being the child of divorce? Playing with knives, experimenting with drugs and going through boys and men like changes of socks? Then, you totally lost me with ‘feminist icon’. She’s always depended on a man, has she not? How exactly is she a feminist icon? When one stops to think of feminists of our time and before that, to say Jolie is an icon is rather insulting, you know what I mean?
My divorced mother who raised 4 young children on her own is a feminist icon 😉
Hear hear cc. She said they would settle down when the kids seemed to want it. For now they have playmates in each other (great reason to keep expanding), and friends around the world. It is a different kind of normalcy, they played with Marianne Pearl’s son in CA, also in France, as an example.
They’re hardly on the road all the time anyway. They tend to settle in a place for a few months at a time usually. Their France, Berlin, New York, New Orleans thing is not what they do 50 weeks a year.
I too wonder why having twins would inspire Angelina to be less ambitious. Maybe the physical stress of having children through childbirth has slowed her down a bit? I don’t know, but if she wants her kids to feel at home in a third world market, why do they always live in the lap of luxury? Perhaps it just hasn’t occurred to her that they could live quite comfortably in more modest circumstances, as she was brought up in affluent circumstances.
Yeah, I don’t think Angie has had to find much out the “hard way”.
I am so inspired today because of this!
Personally, I would have loved to travel/live like that when I was young– some people just naturally have wandering spirits (IMO). Obviously I have no idea whether or not their kids have that same inclination, but I find myself very envious of the brangelina-brood’s migration capabilities.
@someone:
Thanks for typing it for me.
😉
To: Susan
About two or three years ago there would be no way in the world that I would consider myself and Angelina fan. Fast forward those two or three years I can honestly say that I am a fan of hers, after watching “A Mighty Heart” I feel strangely closer to her as a humanitarian. I think that she and Brad are creating a life for her children that we all secretly want for our own (even though I don’t have any). There is no way that you can sit at your computer and think, “There is no way that I would be trotting around the world with my children if I had the means!” We all want to travel and be worldly, I don’t think it’s around creating a stable life, I think that the life she is providing is stable. Her children are expecting to travel and get to see knew places and meet new people. I think that you should step back and look at the spotlight that she is shining on third world countries. Are your feelings about George Clooney that same as they are towards Angelina?
I agree that Angelina Jolie is an icon,just not a feminist icon.
Maybe a beauty icon?
Elle:
No, I don’t want to travel the world, live in a differant place every few months, live out of a suitcase. My “dream life” would be on a big farm with a bunch of animals and my family. Living a normal, humble, daily life.
She is rich and pompous and full of herself. Brad is her little pull-toy and she has children to “fulfill” her narcissistic tendencies. She talks incessantly about herself, her kids, her life, etc.
IMHO — there’s a LOT to learn from living a humble life. She knows NOTHING about that.
I agree with Elle.
I’m in no way a fan but I can’t help wishing I were one of their children. We can speculate about her alleged husband-“stealing” ways, all the things she experimented with in the past, her need to overshare for whatever reason it may be. etc. But I don’t think you can deny she’s a good mom, or at least tries to be. Those kids always look so happy and who knows, they may genuinely like to travel. Maybe we’ll find out when they’re older and one of them writes a tell-all.
edit…Susan, I can see why you’d think that. No sarcasm, I’m on the fence about this and on other days I tend to think the same way.
Susan:
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:10 pm Elle:
My “dream life” would be on a big farm with a bunch of animals and my family. Living a normal, humble, daily life.
**************************************
Your “dream life” of living down on the farm isn’t everybody’s dream life by a long shot, including mine. Maybe Angelina is too intelligent and too curious about the world outside her own front door to want to be stuck on a farm all her life. Ever think of that?
I am with Kaiser – I consider Angelina an icon. She embodies an almost perfect woman.
Of course they’re “happy” — they are RICH SPOILED KIDS! LOL
Who wouldn’t want to be a rich actor’s kid????
It’s just gets so old hearing how she’s trying to instill all this “appreciation for other worldly cultures” in her children. Those kids have -0- stability in their lives. All they know is they get to go wherever you want, endless supply of money, etc.
Great lessons….
Cheyenne — I think she has no concept of living a stable life, maintaining a stable home, etc. — so she travels the world, living like a rich queen and raising her little princes and princesses the same way.
And, bragging about it the whole time.
MOST people living in this world don’t have a dream life of being humble, simple, etc. We live in a materialistic, throw away world and people have the attention span of a knat.
