SHE is one of the world’s hottest movie stars and has a who’s who of Hollywood bigwigs on speed-dial, but Angelina Jolie turns to her kids for advice on film roles.
In the 25 years since the mum of six caught our attention in cyber-thriller Hackers she has won an Academy Award and directed her own films.
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Angelina is still trying to finalise the terms of her split from actor Brad Pitt.
But it is her children Maddox, 19, Pax, 16, Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 14, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 12, whose opinion she values most.
After all, Angelina says they know her better than anyone.
And it was Shiloh who encouraged her mum to provide the voice of an elephant in new Disney+ animation film The One And Only Ivan, based on the 2012 book of the same name by K.A. Applegate.
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Angelina said: “My daughter Shiloh read the book and she loved it and she loved Ivan.
“I read it and we kind of talked about why it was special and why it meant so much to them.
“And so I started to pursue, ‘Where is it? Is it being made? What’s happening?’ And started to get involved.”
As well as voicing Stella in the film, about a gorilla caged in an American shopping mall, Angelina produced it.
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Currently streaming on Disney+, it has a stellar voice cast including Danny DeVito, Dame Helen Mirren and soul singer Chaka Khan.
Angelina, 45, says she was also driven to take the role because of her children’s and their peers’ interest in the environment.
The family’s Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to preserve Cambodia’s environment and support rural communities was set up a year after adopting her eldest son from the country in 2002.
The actor said: “It’s not a light film — it deals with heavy issues.
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“But it is charming and fun and full of life, but it is kind of deceptive in the packaging.
“I thought it was very, very important and wanted to get involved.
“I liked the messages in it. And I’m excited about this young generation as well, I think all of us older people will appreciate it for many reasons.
“But I know this young generation is very aware of what is happening in the world to our natural habitats, to these animals, what’s happening in the Congo and losing ground, what’s happening with the gorillas, the elephants.
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“And they are angry and they want to really be clear about what kind of treatment is appropriate and what kind of captivity is appropriate and preservation of natural habitat. So this film represents them.
“And it’s one of those films that every once in a while you know is special and, as a mother but as an artist, you just feel, ‘This is the kind of movie that we need’.”
While The One And Only Ivan carries an important message, Angelina made sure filming was fun too.
During her voiceover scenes with nine-year-old Brooklynn Prince, who plays young elephant Ruby, they would wear matching pink elephant onesies.
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Angelina said: “It’s safe to say that we became like the elephant family in the movie. We really got into our characters us two.”
Playing an elephant is a world away from the gritty and action-packed roles that made Angelina a household name.
After winning an Oscar for her portrayal of a sociopathic pyschiatric patient in 1999’s Girl, Interrupted, she played kick-ass characters in the Tomb Raider franchise, 2008’s Wanted and Salt in 2010.
In upcoming Marvel’s Eternals she stars as spear-wielding warrior Thena.
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Yet despite her success and tireless work as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, drawing attention to the plight of refugees across the globe, Angelina claims she is “boring”.
She has said: “I’m pretty much who I am because I don’t know how to be anything else, but if you asked me, ‘Do people really know me?’, I think only my children could explain who I am.
“I feel like I’m really boring.
“I spend a lot of time studying foreign policy. But I think my creativity is my kids, being with them and making up stories before bed or just being silly with them.”
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It has been a tough four years for Angelina as the terms of her divorce from Brad, 56, are still being thrashed out.
A judge declared them to be officially single in April 2019.
Angelina also had “Pitt” legally removed from her hyphenated surname.
The couple’s decision to split in 2016 was a huge shock to the showbiz world.
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They had fallen in love after meeting on the set of 2005 movie Mr And Mrs Smith, while Brad was still married to Friends star Jennifer Aniston.
Brad legally adopted Angelina’s son Maddox and together the couple adopted Zahara from Ethiopia in 2005, Pax from Vietnam in 2007 and welcomed Shiloh in 2006 and Knox and Vivienne in 2008.
The pair married in 2014 but Angelina filed for divorce in 2016.
She said in June that the break-up was for the “wellbeing” of her family and that she continues to “focus on their healing”.
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Brad previously revealed it had been a “huge generator of change”, leading him to give up booze and attend therapy.
Last month he was seen arriving on a private jet in the South of France with his rumoured new flame, German model Nicole Poturalski, 27.
The pair, who are said to have been dating for several months, are thought to have holidayed at Chateau Miraval, the estate Brad and Angelina bought for £49million in 2011.
Angelina remains tight-lipped about her love life but it is unlikely she wants to rush into a fourth marriage.
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She was 20 when she married her Hackers co-star Jonny Lee Miller in 1996, wearing leather trousers and a T-shirt with his name written in her blood.
They divorced three years later.
Angelina then got hitched to actor Billy Bob Thornton in 2000 with vials of each other’s blood around their necks. They split in 2003.
But while she may not be looking for love, reports suggest Angelina is eyeing a move to the UK.
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Friends of Brad claimed last month that he is furious with her plans to leave Los Angeles with five of their children, of whom he shares joint custody.
Maddox spends most of his time at uni in South Korea.
The actress is said to be interested in Richmond, in South West London, but the move would make it even more difficult for Brad to see his kids.
The Oscar-winner has been a regular visitor to his ex-wife’s nearby £19million mansion in recent weeks.
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Angelina revealed their children spent lockdown playing board games and watching reruns of Ricky Gervais’ comedy show The Office.
She has said: “We have been together doing a lot of other strange things.
“I’ve tried to be the mum and say, ‘Can we watch a good documentary? Can we watch this?’ And my kids will say, ‘Can we just watch The Office all day?’
“A few tried bread-making, a lot of puzzles, a lot of games . . . a lot of repeats of The Office.”
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Angelina also used the opportunity to write an open letter to parents saying it is “impossible” to be perfect.
It read: “In the midst of this pandemic, I think of all the mothers and fathers with children at home, all hoping they can do everything right, answer all needs and stay calm.
“One thing that has helped me is to know that’s impossible.
“It is a lovely thing to discover that your children don’t want you perfect. They just want you honest.”
And that is the sentiment behind The One And Only Ivan.
She said: “It’s really nice to be a part of something you feel has something really good to say. It says something about trying to find ways to help each other.”
Luckily for Angelina she has six people always there to help.
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