Tuesday June 5, 2007
Angelina Jolie at the "A Mighty Heart" photocall during the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. May 21, 2007.
Bo Valentine/FilmMagic.com; Courtesy of Parade
Angelina Jolie, 32, inspires millions through her charity work, but her role model isn’t a famous philanthropist – it’s her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, who lost a seven-year battle with ovarian cancer in January at age 56.
“This was somebody who the world didn’t know about at all, but her simple acts of kindness left a huge impression,” Jolie says in the new issue of Parade magazine.
“I am my mother’s daughter. I mean, I hope but I don’t think I’ll ever be as good as her.”
But that won’t stop Jolie from trying. In fact, the mother of four is so dedicated to her children -- sons Maddox, 5, and Pax, 3, and daughters Zahara, 2, and one-year-old Shiloh -- that she’s considering retiring in a few years to be a full-time parent. And she may be taking boyfriend Brad Pitt, 43, with her!
See interview highlights below for the actress’ thoughts on living in the public eye, being an American, and what made her turn to charity work.
On juggling kids and work:
"Brad and I are very lucky that we’re in a situation where we can choose to take turns, and one of us can be home with the kids, and so we kind of have that plan of who is doing what. So I have been home, and now I am going to go to work for a little bit, then he is going to work, then I am going to work, then basically we’re going to try to take a year off and just be with the kids. So certainly, we’re trying to find a few projects that we love or that we think would be good to do for one reason or another. But mainly our focus is, 'OK, let’s look at our schedule, and try to figure out when we’re going to have our family time.'"
On having more kids:
“Brad and I have a lot of kids, and we want to have more kids. And they demand a lot of time. It takes a lot just to get all of them fed and clothed and out the door to different schools on time. It’s fun, and we love it. But you can’t balance everything. I think both of us only plan to work for a few more years. We’ll try to just stop sooner or later, so we can be home and travel, and just live.”
On her family’s public image:
“Whether people’s thoughts about my family are positive or negative, at the end of the day, I get to come home to these four little people who are the greatest things in the world.”
On her life before charity work:
“I think that when I was in my early 20s, I knew, innately, that I wasn’t living an important life. I think that I hadn’t so much lost my way, but I hadn’t found my way. I wasn’t giving very much. My life was not really benefiting anyone. That just doesn’t feel good.”
On what it means to be American:
"I think these days there’s been this wrong opinion that to be conscious and thoughtful of the rest of the world is not to be supportive of America. I think it is the core of what it is to be American. It’s why I’m proud to be American."
On deciding to give back:
“To be sitting doing an interview, talking about a movie, my relationships, whatever it may have been – you don’t feel like you’re contributing anything. I have nothing against film. I like film. But at the end of the day, you wonder about your worth as a person.”
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Posted by Noelle Hancock at 2:08 pm ET
