Angelina Jolie will be promoting Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in the weeks to come. I’m looking forward to seeing those interviews. But she’s also promoting her contract with Mon Guerlain too – she’s the face of Mon Guerlain’s perfumes, including the new fragrance, Intense. To shill for her perfume contract, Angelina chatted with Hello Magazine about Mother’s Day in her house, what she tries to teach her kids, and what it’s like to have so many teenagers right now. You can read the full piece here – this interview was conducted in Paris back in July, when Angelina seemed to want to be photographed around the city with her godmother Jacqueline Bisset. Some highlights:

On Mother’s Day: “On Mother’s Day my children make me breakfast and pick me flowers – they treat me like a lady. When I do take time for myself, I rediscover that softness I speak of… I also realise I have more fight and resilience in me than I knew. But at my core I’m soft and vulnerable – it’s not my dream just to be strong. I want to be allowed to be soft and I don’t want to be harmed or feel unsupported when I am.”

She loves Paris: “It’s wonderful to be back in Paris. It reminds me that I don’t spend nearly enough time here. Sometimes we’re somewhere in our lives and can’t really imagine something different – we don’t take ourselves out of a place. But when I’m in Paris, I feel like a different person – and I’m curious about that side of myself. It’s enlightening here.”

How the latest Mon Guerlain Intense ad was shot in Cambodia: “When I first started working with Guerlain in 2017, we spoke about how perfume commercials often capture a fantasy life – and we wanted to deliver something that was a little heightened but still real. The first Mon Guerlain film was shot at my home in France. For this new perfume, given its strength and our conversations around femininity, freedom and making bold choices, my new home in Cambodia seemed like the natural setting. My [Maddox Jolie-Pitt] Foundation has been based in Cambodia for 17 years and it has been a dream of mine to live in that part of the world. The film is set in the home that I’ve finally built there.”

Mother of teenagers: “When your children are little you feel more ‘mommy’. When they are teenagers you start to remember yourself as a teenager. You see them going to punk clubs and you wonder why you can’t go. I’m in this fun moment where I’m rediscovering myself.”

The values she tries to teach her kids: “Kindness – to others and themselves. It’s important to be humble – know the freedoms you have and what you’ve been blessed with and make sure you help others. And always remember your place – we’re all human and very flawed. We’re tiny pieces in a much bigger world. As they grow up, I find my children are strong individuals but still open-minded. I try to lead by example and be kind and gracious, as my mother was – and loving and tolerant. But when there’s a fight that needs to be had, get in there. We need to prepare the next generation because there’s so much happening in the world – they’re up against it. I’m working on a programme for children with the BBC. We’re counting on our children so we must give them the right knowledge and support.”

[From Hello Magazine]

“You see them going to punk clubs and you wonder why you can’t go…” DO IT. I’m here for Angelina rediscovering her youthful wild side by going to punk clubs with her kids. Someone break out a new pair of leather pants! And no, I’m not talking about those stupid leather joggers.

What do you make of this: “…At my core I’m soft and vulnerable – it’s not my dream just to be strong. I want to be allowed to be soft and I don’t want to be harmed or feel unsupported when I am.” I… don’t know what to think? I think she’s saying that she’s not always tough as nails, she’s rarely tough as nails, and she’s not actually not some ballbuster who makes men cry. But… in the context of the Mother’s Day answer, it’s weird.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.