If anyone is going to be with Brad Pitt, they might as well be as equally perfect as him. Enter Angelina Jolie.
Angelina Jolie, the star of Disney’s Maleficent, proves that she is, indeed flawless with a pleasantly long Q&A posted on Entertainment Weekly. She talks eloquently about daring to put on the horns of one of Disney’s most iconic villains in the upcoming film and talks emotionally about herrocky childhood, a dark phase in her teenage years, and her recent double mastectomy. The interview illustrates that, among all her other superlative qualities, is a remarkable level of self awareness.
Make sure to check out her full Q&A with Entertainment Weekly for further proof that Angelina Jolie is the closest thing we have to perfect. Here are some highlights.
On why she’s the perfect Maleficent“I actually had moments where I got emotional reading it and that was really surprising to me. It’s about the struggle that people have with their own humanity and what is that that destroys that and kind of makes us die inside.”
On why Maleficent is misunderstood“Children have always been told she’s pure evil. And she is evil, but it’s not all she is, and it’s not fair that her story was left there. For kids, it will be like unwrapping a mystery, unwrapping a present, finding out what was really going on. It’s a fun discovery.”
On why she’s proud of her performance“It was actually quite freeing as an artist to do something so completely nuts.”
On how she’s perceived“I tend to be someone who can be very private and in my space, not in any way trying to be rude, that’s just how I walk my way through life. When I’m outside my home, I can be somewhat serious.”
On why she got along with co-star Elle Fanning “She’s just full of love and happiness and cuteness and belief and sweetness and when I was her age, I was the complete polar opposite—quite dark at that age. So, it’s kind of a perfect match.”
On the haters“If every choice you make comes from an honest place, you’re solid and nothing anybody can say about you can rock you or change your opinion. It doesn’t shake me because I know why I do the things I do and I know I come from a good place and so people can judge me however they wish. But I know I’ll continue to do the best I can and be the best I can.”
On the difference between a powerful woman and a bitch "My mother [Marcheline Bertrand, who died in 2007] was very soft and female and I was always very aware when things would happen and there would be fights with my father [actor Jon Voight]. She kept thinking she needed to get harder to deal with life and I kept saying I didn’t want her to do that—I would rather get hard and I’d rather fight. But it was really important that she stay kind and soft and open and sweet because it’s a horrible thing to have that. Have the world harden you.”
On how she became lighter as a person “When I started to travel and see what other people—I got out of myself and saw how other people struggle in the world.”
On how having children changed herIt changes you forever. It changes your perspective and it gives you a nice purpose and focus. I am disheartened by many things but I wake up, like I woke up this morning, to kids and we talk and we laugh and we play and I’m light again, and I’m a kid again, and I’m loving and soft again because they’ve brought that back in my life.
On how revealing her double mastectomy changed her I feel very, very close—much closer—to other women, and women who are going through the same thing. Wherever I go, usually I run into women and we talk about health issues, women’s issues, breast cancer, ovarian cancer. I’ve talked to men about their daughters’ and wives’ health. It makes me feel closer to other people who deal with the same things and have either lost their parents or are considering surgeries or wondering about their children.
On a culture obsessed with driving people to become outsiders It feels like memories of how people would behave in high school. Once we grow up and realize how human we all are and how similar we all are and how individually flawed we all are, there’s no time for that, you know? There’s real hate in the world—there’s real violence and there’s real inhumanity.
