Angelina Jolie boasted about her warm bond with her children, in the wake of a fresh knife-twist in their estrangement from their father Brad Pitt.
‘Brangelina’ biologically conceived their daughter Shiloh, 20, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 18, and also adopted Maddox, 25, Pax, 22, and Zahara, 21.
In recent years, all of the children other than Pax and Knox have filed legal paperwork to drop Pitt’s surname, with Vivienne the latest to make the change official.
Now Jolie, 51, has painted an idyllic portrait of her family life, saying her children ‘know me pretty well’ and ‘know all sides of me,’ via L’Officiel USA.
On the subject of Maddox and Pax working as assistant directors on her films, the actress and director offered the sugary remark: ‘Obviously it’s nice for me to be around them, but I am just Mom, wanting to be around her family.’
Her children, she said, are ‘definitely individuals,’ which ‘makes me very proud, because one of the most important things, I think, is to basically not get in their way.’
Angelina Jolie boasted about her warm bond with her children in L’Officiel USA, in the wake of a fresh knife-twist in their estrangement from their father Brad Pitt
Brangelina conceived three children – Shiloh, 20, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 18 – and also adopted Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, and Zahara, 21; Jolie pictured with all six children in 2018
Jolie continued: ‘As a parent, you try to do many things, but you also try to not get in the way of this human being who has a life separate from yours and so much potential in their own mind. You want to make sure that you support them.’
The Daily Mail has contacted a representative for Pitt for comment.
Jolie also clarified her previous comments that she had refrained from weeping in front of her children until she made her 2024 Maria Callas biopic Maria.
‘To be clear, I don’t think any mother has never cried in front of their kid. If they give me a birthday card, I cry,’ she said in her new interview with a laugh.
‘I’m kind of famous for quickly crying. But that wailing emotional pain is certainly what I would hide from my children until Maria. It’s upsetting to see somebody you care about in that much pain,’ the Changeling star explained.
She raved about enjoying a ‘wonderful shoot’ in the company of her children while directing her 2024 war drama Without Blood, starring Salma Hayek.
‘We were in Italy. We were in the same place, but everybody had their own separate [living space] so we weren’t living in a family house together. We were living in a dorm-type situation and everybody was exploring Europe, so that was nice.’
Jolie also waxed rhapsodic about visiting Zahara, whom she adopted from Ethiopia, at the historically black Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.
‘I just felt so deeply honored to be a part of it,’ said Jolie. ‘I came in knowing that she belonged and it was a special place for her. I didn’t assume I would be as welcomed and educated and supported as I was. There’s no place that would’ve been better for her – it really transformed her and it’s really a part of our family now.’
‘Brangelina’ went public as a couple in 2006 and married in 2014 before splitting in 2016, triggering a bitter feud in the courts over property and child custody; pictured in 2009
She recalled being taken ‘aside’ and apprised of the significance of Zahara becoming a member of the historically black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha.
‘I didn’t know what that really meant, but they talked to me about how it was for life. It’s an extraordinary place,’ said the Tomb Raider star.
‘Our family felt so proud of her, so honored to be a part of it and to feel like we were welcomed into something that is very special, unique and important.’
With all her children reaching adulthood, Jolie shared that she was ‘looking forward to more connection and community’ as an empty nester.
‘I’m not somebody who vacations or shops or things like that. I envision more field work, more travel, and just being out in the world. Get my motorcycle back, get back in a plane. I don’t know,’ she mused.
‘That’s definitely what my kids want! They had Mom when Mom needed to be Mom. Now, they’d like me to call them from Tunisia having just landed a plane to meet with local artists. I agree that would be very nice.’
Pitt was subjected to a new humiliation last month when Vivienne, one of his two youngest children, took out an ad in the Los Angeles Daily Journal announcing that she had filed a legal petition to switch her surname from Jolie-Pitt to Jolie.
Court documents obtained by the Daily Mail state Vivienne is making the change for ‘personal’ reasons, formalizing a swap she had put into practice years earlier.
