Angelina Jolie Says Having Teenagers Makes Her Wonder Why She 'Can't Go' to 'Punk Clubs'
Angelina Jolie is a busy Hollywood actress and mom, but she’s still finding time to remember what it was like to be a teenager, thanks to her kids.
Jolie, 44, has six children — daughters Vivienne, 11, Shiloh, 13, and Zahara, 14, plus sons Knox, 11, Pax, 15, and Maddox, 18 — and as she told HELLO! magazine in a new interview, her older kids have recently taught her a valuable lesson.
“When your children are little, you feel more ‘Mommy.’ When they are teenagers, you start to remember yourself as a teenager,” said the star, whose oldest child, son Maddox, recently left for college. “You see them going to punk clubs and you wonder why you can’t go. I’m in this fun moment where I’m rediscovering myself.”
“As they grow up, I find my children are strong individuals but still open-minded,” Jolie continued. “I try to lead by example and be kind and gracious, as my mother was — and loving and tolerant. But when there’s a fight that needs to be had, get in there. We need to prepare the next generation because there’s so much happening in the world — they’re up against it.”
And her children still always prioritize their mother, even as they grow older. On Mother’s Day, Jolie’s kids “treat me like a lady,” she shared with HELLO!, explaining that they “make me breakfast and pick me flowers.”
“When I do take time for myself, I rediscover that softness I speak of … I also realize I have more fight and resilience in me than I knew,” said the actress, who is currently starring in a video campaign for Mon Guerlain’s Eau de Parfum Intense.
“But at my core, I’m soft and vulnerable — it’s not my dream just to be strong,” Jolie added. “I want to be allowed to be soft and I don’t want to be harmed or feel unsupported when I am.”
Despite her kids growing up fast — and in Maddox’s case, attending school overseas, at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea — Jolie continually strives to teach them to leverage “kindness” both “to others and themselves.”
“It’s important to be humble — know the freedoms you have and what you’ve been blessed with and make sure you help others,” she told HELLO! “And always remember your place — we’re all human and very flawed. We’re tiny pieces in a much bigger world.”
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