There are few celebrities as polarising to the public as Angelina Jolie. That much can be proven by the reaction to her latest interview for her new book Know Your Rights: And Claim Them. In said interview with The Guardian, published over the weekend, Jolie is depicted more humanely than we often get to read. And yet, in reacting to the interview, she is still categorised in either two ways: a hero or a villain.
It’s touched upon in the interview, journalist Simon Hattenstone asking if it bothers her that she is portrayed either as a ’saint’ or ‘crazy, arch manipulator. ‘I think people sometimes just need people to be what they need them to be,’ she replies. ‘What matters to me is that if people think this or that about me, does it affect my ability to work for children’s rights? Does it affect my ability to work with Muhammad and help him? If you truly think I’m crazy, then that’s a problem, because you may not listen to him as much and may not value me saying how important he is or this book is.’
The focus of her recent press has been on the human rights activism she’s dedicated much of her life to outside acting and her family, hooked on the books release. Muhammad is a 19-year-old activist she’s currently working with around the destruction in Syria. Know Your Rights, then, is a guide for young people about the rights all children have under the UN convention - explained in an accessible way in order to ensure children in crisis know how to claim them.
It’s a subject close to home, with Jolie touching on the rights violation her own child, 17-year-old Pax Jolie-Pitt, experienced when he was denied a voice in court. ‘I found out the US hadn’t ratified the rights of the child,’ she says. ‘That said a lot to me about this country.’
She’s referring to the divorce proceedings and allegations of domestic abuse that three of her children requested to give testimony for. Brad Pitt denied allegations of physical abuse and in November 2016, the FBI announced no charges would be brought against him and cleared him of any wrongdoing.
In Pax being denied the ability to give testimony, Angelina discovered the US hadn’t ratified the rights of the child, meaning a child cannot speak in court in the US the same way they can in Europe. In The Guardian, she doesn’t speak about the legal proceedings, but she admits she feared for the safety of her children (‘For my family, my whole family,’ she says).
Her words are hard to read, the image of an emotional Jolie far removed from the public persona tabloids and public commentary alike have often pushed upon her. It’s her earnestness and compassion that comes across most in the interview, and it spotlights a misjudgement Angelina has been subject to her entire career.
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It could be that she is so often caught between playing strong, heroic characters in action films, or manipulative, regal villains but in public life just as much as film, Angelina has been judged on a binary for her decades. When she married Brad, she was dubbed a master manipulator who stole her man from a national treasure, Jennifer Anniston – by others considered the true ‘love’ of his life, the woman he was meant to be with who bravely fought for his love despite the reputational damage.
In her divorce, similar narratives have been set. She’s either heroically escaping Brad, or she’s stealing the children because she wants to live in another country (yes, that is a real rumour) – there is no in-between.
But as a mother of six, actor, filmmaker and humanitarian, she is - like any woman - an incredibly complex and nuanced person capable of being characterised beyond simply hero or villain. And yet, even in her most insightful, compelling and humane interview yet the reaction is to either hail or harass her.
What we should note from the interview is the incredible weight Angelina has carried throughout her career. She speaks of her enduring commitment to humanitarianism in a way that feels almost self-depreciating, unable to acknowledge her influence: ‘As I’ve gone through my life, I’ve never had that confidence that if I do this it will make a difference. I don’t think of myself in that way.’
I’m realising that sometimes you can survive things, but not know how to feel and live in the same way.
She speaks of the time Harvey Weinstein attempted to sexually assault her – the convicted rapist denies her allegation – and how she was ‘hurt’ when her husband at the time, Brad, chose to work with Harvey despite this: ‘We fought about it. Of course it hurt.’
And of her most recent pain, she brokenly speaks about her divorce to Brad and subsequent attempts to keep her family healthy and happy - the heaviness of which appears to lay on her now as much as ever: ‘I’m realising that sometimes you can survive things, but not know how to feel and live in the same way. So it’s more about being open. I’m really trying to be open as a human being again.’
Ultimately, her lived experience is one of many traumas, through it all minimising her own struggles in attempts to heal what she sees as greater, ‘global injustices’. Perhaps then, we should grant Angelina the same grace we do others in the public eye who are treated with more humanity simply by virtue of being more open about their private life. Regardless of the roles Angelina plays, the decisions she makes about her life and how much she chooses to share, judging her by such polarising standards only does a disservice to such an incredibly nuanced woman. We all owe her an apology, and more than that, a promise to do better.
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