Angelina Jolie's Tragic True Life Story
This article contains discussions of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, and allegations of assault and domestic abuse.
Angelina Jolie was born in Los Angeles, California, on June 4, 1975, to Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. Jolie began her modeling and acting career as a teenager in the '90s and quickly found success in her early 20s. In addition to being a Golden Globe and Oscar-winning actress, Jolie is a respected director, published author, UN ambassador, and humanitarian. Jolie is intelligent, articulate, talented, and altruistic, as well as wealthy and breathtakingly beautiful. One might think she has led a charmed life when you look at these universally recognized truths.
But while Jolie might be one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, that doesn't mean her life has always been easy. From a troubled youth and broken home to family dramas and medical worries to a very messy divorce, Jolie has experienced her fair share of heartache. Her life has become tabloid fodder, and she has been the recipient of public vitriol. Stick with us as we explore Angelina Jolie's tragic true-life story.
Angelina Jolie struggled emotionally as a teenager
In a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone, Angelina Jolie admitted that it was around age 13 that she first experienced depression and had thoughts of suicide. Jolie went to Beverly Hills High School, where she was teased mercilessly by her classmates. Her dark obsession with death and her teenage career ambition of becoming a funeral director couldn't have helped with her lack of popularity. Jolie even enrolled in a correspondence course to study embalming.
In a 2003 People Magazine interview, Jolie revealed that during her high school years she struggled with depression, insomnia, self-harm, drug use, and an eating disorder. Jolie's depression followed her into her 20s, continuing even after she had found success in Hollywood. "I was absolutely self-destructive," Jolie told USA Today in 2011. "I think a lot of young people in this business lose their way. You don't know what is of value. You don't know where you are. And you know something's wrong because it isn't life as it actually is. It's like living in some warped reality."
Working with the UN as a goodwill ambassador and visiting refugee camps in war-torn locales around the world exposed the actress to tragedy and shifted her perspective. When she met an adorable baby boy in a Cambodian orphanage, Jolie found someone to focus on and a cause to put her heart, soul, and abundant energy into. "I knew once I committed to Maddox, I would never be self-destructive again," Jolie told USA Today.
Angelina Jolie has a complex relationship with her father, Jon Voight
Angelina Jolie was raised by her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, after her parents separated when Jolie was less than a year old. "I grew up with my mom and my brother. [My father] was around occasionally for holidays or birthdays, and we had bits of time," Jolie told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "There are pictures of me with him because his bits of time with me tended to be in front of the press."
When Jolie began acting, she used her middle name as her stage name because she didn't want opportunities simply because she was Jon Voight's daughter. "I might never have known if I was being treated a certain way because it was me or because as soon as they were introduced to me, they connected me with my dad," Jolie told The New York Times. Jolie and her father briefly reconciled while filming "Lara Croft Tomb Raider," but their relationship deteriorated once again, and she legally removed their shared surname.
It was only after the dissolution of her marriage to Brad Pitt that the father and daughter reconciled — for her children's sake. "He's been very good at understanding they needed their grandfather at this time," Jolie told Vanity Fair. "I had to do a therapy meeting last night, and he was just around." Although they have developed a new relationship through Voight's grandchildren, Jolie still avoids certain topics when it comes to her father. "We don't really talk politics well," Jolie told The Hollywood Reporter, "[but] we talk art very well."
Angelina Jolie contemplated suicide just as she was experiencing success
Angelina Jolie has always been very transparent with the media about her struggles during the early years of her career, but some of her revelations were more wild than others. Jolie's bravery in sharing about her bouts of depression is commendable, as she was openly talking about mental health long before it was a popular topic in the media. "I came very close to the end of my life a few times," Jolie told People.
One of Jolie's strangest admissions wasn't that she had contemplated suicide; it was how she planned to carry it out. "This is going to sound insane, but there was a time I was going to hire somebody to kill me," Jolie revealed to The Herald in 2001. "With suicide comes all the guilt of people around you thinking they could have done something. With somebody being murdered, nobody takes some kind of guilty responsibility."
It was Jolie's success in Hollywood that almost pushed her over the edge. "I remember one of the most upsetting times in my life was after I had attained success, financial stability and I was in love, and I thought, 'I have everything that they say you should have to be happy and I'm not happy,'" Jolie told ABC News. After winning the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in "Girl Interrupted," Jolie checked herself into the UCLA Medical Center briefly for observation. "I was feeling emptier than ever," Jolie told Vanity Fair. "I was scared of going out like Gia."
