Angelina Jolie's Tragic Real-Life Story
The following article includes accusations of self-harm, eating disorders, and addiction problems.
Hollywood icon Angelina Jolie has come a long way since she debuted alongside her father (fellow Oscar winner Jon Voight) at the age of seven in "Lookin' to Get Out," a comedy released to little fanfare in 1982. When she returned to the big screen just over a decade later in the sci-fi sequel "Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow," she was a young woman ready to launch an assault on the movie industry.
Jolie became one of the biggest names in Tinseltown and is known the world over for her humanitarian work today, but her path to the top of it was not an easy one. The actress and director has faced many hardships in her life, and as an A-list celebrity for many years, her struggles have largely manifested themselves in the public eye.
From her turbulent years and her time as a Hollywood wild child to the high-profile implosion of Brangelina and beyond, this is the tragic real-life story of Angelina Jolie.
Angelina Jolie doesn't trust anyone
It's hardly surprising considering her complicated history with her father and the murky circumstances in which she and Brad Pitt got together, but Angelina Jolie has admitted to having significant trust issues. "I don't trust anyone," she told Vogue in 2007 (via Jolie-Pitt Press Archive). "This will make you think maybe I should get therapy, but trust is such a strange word." The actress revealed that she was even wary of putting too much faith in those closest to her. "I would like to say that I trust my mother, but I also don't know if she could do something that she thinks is the best for me," she said Jolie. "I trust that Brad will never do anything ... I don't know. I don't trust anyone completely."
His faith in Pitt would be tested when rumors surfaced of an affair with "Allied" co-star Marion Cotillard a few years after they were married, rumors that a source (described by Page Six as "well placed") claimed they were indeed accurate. According to insider information, Jolie hired a private investigator to spy on her husband while she was filming the WWII photo in the UK. "She felt like he was toying with her on set, and it turns out he was," the source claimed, though no infidelity was ever proven. The real reason for the split, Jolie later confirmed to Vogue India, was "the welfare of my family," she said, adding, "It was the right decision."
She underwent preventative surgery when doctors discovered a 'faulty' gene
In 2013, Angelina Jolie revealed through an opinion piece in The New York Times that she had undergone a double mastectomy after doctors discovered that she was at high risk of cancer. "I carry a 'faulty' gene, BRCA1, which dramatically increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer," she explained. "My doctors estimated that I had an 87% risk of breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different for each woman." The procedure was "like a scene from a sci-fi movie," but Jolie underwent her breast reconstructive surgery and doesn't "feel any less of a woman," she said.
Two years later, when blood tests revealed a possible "early sign of cancer," Jolie had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as a preventative measure, and she once again documented her surgical experience in The New York Times. "It's not easy to make these decisions," she wrote. "But it is possible to take control and tackle any health issue head-on." The fact that the actor was so outspoken had a "global and lasting" impact on the number of women who came forward to inquire about genetic testing, studies have shown. "Having women with a strong family history [of cancer] seek counseling and education, and in many cases surgery, based on having the Angelina Jolie role model can be very helpful," said Dr. Robyn Andersen of the Cancer Research Center. Cancer Fred Hutchinson.
Angelina Jolie reportedly isolated after her split from Brad Pitt
Angelina Jolie made headlines during a trip to Pakistan in 2010, and not because of the stellar work she was doing as a UN Goodwill Ambassador. The A-lister was in the country to help flood victims, but it was a casual comment she made about Brad Pitt that ended up filling the inch column at home. "I don't have a lot of friends to talk to," the Oscar winner admitted to reporters (via the Daily Star). "Brad is really the only person I talk to." Rumors that Jolie was isolated in Hollywood began to surface as soon as Pitt was no longer in her image, and even the star's grandmother was expressing concern over her apparent lack of a social circle of her own.
Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2016, Elke Bertrand said Jolie didn't have "a lot of people left in her life" after her third divorce, adding: "I know she has her father, but I don't know." how close they are One would think that the coronavirus pandemic would have made things worse for Jolie in terms of feeling isolated, but sources say that she actually started reconnecting with her longtime friend and fellow actress Ellen Pompeo during lockdown. "Her children are very close," an insider told Us Weekly in 2021. "Angie has a strict support system consisting primarily of her household staff, her brother, James, and a handful of very trusted friends."
She has missed her mother terribly in recent years.
The only person Angelina Jolie would have loved in her corner during her divorce and the global pandemic that followed is her mother. It was Marcheline Bertrand's death from cancer at the age of 56 that prompted Jolie to undergo potentially life-saving preventative surgeries, and the Oscar winner has always tried to follow the example Bertrand set as her mother. When the "Maleficent" star gave an interview to Elle France in 2017, she was in the midst of her split from Brad Pitt and she missed her mother more than ever. "She would have thrived as a grandmother," Jolie said (via W). “I would give anything for her to be with me right now. I have needed it."
The A-lister opened up about her late mother again in 2021, revealing that Bertrand was a "very gentle" mother and that she's exactly the same with all six of her children, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and the twins. Knox and Vivienne. . "I can be many things in my work and in life, but I am very warm and gentle with my children," Jolie told The Sydney Morning Herald. "That kindness and warmth is an incredibly important foundation."
Her children apparently repaid her kindness during the coronavirus pandemic, helping out at her house during the COVID-19 lockdown. "I feel like I lack all the skills to be a traditional housewife," Jolie joked during an interview with British Vogue.
Did Angelina Jolie finally make up with her father for good?
Angelina Jolie had a big fight with her father after she split from her second husband, Billy Bob Thornton, and it took another divorce for them to get back together. Jon Voight stepped up during Jolie's much-publicized split from Brad Pitt, not only for his daughter but for her grandchildren as well. "She has understood very well that her grandfather was needed right now," a grateful Jolie told Vanity Fair in 2017. "I had to attend a therapy meeting last night and he was around."
According to Jolie, she taught her dad how to "be a cool grandpa who's creative," something he has no problem with. Voight remains active in Hollywood (in recent years he has become known for his role as ex-con Mickey Donovan, father of Liev Schreiber's Ray Donovan on the now-cancelled show of the same name), and when he appeared on CBS Sunday Morning. in 2021, he revealed that he would love the chance to appear in one of his daughter's movies. "Yeah, it's really remarkable," Voight said, praising Jolie's work as a director. "She would be tough [but] I would love to work with her."
He may be one of the root causes of her tragic past, but, for now at least, Angelina Jolie's father seems totally committed to helping her achieve a bright future.
Angelina Jolie knows that she is lucky to be alive
According to the man who claims to be Angelina Jolie's ex-trafficker, the superstar actor took drugs just before a big promotional interview during the height of his wild Hollywood childhood phase. Former heroin dealer Franklin Meyer told Life & Style magazine that Jolie was high when she sat down with Charlie Rose to talk about her movie "Girl, Interrupted," for which she won Best Supporting Actress at the Oscar. "She had taken coke," Meyer alleged during a 2010 interview with the magazine (via Page Six), adding, "She did the show and then she came back afterwards."
When "60 Minutes" caught up with Jolie in Budapest the following year, she admitted to veteran CBS correspondent Bob Simon that she was dancing with the devil during her holidays. "I went through heavier, darker times and survived them," the resilient actress said from the picturesque Hungarian capital, where part of her movie "In the Land of Blood and Honey" was shot. "I didn't die young, so I'm very lucky. There are other artists and people who didn't survive certain things...for a lot of reasons, he shouldn't be here." Jolie went on to say that she took "too many risks" with her life back then, and that she "got close to too many dangerous things" as a result of that reckless behavior. "I still have that side of me," she added, "now it's in her place."