@ susan and cheyenne: i guess the only way we’ll find out whether or not the jolie-pitt kids really had a happy childhood during which they cultivated a deep appreciation for other cultures is when they are grown-up and start to give interviews by themselves. 😉
i am a wondering soul and i would kill for the opportunities she gives her children.
susan…if you couldn´t care less about angie, why do you comment on posts about her? i am sick of your bitter rants, really.
which presumably has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that she’s regularly interviewed by interviewers who ask her questions about… err… herself? 😐
As for her Adis Abbaba comment, I don’t think it’s just those who live in the lap of luxury who would really dislike 2nd or 3rd world market places.
‘Tis far from silver spoons I was reared but I know that when my mum, her friend and I visited Tunisia, we visited the souks and while they liked some aspects of it, stuff like the street food and how people live didn’t appeal to them. I brought them off the beaten track towards the kasbah in one town and they didn’t like seeing that poverty one bit. Bear in mind that my mum would have been very poor by today’s standards growing up.
Same thing for another former friend of mine who grew up in a rough council estate in east London and who should be well used to the rough-and-tumble of markets.
“the kids are my priority”
Aren’t they supposed to be? What do you want, a cookie? Get over yourself, you are not the first parent in the world.
C’mon folks, at the end of the day, she is in the news cycle to sell a product, her movie. Read whatever you want into it, but let’s not forget the bottom line. This is why these statements are released!
Flashback, Madonna said the same things 9 years ago. How selfish she was how her child had changed that. Look at her now it was all an act. She is more selfish than ever. I wonder what kind of person thinks the children know anything other than travel. Of course they ask, It doesn’t mean they understand the difference. They don’t know that stability builds confidence. It is up to the parents to give them that. These kids will never be comfortable in one place for long. Not a good gift. Given the world we live in today. Is ANgie and Brad going to fund these children as adults inability to stay in one place. Not to realistic. She sound like a typical spoiled woman. Believing they have ever really traveled carefree. Most people given the way they do it would also do it with there children. Private planes. nannies, cooks, body guards. Special treatment . Not to bohemian. Many stars with money travel. They just don’t have to define themselves through their children or their travel. Narcissists like Angie and Madonna do. It is called the false self. A protective device to take the place of a lack of self. I would try to see past what she says. It is all false. Funny how she talks of herself so freely and continually. Self 😯 absorbed doesn’t begin to cover it. And she is no feminist icon. Really ludicrous to even think that. 😯
popo means butt in german. funny.
I really enjoy reading all the posts on this blog & I’ve finally decided to throw my two red cents into the ring 🙂
I spent my childhood travelling in Africa with my parents (dad is a doctor). We’re not rich by any means and the continual moving has not ruined my life at all! AJ & BP are giving thier kids a tremendous first hand learning experience and they will be better, more culturally sensitive humans because they will have experienced more of the world in their lives. The parents are hardly being selfish in this regard!
Not everyone in the world is the same – some of us would like to experience more of the world. I hardly think it’s appropriate to make a judgment of a ‘famous’ couple’s children based on limited personal life experiences.
Sick of her? Quit clicking the links. You’re hardly at gunpoint.
Brad and Angie have the right idea continuously travelling with with their children. Why would they want them exposed to the mean, petty, hateful people who seem to take pleasure in being that way?
There are some on here who hate this family with a passion, and yet they are first posting on anything Jolie-Pitt. Cant you just give it a rest for a day? Your health will thank you.
I dont think it will do them any major harm at all. It might give them itchy feet and I do think she’d be better off travelling this much with them when they’re all a bit older but at the end of the day, I think they’re going to be more well-rounded human beings for it than if she kept them at home in Beverly Hills locked up in a mansion all day with nothing but servants and expensive toys. They are far more likely to turn to drugs and destruction if she brought them up that way than by taking them travelling and introducing them to different cultures, showing them what poverty is and basically how the other 99.9% of the world live!! This is more or less what Diana did for William and Harry and they turned out brilliantly. They’ve travelled heaps, probably not quite so much when they were little but still, they were extremely privileged but brought up to see “the other side”. Give Angelina some credit, she’s just trying to give them a balanced view I think. She might not be Little Miss Perfect but she IS trying.
I spend the first 17 years of my life stuck in a small town, born raised and went to school there. As much as I love my small town and am grateful to have my friends , I could not wait to get out of there. I was very restless for as long as I could remember. I envied my friends who get to go abroad and change schools and have opportunities to be in other cultures The fact that I love my dad too much was the only reason I never gripe about never going for vacations or travelling abroad.
Only after winning a scholarship to colleage I ever went out of my small town So every summer I went travelling all over, overseas and locally, It was very, very tough going to school and having two part time jobs but I had to do it… I love travelling too much and we travel like broke college students so our money strech very far…..Travelling is one of my greatest pleasure and I do it without a second thought when I am able to have breaks.