Jolie claims to have had a negative experience with Harvey Weinstein
Like many actresses in Hollywood, Angelia Jolie's #MeToo moment came early in her career, when she felt she didn't have the clout to stand up for herself. When asked about her experience, Jolie hesitated, "Erm ... well, no surprise, Harvey Weinstein. I worked with him when I was young," Jolie told The Guardian. "If you get yourself out of the room, you think he attempted but didn't, right? The truth is that the attempt and the experience of the attempt is an assault."
Jolie told her first husband, Jonny Lee Miller, about the attempted assault that allegedly took place while filming the 1998 movie "Playing by Heart," and she encouraged Miller to warn others. In 2017, Jolie released a statement to The New York Times about the alleged assault via email, writing, "I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did."
Working with Weinstein was a point of contention between Jolie and Brad Pitt when he worked with Weinstein on "Inglourious Basterds" and "Killing Them Softly." Weinstein's assistant released the statement, "THERE WAS NEVER an assault, and NEVER an attempt to assault," to TMZ, adding, "It is brazenly untrue and clickbait publicity," referencing the book Jolie was promoting at the time of her interview with The Guardian.
Jolie was vilified in the media as a home-wrecker
Angelina Jolie has been called many things, but being branded as a home-wrecker was probably the worst. When Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston separated after Pitt filmed "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" with Jolie, the glossies and tabloids painted Jolie as a temptress who lured Pitt away from everyone's favorite friend.
When asked if she had an affair with Pitt while filming the assassin flick, Jolie reportedly said, "To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that." She confirmed that statement on the Today Show, adding, "I wouldn't be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife." Although Jolie denies becoming romantically involved with Pitt while he was married, she has been painted as the other woman by the media, leading some to take sides by becoming Team Aniston or Team Jolie.
This intensified when Jolie and Pitt publicly acknowledged their relationship in 2006 and announced the impending birth of their first biological child together. Eventually, the animosity cooled. Although this chapter of her life must have been difficult, Jolie admitted she lives "in a bit of a bubble when it comes to people's perceptions of me," to The New York Times, adding, "which I'm sure is a very good thing, because I'm sure it's not always very nice."
Jolie's mother died from ovarian cancer
In 2007, Angelina Jolie's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died from ovarian cancer. Jolie had been raised by her mother after her parents' divorce, and they were incredibly close. Remembering their mother, Jolie and her brother told People Magazine, "She was our best friend." The devastation was intensified because Jolie's maternal grandmother had also died from cancer, leading Jolie to worry about contracting the disease, dying young, and leaving her children without a mother.
"MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56," Jolie wrote in The New York Times. "She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was."
Despite the devastation Jolie experienced when her mother died, she tried to find something positive about the heartbreak of losing a parent and best friend. "All I had to do is remind myself that she's my best girlfriend, and she's not in any more pain," Jolie told Vanity Fair. "I'm so happy for her. As much as I miss her, I'm a good enough friend not to have wanted her to stay in pain any longer."
An accusation sullied Jolie's directorial debut
A Croatian journalist, James Braddock, accused Angelina Jolie of drawing from his 2007 novel, "The Soul Shattering," for her 2011 directorial debut, "In the Land of Blood and Honey." The movie was filmed on location in Sarajevo and Budapest and takes place during the Bosnian War in the 1990s. Jolie wrote the screenplay herself, and the film was shot in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and English.
The story, centered on a Muslim artist in a prison camp and her relationship with a Serbian military officer, explores the complexity of such a fraught relationship through a meditation on war crimes and the sexual assaults that took place in prison camps such as the one depicted in the harrowing film. "It's par for the course," Jolie told USA Today, during an interview in which she discussed her film and Braddock's accusations.
Braddock sued Jolie for copyright infringement weeks before the film was released, casting a shadow over her achievement. Jolie denied the allegations, claiming she was inspired to write the screenplay by her work as a UN ambassador and her visits to refugee camps in war-torn locales around the globe. In 2013, a U.S. judge determined the film was not substantially similar to the novel, and Jolie's work was vindicated when she won in court.
Angelina Jolie had major surgery as a preventative measure
Genetic testing revealed Angelina Jolie carries the BRCA1 gene, which has been linked to breast cancer. Jolie's doctors estimated that between her family history and the gene, she had an 87% chance of developing breast cancer and a 50% chance of getting ovarian cancer. "Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy," Jolie wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times.
Jolie's aunt, Debbie Martin, died of breast cancer weeks after the actress revealed she had a double mastectomy. "Had we known, we certainly would have done exactly what Angelina did," Debbie's husband, Ron Martin, told the Associated Press in a phone interview. Sarah Hawley, associate professor of general medicine at the University of Michigan, told Time Magazine, "It's such an emotional and personal decision, particularly because it's the woman's choice."
