An older pic of the Jolie-Pitts out in New Orleans on 12/26/07. Credit: Fame
The world’s most famous parents Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie try to keep their family of eight together as much as they can, but that often means taking their six kids with them all over the globe. The children — Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and newborns Knox and Vivienne — are certainly going to grow with up with real-life global knowledge, but what about a formal education?

As Us points out, most seven-year-olds like Maddox are starting second grade now. Maddox has attended schools in New York City, New Orleans, Prague and Los Angeles. Now, the Jolie-Pitts have begun homeschooling their eldest. A tutor is reportedly visiting the house the family is renting in France.

But even if he’s not in a classroom, Maddox — who, like his siblings, is encouraged to speak French as a second language — is growing up fast. These days, he is allowed “to do things without Mom or Dad,” the source continues. “He tags along with an assistant to help with shopping.”

[From Us, print edition, September 29, 2008]

Brad is back in France after traveling to Venice and Toronto for film festivals to promote Burn After Reading, and Angelina should be in New York in October for the New York Film Festival, but the two did recently find some romantic time together. Us reports the two dined twice at L’Auberge du Parc in August. A witness said Angie “is happy and smiling. She looks so slim already.”

However, National Enquirer says things are less cheery at their French home, nicknamed “Chateau Chaos.”

During an angry phone call while Brad was in Toronto, Angie ordered Brad to come home.

During the tense phone call, Brad quipped, “You ready for another baby?”
“Angie flipped out,” said the insider. “She accused Brad of trying to run away from her and the kids to have fun with his buddies.”

[From National Enquirer, print edition, September 29, 2008]

After the call, Enquirer reports Brad scrapped his plans to attend the Stand Up for a Cure benefit concert on September 10 and returned to France.

There’s the possibility that both these stories are completely false, but also the possibility that they’re both true. Relationships are up and down. No one could blame Brad for wanting a break to be with friends, and no one could blame Angie for wanting him to get his ass back home to help her.

Brad Pitt, his pregnant partner Angelina Jolie and two of their four children were seen shopping at a posh children’s boutique in Cannes, France today. Brad held Shiloh, who turns two later this month, as she clutched a baby doll. Six year-old Maddox was seen looking annoyed as a saleswoman ruffled his hair.

Last week the news came out that Angelina is indeed pregnant with twins and is due August 19th. She didn’t need to tell the press anything about her pregnancy since her the costars in the animated film Kung Fu Panda were all too willing to spill the beans for her. Jack Black leaked the news that she’s pregnant with twins while Dustin Hoffman revealed her due date to a reporter.

Fox News’ Roger Friedman reported on Friday that Angelina’s is expecting girl twins and they’re probably fraternal, not identical. She is said to have told Friedman at a party that doctors showed her sonogram results with “a line” that suggests her twins are fraternal. Friedman says Jolie and Pitt will be staying at the French villa owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen until the twins are born. He also reports that Angelina said “Oh, my God… we haven’t even hired a baby nurse yet!” when he explained how much work his twin nieces were when they came home from the hospital. Friedman told her eight adults weren’t enough to care for his nieces and Pitt quipped “We’re doing it in reverse: have two adults and six kids!”

Thanks to WENN for these photos.

Star Magazine is reporting that Brad and Angelina’s ever-increasing roster of kids are undisciplined, poorly behaved brats who can’t keep their hands to themselves, and their favorite punching bag is little sister Shiloh. Supposedly, Star interviewed a family insider who says that all the traveling, relocating, and their hectic schedule has affected the kids, and that neither parent likes to be the disciplinarian. This alleged insider also says that Pax and Maddox fight constantly, but that Zahara is the queen bee who likes to scratch and pull hair. Apparently, Shiloh got in the middle of a kid skirmish and ended up chipping a tooth.

With four children to manage and two more on the way, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt make it seem so easy. They travel around the globe at a moment’s notice with their kids in tow, but sources reveal to Star that behind the scenes, they’re losing control of their unruly brood.

With four kids come four very different personalities, which all seem to clash. And the sibling rivalry is brutal.

Maddox, 6, is constantly pushing Pax, 4, around in an attempt to show him who’s boss, says a source. “But Pax is no wimp, and he fights back.”

But it’s little Zahara, 3, who really rules the roost! “She screams and shouts at the boys when she doesn’t get her way,” says the source. Not even Shiloh, 22 months, is safe — and the toddler has the battle scars to prove it. “Z is always pushing or scratching her.”

