Angelina Jolie was a magnificent Debbie Downer at THR’s women’s breakfast

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Here are some photos of Angelina Jolie at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women In Entertainment Breakfast. You’ve gotta get up really early in the morning to honor women, apparently! It’s not even a brunch, it’s a breakfast! So… I kind of think Angelina is slightly overdressed for a breakfast event, but that’s my own bias speaking – the idea of doing full hair and makeup and putting on a sparkly black dress early in the morning seems awful to me. Angelina did it though, and she did it because she’s campaigning for Best Foreign Film. Jolie was the keynote speaker at this event and she was an amazing Debbie Downer. I love her so much. She was basically like “yeah women have it hard in Hollywood but women literally have it harder everywhere else.” Here’s her speech:

Part of her speech:

“We have a level of freedom that is unimaginable for millions of other women around the world — women who live with conflict and terrorism and displacement and poverty, who never get a chance, whose voices are always silenced. We don’t have to keep our heads down, we don’t have to think that the film we make or our comment on politics, or a joke we tell on stage could land us in prison where we might be tortured or punished. We don’t have the censorship. We don’t have to worry that acting in a play or singing on television will bring violence or dishonor to our families. We don’t have to tailor our clothes or our opinions to when it’s acceptable to religious authorities or violent extremist groups. We are not shunned and considered immoral because we dare to speak our mind about why we consider to be wrong as a society. We have the right to think thoroughly and to speak freely and to put forward our ideas on equal terms. There are women across the world who face serious danger and get hurt just trying to have a voice and an opinion.”

“It is hard to celebrate our progress while that is still the case, but it means that asserting ourselves as female artists represents something important in today’s world. Participating in art and culture is not a luxury for a privileged few in society. It is in fact a human right, laid down in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Every woman has a right not only to independence and security, but to live her life to the full and to express herself to the full, including through art and ideas as well as politics. That right is often denied to women because it is so powerful. Art influences. Art catches the imagination. Art challenges orthodoxy and societies where women are denied freedom of expression are being shaped without the voice and influence and wisdom of women.”

“That is why I am so grateful to be part of this community and the wider community of artists around the world,” she concluded. “Together we stand for more than our own rights and freedoms, but the freedom and rights of all women. We in this room have the ability to help find those women artists struggling to make their voices heard today; to show solidarity with them, to champion them, to help them tell their stories. … I pay tribute to all the women before us who pushed the boundaries in their lifetimes so that we could be here today. And above all, I pay tribute to the women artists, journalists, human rights defenders and lawyers around the world who refuse to be intimidated; the brave people who are fighting so that others may one day have the freedoms we now have.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

I love her. I love her message of inclusion and perspective, I love that she made her speech about all of this rather than some first-world message of “actresses are the most oppressed people ever!” I think Jolie is sort of leaning into this idea that she’s now part of the Hollywood Establishment too – she’s always viewed herself as an outsider to the system, but now here she is, wearing an appropriate gown at a Hollywood breakfast, working within the system, telling stories about her children, all to a rapt audience. Good for her.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

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43 Responses to “Angelina Jolie was a magnificent Debbie Downer at THR’s women’s breakfast”

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  1. Surely Wolfbeak says:

    Brava!

    • Casey._. says:

      Wow. I was crying reading that, I’ll be a mess of I actually watch her deliver it. She’s an amazing woman. It’s been challenging being her fan as the onslaught from other women has been constant.

      I wish i could be as optimistic and empowered sounding as Angelina about the road ahead for women, but the callous bullying female trolls who would attack one of our literal best global representatives make me often wonder if some of us can overcome that base instinct to attack and rip apart other women.

  2. Nikole says:

    Is she in full makeup? Hmmm.

    • Valiantly Varnished says:

      Lol no. I’m wearing more makeup right now than she is these photos!

    • minx says:

      Huh? Hardly.

    • milla says:

      So? Her words matter. Her looks, well she is amazing as always, but who cares at this point? She is speaking the truth and that is all that matters.

    • whatWHAT? says:

      even if she is, she’s at a professional event where she’s a primary speaker. do you think it’s inappropriate?…

      not crazy about the black dress at a breakfast event – I would have gone with something a little brighter, but who the hell REALLY cares about that when she’s saying what she’s saying? geez.

      (on the superficial note, I really like her with the darker hair.)

    • Adele Dazeem says:

      A friend who is a pro photographer taught me that makeup on camera (or film) is like a see through t shirt…the light flashes through the makeup and you don’t see as much of it as you would live. I think she has on makeup, she just isn’t overly made up like people are for awards shows, movie premiers, etc

    • Sally says:

      Angie is wearing pants, so much for the “black sparkly dress”.

  3. FishBeard says:

    I understand her message, but did she not exploit the young child actress in making this film?

    • BaronSamedi says:

      Honestly, what I keep wondering when I see comments like these is: Does the fact that you drag out something discrediting about the person negate all the things she is saying here?

      Like, does it in this specific case make any of the things she is saying less important or diminishes the necessity of someone with her platform saying it?