In 2015, Jolie took the next step in her preemptive strike against cancer, removing her ovaries and fallopian tubes. "It is not easy to make these decisions," Jolie wrote in The New York Times. "But it is possible to take control and tackle head-on any health issue." After having her ovaries removed, Jolie developed Bell's palsy. "My mother fought the disease for a decade and made it into her 50s. My grandmother died in her 40s," Jolie told Time Magazine. "I'm hoping my choices allow me to live a bit longer."
Angelina Jolie has been married and divorced three times
Angelina Jolie met Jonny Lee Miller while filming "Hackers," and they wed after the film came out. "It was weird to immediately be married, and then you kind of lose your identity," Jolie admitted to The New York Times. "You're suddenly somebody's wife. And you're like, 'Oh, I'm half of a couple now. I've lost me.'" After filming "Gia," Jolie split from Miller and became distraught, but when she won a Golden Globe for "Wallace," Jolie awoke from her malaise. Despite their marriage only lasting three years, Jolie has had nothing negative to say about her first husband. "We were just too young," Jolie explained to Parade.
In 2000, Jolie married Billy Bob Thornton in Las Vegas after meeting while playing a married couple in "Pushing Tin." Their antics fascinated the press and public alike, but the marriage ended two years later after Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia. "I think I grew up. I grew in a different direction, and I don't know if there is one person who has the answer to everything — a soul mate," Jolie told Cosmopolitan after her divorce from Thornton.
Jolie's divorce from Brad Pitt was another matter. It was unexpected, explosive, messy, and dragged on forever. Jolie filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences" in 2016. "Angelina will always do what's in the best interest of taking care of her family," Geyer Kosinski, Jolie's manager, told E! News. "She appreciates everyone's understanding of their need for privacy at this time."
Angelina Jolie's divorce and court battle with Brad Pitt got ugly
Although Angelina Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016, and the court declared Jolie and Brad Pitt "legally single" through a bifurcated judgment in 2019, the famous exes were embroiled in a custody battle until May 2021, when Pitt was granted joint custody of their underage children. But, in July 2021, Judge John W. Ouderkirk was disqualified by an appeals court because he didn't disclose business dealings with Pitt's attorney, dragging out the custody battle further. Three of Jolie's children wanted to testify in the custody hearing, and some legal experts criticized Jolie for encouraging them to testify. In October 2021, California's Supreme Court denied Pitt's petition for a review of the custody case with Jolie.
Their legal battles have turned to heated litigation over the French estate Château Miraval, which they bought in 2008. Their business manager suggested a first right of refusal clause during their purchase, but Jolie and Pitt declined, and when Jolie sold her 50% share in 2021, Miraval became the next chapter of their legal feud. Jolie claims Pitt stipulated Jolie sign an NDA if he were to purchase her share in Miraval, so she sold it to someone else. "I don't think I came into this business because I wanted to be an actor. I came into it because that's where you could have a voice," Jolie told The Guardian in 2021. "When you have somebody who controls the finances and controls the family narrative because they are public, you're all under that person."
Jolie alleges that she and her children suffered domestic abuse
Angelina Jolie alleges Brad Pitt physically and verbally abused her and their children during a private flight from France to California in 2016. This incident led to Jolie filing for divorce days later. The infamous flight also led to a Child Protective Services investigation, although Pitt was never charged with a crime. In 2017, Pitt admitted to his troubled relationship with alcohol and quit drinking, but he denies the allegations of domestic abuse. "Brad has owned everything he's responsible for from day one — unlike the other side — but he's not going to own anything he didn't do," Pitt's lawyer, Anne Kiley, said in a statement to USA Today.
Jolie's domestic abuse allegations are often vague and disjointed. "We're all just healing from the events that led to the filing," Jolie told Vanity Fair. "They're not healing from divorce. They're healing from some ... from life, from things in life." These vague comments are not unusual with allegations of domestic abuse because victims often fear reprisals like anti-defamation and liable lawsuits. Jolie indirectly addressed this in an interview with The Guardian. "I ... I'm still in my own legal situation. I can't speak about that," Jolie explained, adding, "I'm not the kind of person who makes decisions like the decisions I had to make lightly. It took a lot for me to be in a position where I felt I had to separate from the father of my children."
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, an eating disorder, or mental health, or may be the victim of domestic abuse or sexual assault, contact the relevant resources below:
- The Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
- The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
- The National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).
- The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.
- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
- The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).