Jolie is pictured with her three eldest children, (from left) Pax, Zahara and Maddox, at a New York screening of her 2024 Maria Callas biopic Maria
In the Playbill for a 2024 Broadway production of The Outsiders, on which she was credited as a producer alongside her mother, she was written up as Vivienne Jolie.
A source close to Jolie insisted: ‘If people knew the whole truth, they would have more sympathy for the children and respect them,’ via People.
‘The fact they aren’t speaking ill or sharing things publicly only shows their decency. Angie hasn’t been fighting and isn’t angry. She just wants everyone to heal.’
Meanwhile, an insider recently informed the Daily Mail that Pitt ‘believes Angelina’s role in how things unfolded is the ultimate betrayal.’
‘Brangie’ plunged into a seething feud after their split, and over the course of their divorce battle she accused him of being abusive, which he firmly denied.
The former couple infamously fell in love during the making of their 2005 movie Mr & Mrs Smith while he was still married to his first wife Jennifer Aniston.
Jolie, the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, maintained that she did not have an affair with Pitt while he was with Aniston.
‘To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive,’ she said on Today. ‘I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn’t be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife.’
All of the children other than Pax and Knox have filed legal paperwork to drop Pitt’s surname, with Vivienne – pictured with her mother in 2024 – the latest to make the change official
Fans around the world began siding with ‘Team Jolie’ or ‘Team Aniston,’ as a furor erupted over the love triangle with Pitt at its center.
Pitt and Jolie married in 2014 but split two years later, triggering an explosive legal battle over money and custody that rages on to this day.
Early in the proceedings, the FBI looked into allegations that Pitt became ‘physical’ with Maddox on the jet, but the investigation was closed with no charges filed.
Jolie leveled sensational accusations about Pitt’s behavior during the 2016 private plane flight in a court filing she submitted in 2022.
‘At one point, he poured beer on Jolie; at another, he poured beer and red wine on the children,’ she alleged in her court documents.
A source close to Pitt retorted: ‘All parties have had this information for nearly six years and was used in previous legal proceedings. There is nothing new here and serves no purpose other than being a media stunt meant to inflict pain,’ via CNN.
Pitt quit drinking in the wake of his split from Jolie, but confessed this summer that after seven years of sobriety he was ‘back off the wagon,’ via Esquire.
Pitt and Jolie infamously fell in love during the making of the 2005 movie while he was still married to his first wife Jennifer Aniston; Jolie and Pitt pictured in the film
In court papers she filed in April 2024 in connection to a property dispute, Jolie accused Pitt of having been abusive to her ‘well before’ the plane ride.
Meanwhile Pax suffered a terrifying accident when he crashed his dirt bike into a car in Los Angeles while not wearing a helmet in July 2024.
The accident came four years after Pax unleashed an explosive social media tirade calling his father a ‘world class a**hole’ and a ‘terrible and despicable person’ who had caused his four younger children to ‘tremble in fear.’
However a source alleged this summer that Pax still meets with his paternal extended family and has not filed to excise Pitt from his name, according to Page Six.
Jolie and Pitt are also still entangled in a legal conflict over the Chateau Miraval, the winery they once shared as a couple in the South of France.
Pitt, pictured in 2000, revealed in an interview published last month that he had turned his back on seven years of sobriety and begun drinking again
The feud over the property stems from the fact Jolie sold her half to Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler for $67 million in 2021, amid her divorce proceedings.
Shefler presides over a vast international alcohol empire including Stolichnaya and once sold a superyacht to Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman.
Pitt sued Jolie over the Chateau Miraval sale, insisting she was contractually obligated to obtain his consent as co-owner before offloading her portion.
Jolie has brought up her abuse allegations and custody battle over the course of her years-long battle of wills with Pitt over the winery.
She has asked Pitt to ‘end the fighting’ and drop the Chateau Miraval lawsuit against her so that their family can have a chance to ‘heal.’
Jolie has also alleged that her decision to sell her stake was partly motivated by the impact of Pitt’s ‘acknowledged problem of alcohol abuse on their family.’