Zahara’s picking on Shiloh is usually motivated by snacks. “Z once clawed Shiloh’s cheek after she tried to take her cookie,” says an insider who witnessed one incident. “She’s always pulling on Shiloh’s hair so she can steal her food.”

And little Shiloh has more than her hair to worry about! Recently while Shiloh’s three older siblings roughhoused, she got knocked down and chipped a tooth! “Angie gets worried when Shi plays with them,” says the insider. “She always comes back with a scraped knee or a fat lip!”

In fact, another source says food is a problem with all the kids and blames much of their rowdiness on a poor diet. “They eat fast food, pizza, chips and sugary soft drinks,” says the source. “Brad and Angie let them eat what they want because it brings harmony to the chaotic household.” To make matters worse, the insider adds, “because bedtime is whenever the kids feel like it, they get overly tired and cranky. Brad and Angelina don’t like to be too strict.”

[From Star Magazine]

There is probably a kernel of truth to this: as a mom of four, I will be the first to admit that kids fight, and sometimes it gets physical. But I find it hard to believe that Brad and Angie would let it escalate to the point that anyone would get hurt. It would not surprise me at all to learn that the two boys get into occasional shoving matches- it’s standard operation for little boys. And I do believe that little Z is probably running the show. I love that kid! But this whole story sounds like an exaggeration to me. Where are the photos of Shiloh’s chipped tooth? Where are photos of the boys with bruises or scratches? There aren’t any, because the story is bogus.

Shiloh, Angelina and Maddox are shown at an art store in June, 2007 in the header image, thanks to WENN. The Jolie-Pitt family is shown going to the Field Museum in Chicago last August in the image below, thanks to Splash News.

About a week ago, I wrote an article about Maddox Jolie-Pitt leaving his school after only six weeks because Brangelina were moving to Los Angeles for Angie’s new movie. I speculated that it couldn’t be great for Maddox to have to leave schools after such a short period of time. Several commenters pointed out that Army kids move a lot, which is very true. I’m under the impression that they generally don’t have to move several times a year, and if nothing else, their parents don’t have quite the same ability to choose not to move as Angelina and Brad do. What I have to say on the issue doesn’t really matter because I’m just some random person, but the New York Daily News has decided to get a professional to jump on board.

BRAD PITT and Angelina Jolie may not be doing their four children any favors by constantly schlepping them from city to city around the world. The nomadic superstars, who have lived in at least a half-dozen cities in two years, may be hurting their eldest son, Maddox, 6, by pulling him from schools and the younger three by “not creating a stable environment outside the family unit,” said Manhattan-based psychotherapist/social worker Puja Hall, who’s been practicing for 21 years. “Maddox is an adopted child, so he already has a sense of abandonment,” said Hall. “Kids that constantly move are like army brats, in that very often they don’t want to open up to people. They feel loss, and there is a problem with attachment.”

So far, the Jolie-Pitt clan has lived in New Orleans, Paris, Namibia, Berlin and, most recently, New York, where Maddox attended the prestigious Lycée Francais for just six weeks. Now they’re in L.A., where Jolie is shooting “The Changeling.” Pitt and Jolie are rumored to have enrolled at least one of the kids at Universal Studio’s child-care center. “With the moves, the kids just don’t invest in relationships, because they’re going to lose them anyway,” Hall told Page Six’s Marianne Garvey. “They think: ‘Why bother? I’m not gonna stick around. We’re gonna pick up and go, and the loss of friends is painful.’ ”

Hall added that before Pax, 3, Zahara, 2, and Shiloh, 16 months, get any older, Angelina and Brad need to decide where to settle down. “It needs to be weighed,” said Hall. “At some point, they will have to make some important choices so the kids can form those bonds and keep them.”

That’s not the only problem - the kids also seem to be skipping the waiting lists at the schools. “We would most likely not take a child for [just] a few months, because we have a waiting list. If we take them for two months and you pay for two months, we lose money and someone on the waiting list loses a spot,” said an employee at Lycée Francais, where the yearly tuition is $18,000 plus a $2,000 contract-signing fee. “You still have to pay for at least half the year,” the staff member said.