      You’re shifting the conversation from the very important issues she is adressing to something else. Both things are worth examining but to me this always sounds like “I actually DON’T care if the substance is valid, let’s talk about all nasty crap we can dig out about the speaker”.

      • Alisha says:

        If she did exploit them (which I do not know if that is the case) then perhaps it is a valid question. I hope that she did not!

      • FishBeard says:

        I’m not diminishing her message, but it’s not tabloid gossip that I’m bringing up. She’s campaigning for an Oscar for a film that she did exploit children on. If she’s going to shift the conversation, that hypocrisy is valid to comment on.

    • Ankhel says:

      And places herself, as the Director, front and center when she tells other women’s stories. *Shrugs*

    • crazydaisy says:

      No, FishBeard. Angelina did not “exploit the young child actress in making this film.”

      She did not.

    • bikki says:

      yup, she did.

      people like to excuse people’s behavior because of bias, which is regrettable.

      • Sally says:

        This has been asked in interviews, the answer is “No, Angie in no way exploited any child”.

        The kids KNEW they were “acting”, they were there for an audition for a part in a film about very scared children, this was explained to the children and their parents or guardians. The children were told they were to pretend to steal money.

        So much nonsense over a non-issue.

  4. Valiantly Varnished says:

    And THIS is why I love her!

  5. Sarah says:

    I mean… what was she supposed to wear? PJs since it’s breakfast? It’s not a dress though. It’s a matching beaded top and beaded pants. She looks fine. JLaw wore a pink dress and i don’t see people complaining for it looking too dressy for a breakfast party?

    • Sally says:

      JLaw’s dress was low cut and strapless and she had on lots of make-up, strange how that was never mentioned.

  6. Maya says:

    A true feminist in my opinion and she constantly shows me and my friends and family why I admire her soo much.

    What is Hollywood establishment these days? In the old days when men ruled and women had to play the games, Angelina never wanted part of.

    Now, the fact that Angelina was an outside is a plus point because it showed she had integrity, class and the means to survive Hollywood without playing dirty politics. She survived Weinstein, her father and CAA pr attack by just being her generous self.

    I think she is part of the new Hollywood establishment where women are now trying to stand together. Even before you heard about several Hollywood insiders liking Angelina, now they just admit openly.

  7. Nicole says:

    I mean where’s the lie. I have my issues with Angie but sometimes she nails these speeches and I remember why I applaud her efforts

  8. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    Regardless how I feel about her or celebrities in general, her message surpasses all else. Those words should rise above all detractions.

  9. Reef says:

    Her transformation into THIS woman has been interesting to witness – not just her humanitarianism but just how she handles the business and politics of her career. She’s impressive to me.

    • smcollins says:

      I agree. When she was younger she had the image of the wild child placed on her, which really wasn’t an image at all, it was authentically who she was and she made no apologies for it. Then she grew and matured into the woman we see today and it’s just as authentic, not about image. That’s what I like about AJ the most. She’s genuine and honest about who she is and what she’s about.

    • Justjj says:

      Yes I love that she now speaks poignantly and wears sacks everywhere while hanging out with her children. I think putting her humanitarian efforts to the forefront and seeing acting only as a job, or working behind the camera only occasionally, is a good look on her.

  10. OG Cleo says:

    This is kind of in line with what she mentioned here, and I’m kind of surprised it hasn’t been covered yet. One of the biggest actresses in Bollywood, Deepika Padukone, has death threats out against her for her role in “Padmavati,” with even a member of the ruling party literally putting out a bounty for her beheading. Indian actresses are sometime covered on here, so I was surprised there’s been no mention of it.

    • Tan says:

      Maybe coz she is not part of mainstream hw gossip now

      I don’t even want to talk about how that one movie and one imaginary scene, has unleased the horrible right wingers in India. Nothing and no one is safe.

      The irony is: this is being done to protect the honour of a dead woman, who sacrificed herself to fire to protect her honor. And they are assaulting and shaming and threatening live women for that.

      But a lot of it is also political distraction to take away from farmers march and their suicide issue and gujarat vote

    • Wurstfingers says:

      What is the controversy exactly? I tried to Google it but there were no specifics in any article – just ‘controversy’ and ‘in bad light’ or similarly vague descriptions. The threats of violence, however, are very, very explicit. Kinda makes me think the attackers just came up with bullshit reasons?

  11. Savasana Lotus says:

    Excellent.

  12. themummy says:

    I just love her so much. And she was surprisingly funny at the beginning of that speech.

  13. Spring says:

    She’s doing very good work here. She’s made her mistakes & will make more, and so will all of us.

  14. Sara says:

    That was an amazing speech, surely she has help writing these! It makes me (American) realize how damn lucky I am. I hope it did the same to many others. I oft

  15. Flipper says:

    Only 31 comments?

  16. Wurstfingers says:

    Great speech. And lovely jokes about being a mother that may or may not explain why she wears sacks and blankets all the time 😁

  17. V says:

    Just 100% love her.