Do not under estimate the benefit of travelling the world and children understood much more that you give them credit. It opens your mind and eyes and gave deeper understanding about a place. It teaches you that there a more to this life that your own selfish needs and wants. Some region in this world, peole survive with very,very little yet they have such gratitude for life and unbelievable hospitality and generousity that you would never understand if you’ve not been there.If someone tell me that I could not travell anymore..that would be like losing a limb.
I wish I could be like Angie and Brad , always able to travell and having the luxury to choose to work and play… And I don’t blame then for choosing that kind of life , cause If I’m able I know I would.
TM,
So eloquently said. I think Angie and Brad want their children to be world citizens, and to accept all people and places the same.
If more people were raised with tolerance, the world would be a far better place. At least these children would be spared the mean-spiritedness that is so prevalent in the American society now.
“I want them to be able to walk through a marketplace in Adis Ababa and not bat and eye, not think it is dirty and ugly, but that it just represents another part of the world and humanity.”
You get the real taste of humanity if you lived there fully for say two years! Heck, Angie, you only go there to TRAVEL. Put Zahara back in Addis Ababa when she grows up, she’d probably turn up her nose and demand to be flown on a private jet plane outta there in a week!
Some people live in the most deprived locations in the world but they still lack humanity ..hello did you forget about the genocide in Rwanda??? People over there killed their own kind. At least Angelina is teaching her kids the right values.
sometimes living in the most deprave side of the world is the reason why you have no humanity or feeling left cause if you do…you’ll not survive very long…….it usually died around the time you hv to sell your body / got rape/ became a child soldier…etc…..sigh!!! The thing that makes the difference is love.
The people that I saw with very little yet have such a big heart have so much love for each other with each other. Call it corny or whatever but that’s the truth!!
I am always grateful to hv my life, hving the father that I hv bcos even though we never had luxury….there was always abundant of love. And from what I can see, Angie and Brad love their children unconditionally and abundantly!! That my friends , that will make the difference.
O dear, so much criticism; if AJ DID read what was written about her she might not give so many ‘frank’ interviews – and she is very open and forthcoming. We all might be embarrased by what we’d said if it were in print for all-time for anyone to analyse. I love the way she is so ‘open and frank / forthcoming’.
I read / heard that some 75% of U.S. citizens do not have a passport, which is maybe because the U.S is so vast and varied it is suffice for most to travel within the continent. Whereas, in the U.K. (tiny by comparison),we tend to travel quite extensively- to Europe, Australia & NZ, Thailand, the |U.S. & South-America . . . . especially in our younger-years, 18-35-ish. My eldest, 25 can’t get enough of international travel-currently studying PhD in Alaska!!
BUT the socialisation of a child is paramount; they need to mix and relate to others of same ages- not necessarily from the same culture (at age 6, my first best friend was from India-her family having immigrated to Uk from India and I found her culture very educational when visiting her home).
When one’s children are under 11yrs,it’s easier to take them ‘far and away’, BUT unless they have f/t tutoring from 11 onwards they are disadvantaged with this lifestyle both academically and socially. But I’m sure AJ & Brad will be guided by their children’s needs as and when problems occur- as they grow into adolescence.
I fully believe ‘travel broadens the mind’; during the 1970s I travelled overland to Nepal and was shocked to see poverty, women’s enslavement and life without the essential infrastructure . . . this did reorientate my outlook and I never ever again felt I could complain about my ‘lot’ in the U.K.
I love the way some people pick every single thing AJ says apart and examine it sourly under a begrudging little microscope. 🙄
TM – loved your post, so much truth and humanity in it.
I hope AJ & BP get married, purely for selfish reasons: I want to see Queen Z and Shiloh as chief bridesmaids.
She looks a lot younger without make-up, doesn’t she?
Angelina Jolie is abeutiful and sexy
@Baho – *shrug* It’s my opinion. I consider Angie a feminist icon and one of my *many* role models because I identify with her journey from girl to woman. I think she came through being a very messed up girl by embracing motherhood and humanitarian activism.
And no, she rarely “depends on a man” – financially, emotionally or otherwise. she spent most of her twenties alone, or being a single mother to Maddox, and has spent her early thirties in a committed relationship, while still maintaining her own identity.
Frankly, if Simone de “Beat me again Jean-Paul Sartre” Beauvoir is a feminist icon, Angelina more than qualifies. But again, just my opinion.
And where your mother might be your *role model* (as my mother is) I doubt she’s iconic.
I was going to throw in my tuppence, but Kaiser said it much more eloquently than I could…
As for the dream life of living simply on a farm – it sounds glam, but trust me, shoveling poo, fixing fences, and getting kicked by horses is not romantic living.