[From the Daily News]

So it would have behooved the expert to mention that he’s (presumably) never met nor treated Brangelina’s kids, so everything he’s saying is professional conjecture, though it still carries some weight. I remember hearing a psychologist once say that human beings aren’t nearly as original as we like to think we are – for the most part, we tend to react in pretty predictable ways. Still, if Brangelina manage to instill a love of adventure in their kids from an early age, they could thrive under their unique circumstances. Angelina’s rep also noted that Maddox only attends Lycée schools (which are located throughout the country and the world), which may mean there’s more stability than we thought. It’s possible that if Maddox cycles between the same few schools through the years, he might maintain friendships with kids he meets often enough. One would also hope this means there’s a little bit of similarity between the curricula, so perhaps Maddox’s unique circumstances mean his moves aren’t as jarring as one would think.

I like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt well enough, though I don’t think they’re the second coming like a lot of people, but they’re pretty good, especially as celebrities go. The two have constantly said that their kids are the center of their lives, and considering how many of them they’re racking up, one would hope it’s true. Yet they haven’t curbed their jet setting lifestyle or established any type of clear home base for the kids, and that’s kind of worrisome. Most people agree that kids thrive on routine with a little variety thrown in, and not the other way around. After a just a little over a month at his new school, Maddox has been taken out of Lycee Francais de New York. Angelina is filming a new movie in Los Angeles, so the family is now heading there, and the kids are being yanked around again.

“After a little over a month, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, 5, had his last day at his $18,000-a-year Lycee Francais de New York in NYC yesterday, walking out with a goodbye card as a souvenir as mom Angelina Jolie escorted him home. This is at least the fourth school change for Maddox, who has also been a student in New Orleans, Prague, and L.A.

“Since the oldest member of the Jolie-Pitt brood started classes on September 4, his stay had caused a frenzy. Parents began crowding the school in the morning, taking pictures. The Lycee’s director of operations, Dan Cooke, even penned a letter September 14, urging them to respect the family’s privacy.

“The next stop for the Brangelina clan? L.A.! Jolie begins shooting the Clint Eastwood mystery The Changeling on Monday, while Brad Pitt will start production on the crime thriller State of Play on October 22.”

[From Us Weekly]

It’s hard to say if it would be better for the kids to have one home base and see their parents less, or if they should have tutors that go with them everywhere so their educations aren’t disrupted, or if bouncing from school to school is the best option. None of the options are really ideal. I just remember how the new kids in school were always treated as outsiders and a little weird – now imagine you’re the child of famous parents, and you’re the new kid a couple times a year. That’s got to make it hard to make friends and feel like there’s people you can trust. I really don’t think it’s fair to tell people not to care about their careers, but I think that if you’re going to have kids, you need to be willing to sacrifice a bit. Having to leave a new school after just a month makes it seem like the only sacrifice is coming from Maddox.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s the goodbye card given to Maddox by his classmates today on his last day of school. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

Poor Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. They’ve been seriously inconvenienced lately when dropping off their oldest son Maddox at Manhattan’s ultra-posh Lycee Francais school. People are asking them for pictures, autographs, or just having the general nerve to say their names. But if nothing else, these are random street hooligans, right? Well, no. They’re other Lycee Francais parents. A little embarrassing. Considering how fancy the school is, you’d think the parents would be a little more annoyed by the Brangelina hubbub than the other way around, but sadly that’s not the case.

“The New York Observer reports that the Lycee’s director of operations, Dan Cooke, had to ask parents to leave Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie alone. He wrote in a letter, ‘Regretfully, I have seen some parents taking pictures, asking for autographs, talking to the media and even shouting at Ms. Jolie and Mr. Pitt for recognition. Therefore, in the best interests of the school and safety of your child(ren) I must ask for everyone to please respect the family’s privacy and discontinue these practices.’

“Meanwhile, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have made concerted efforts to ensure that the chaos [sic] that surrounds them is kept to a minimum when dropping son Maddox, 5, off for classes. Cooke explains in his letter:

“‘I’m sure you are aware the school has received much media attention recently during the arrival and dismissal times because of the presence of celebrities Ms. Angelina Jolie and/or Mr. Brad Pitt. I want to make you aware that before the first day of school I met with their security team to discuss the best manner in which for them to drop off and pick up their son. Our foremost goal was to cause the least amount of disruption to the school and to ensure the security of all of our students and families.’”

