“It’s strange, I never wanted to have a baby,” Angelina Jolie told the Associated Press in 2016. “I never wanted to be pregnant. I never babysat. I never thought of myself as a mother.” However a trip to Cambodia, first to film and then for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees opened her eyes to her maternal instincts and she adopted son Maddox there in 2002. Initially raising him as a single mom, both their lives changed when Angelina fell in love with Brad Pitt . The couple went on to have six children together. Keep scrolling to see how Angelina Jolie grew and blossomed in her role as a mom.
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Angelina adopted the then seven-month-old Maddox from Cambodia in 2002. She had filmed Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in the country in 2000, sparking an interest that led to her returning as a Goodwill Ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. While playing with kids at a local school she had a life-changing realisation: “It was suddenly very clear to me that my son was in the country, somewhere,” she said.
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© GettyImagesSouth Korean Student
Maddox has grown into a responsible young man, escorting mom to premieres and taking up biochemistry at a college in South Korea. Dropping him off there was incredibly hard for Angelina, who said she couldn’t control her emotions: “Oh my god, an ‘embarrass your children’ ugly cry!” she told Entertainment Tonight. She continued: “It‘s nice to know how much he knows he’s loved...but yeah, I miss him, I miss him. Or I’ll just get out there. It’s not like I haven’t set my plane tickets.”
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Zahara was born in Ethiopia in 2005 and adopted by Angelina when she was six-months old. In 2006, Brad adopted her and brother Maddox, changing their surnames to Jolie-Pitt. Speaking to our sister magazing HELLO! magazine in 2017, the Maleficent actress said that the sound of Zahara’s laugh makes her truly happy. “She is one of those people who laughs with her whole body. Completely open and full of joy,” she said.
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A veritable media frenzy was unleashed when Angelina revealed her pregnancy and the birth of Shiloh in Namibia in 2006. Opening up about a procedure two of her daughters went through recently, Angelina highlighted the caring nature of her girls: “I have watched my daughters care for one another,” Jolie wrote in Time. “My youngest daughter studied the nurses with her sister, and then assisted the next time. I saw how all my girls so easily stopped everything and put each other first, and felt the joy of being of service to those they love.”
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© GettyImagesEldest daughters
The bond between all of Angelina and Brad’s kids are strong but there seems to be an extra special connection between her two eldest daughters. She took them both to Ethiopia in December 2019 to meet President Sahle-Work Zewde – the country’s first female president. According to Angelina, none of her children are interested in acting but would prefer to follow her in her humanitarian footsteps instead.
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In 2007, the couple adopted their second son Pax from an orphanage outside Ho Chi Minh City. He was born in 2003 in Vietnam and and his birth name was Pham Quang Sang. Brad and Angelina named him Pax Thien.
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© GettyImagesAngelina’s young men
Angelina is so proud of her two eldest sons, with Maddox, 18, away at college, Pax, 16, has stepped into his shoes as the ‘man’ of the family.
© GettyImagesVivienne and Knox
Twins Vivienne and Knox were born in 2008 in France. With Knox arriving slightly before his sister. Vivienne has already flexed her acting muscles by appearing in the first installment of Maleficent in 2014.
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© GettyImagesParty of seven
Angelina’s been through a tough few years, from undertaking several preventive surgeries in 2015 because of her heightened risk of developing cancer, like her beloved late mom, to the breakdown of her marriage to Brad in 2016. However her six kids have been a constant source of love and support, escorting her to premieres and always making her smile her beautiful smile.
