Angelina Jolie opens up about her relationship with her six children and how they are very individual human beings.
Angelina Jolie, 46, is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. She has been named as Hollywood’s highest-paid actress multiple times.
Jolie has six children whom she shares with her ex-husband Brad Pitt. Maddox, 20, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 15, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 13. Three were adopted internationally, while three of them are biological.
Her kids have made headlines multiple times recently since they’ve joined Angelina on red carpets across the globe this month and thoroughly charmed fans with each appearance.
In this week’s issue of PEOPLE she reveals that as the children grow up, they have had an impact on each other.
The actress talked about how she was watching her kids grow up and inspire each other and added how curious she was to learn about all the different aspects of who they are.
“They’re pretty great people,” Jolie said. “And because there’s so many of them, I think they’ve had a very significant effect on each other. It’s not like I’m the head of anything. I’m very honest with my kids. And I’m very human with my kids.”
Jolie said she hopes her transparency encourages her children to reciprocate openness back to her. And she says she considers herself to be a family member among them, rather than above them.
During her new interview with PEOPLE for the magazine’s 2021 Kindness Issue, she said that her priority was to be there to support and develop all the different aspects of their life.
She explained that one of the essential parts of her parenting approach is viewing her children as “six very individual human beings”.
“I have six very individual human beings in my home,” she said. “I am so excited about all the different stages and feelings and curiosities that they go through.”
“Why wouldn’t you be?” she added. “We’re supposed to help them figure out who they are. And you can’t figure out who they are if you don’t enthusiastically develop with them.”
She also talked about what kind of a parent she is and added how every day she is becoming aware of everything she doesn’t do right.
“I’m not a perfect parent by any means,” Jolie said. “Every day I feel like I’m more aware of everything I don’t do right. I’m pretty tough on myself because I feel often, am I doing the right thing? Did I say the right thing?”
“My children have done many, many loving things,” she explained. “My children’s kindness has been very healing to me.”
In February, the actress said she is still working on being “happy”.
She has admitted she “doesn’t know” if she’s happy, as she said she’s been so focused on “healing (her) family” following her split from Pitt that she hasn’t had time to work on her own happiness.
During Jolie and Pitt’s twelve-year relationship, the couple were dubbed “Brangelina” and were the subject of worldwide media coverage. They became one of Hollywood’s most glamorous couples.
Their family grew to include six children, before they announced their engagement in April 2012. Jolie and Pitt married on August 23, 2014, at their estate Château Miraval in Correns, France.
She subsequently took the name “Jolie Pitt” and after two years of marriage, the couple separated on September 15, 2016.
On September 19, Jolie filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences, and on April 12, 2019, the court restored Jolie and Pitt to single status and they were declared divorced.