[From US Weekly]

I expected Upper East Side parents to have a bit more decorum about them, just not give a damn, or if nothing else be righteously annoyed by the Brangelina spectacle. Turns out they’re just a bunch of screaming girls at a Beatles concert like the rest of us. Too old a reference? Okay, turns out they’re just a bunch of screaming girls at a Justin Timberlake concert. That could really make those parent open houses awkward. Someone says hello to Brad Pitt, Brad’s security team knocks the parent over and confiscates their cell phone… and their camera… and their binoculars… okay I guess these people really are freaks.

It actually is enough of a problem that Maddox has become afraid of the paparazzi and all the screaming at school lately.

“A source tells the Observer that the constant attention of the paparazzi (and eager parents) has already had an effect on adopted son Maddox. The normally happy Mad got scared and started to cry when his kindergarten class was asked to bring in a picture of themselves.”

[From US Weekly]

Maybe he’s just crying because he’s got that silly Mohawk in all those pictures and he’s too embarrassed to bring one in? I’m kidding, the Mohawk is adorable. He’s probably actually crying because all of the family photos are in Us Weekly.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Angelina and Brad picking Maddox up from Lycee Francais. You can see that it looks like there’s a lot of students lined up to look at them, though no visible parents. Images thanks to the Daily Mail.

Angelina Jolie and Maddox arrive in Vietnam

Shy three and a half year old Pham Quang Sang was plucked from the Tam Binh orphanage outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam by Angelina Jolie this morning. Jolie was seen with her bodyguard, driver, and five year old son, Maddox, after arriving in Vietnam by chartered jet late last night. She was also said to be accompanied by her daughters Zahara, 26 months, and Shiloh, 10 months. Angelina’s partner Brad Pitt did not join her to pick up their new adoptive child.

Jolie and Pham were driven from the orphanage to the Justice department, where adoption papers were signed and he was renamed Pax Thien Jolie. Angelina will visit the US Consulate later today to obtain a passport for the child and finalize the process. It is expected that he will go home with her this weekend.

Jolie’s new son was abandoned at the hospital when he was a baby and placed at the orphanage. No one has been able to find his birth parents. His new first name Pax means “peace” in Latin. His middle name Thien has several meanings in Vietnamese, according to an online dictionary.

Thiên is the verb “to move,” and also serves as an adjective meaning “inclined to” or “prone to”. There is also the word thiện in Vietnamese, which means “good” or “kind.”

Angelina’s new son’s name may mean “inclined to peace” or “peaceful and kind.” That’s really quite nice.

Update: Just Jared looked up the boy’s name, too, and offered this meaning.

In Latin, “PAX” means “peace.”

In Vietnamese, “THIEN” means “kind and good” or “helpful” or “heaven” or “quieting” or “bright.”

Another update: This seems to be the actual meaning. Vietnamese reader Kandice notes that “thien” means sky, although I have read in another source that it means “heaven” too, so his name may mean “peaceful sky”

Here are pictures of Angelina arriving in Vietnam with her older son, Maddox, and her bodyguard, Mickey Brett. Maddox looks scared and it must be a lot for him to take in. Angelina holds it together well considering how much she puts up with on a daily basis.

Thanks to Celebrity Dirty Laundry for these pics.

Maddox Jolie-Pitt is said to love “uncle” George Clooney’s impression of restaurant owner Mr. Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants so much that he asked Angelina over and over to call the Oceans 13 set so he could hear him do it:

Maddox pestered Mom endlessly to phone the “Oceans 13″ set during filming - just so he could he “Uncle George” Clooney render his side-splitting impression of Maddox’s favorite TV star.. SpongeBob Squarepants! [Note by Celebitchy: author means Mr. Krabs, see below] The bit gives Maddox the giggles - and he always begs Uncle George for his impressive imitation of Mr. Krabs, owner of the Krusty Krab restaurant where SpongeBob works.

[From The National Enquirer print edition, Mike Walker’s column, January 12, 2007]

I didn’t know Maddox had bonded with Clooney like that. Maybe Clooney will school an adolescent Maddox in the fine art of pranking one’s castmembers and avoiding longterm relationships by sleeping with whomever’s closest at hand every six to eight weeks.

I just used this article as an excuse to make a cute composite image of Clooney, Maddox and Mr. Krabs.

Here’s a Krusty Krab training video. Mr Krabs comes in at about 2:15, and he does sound kind of like Clooney:

The Nickelodeon people also e-mailed me with this weird press release saying that kids can vote for the president of Bikini Bottom or something, which is basically a promo for three new episodes. The website is not up yet, though. Marketing people are always promoting stuff before it’s ready.