Interviews Angelina Jolie

There is so much interest in you and your family. How does this affect you?
Angelina Jolie: 'I've made a point to not let it change the way I live my life, other than I carefully plan my holidays or where we go. I think the only time it is hard is when the kids want to go somewhere. I've had so many people offer to take my children to Disneyland or places that I can't take them, and they don't understand how upsetting that is because I can't do that.'
What is Brad like as a father?
Angelina Jolie: 'Brad is a brilliant father. We both love being parents and we love out kids. They are just the joy of our lives. We are constantly in awe and amazed by them.'
How do you manage to juggle being a mother with everything else you do?

 
Angelina Jolie: 'I plan a lot, obsessively. I'm very, very lucky. I love the different elements in my life. I love working abroad, and I love being with my kids and I love being with Brad. This is the life I chose to have and I'd like to add many more children and many more obstacles and many more things in the future.'
How did you feel about being made to look really old in The Good Shepherd?
Angelina Jolie: 'I love to see my face old in different ways. There's something very comforting about seeing yourself as an older woman.'
Do you worry about getting old?
Angelina Jolie: 'Hopefully I will not break apart as Clover does in the movie, because she had these big yellow contacts and yellow teeth. My mom is ageing gracefully, so if I'm anything like my mother I should be okay.'
How hard was it to play a rejected, unloved wife?
Angelina Jolie: '(Laughs) Well, I do have two divorces behind me but I'm still good friends with them, so it's still okay. It's easier to play that kind of stuff when you have a balanced home. If I did have alcoholism in my personal life or that experience, it might have been much more uncomfortable to get 'in there'. I've never had that kind of relationship with a man because I've always married artists; they're a very talkative and expressive bunch.
What attracted you to this role?
Angelina Jolie: 'There were many things about her that were broken, and often I don't get to play that part. I think that's why it took a while for Bob (Robert De Niro) to decide that I should play that part. She is more subservient, she is more vulnerable and she is very broken. But as a woman, as much as there are certain things in my life I do feel strong about, there are pieces of me that are broken too.'
Do you think that self-deception is a necessary evil in a relationship?
Angelina Jolie: 'No, I think quite the opposite is the only thing that works. I don't want to spend my life having to pretend to be somebody else. I don't want the person next to me to have to pretend because we have a long life ahead of us. So you want to just be able to be who you are in every moment, and that's the only way you'll ever be truly happy.'
Has your humanitarian work influenced the roles you want to play?
Angelina Jolie: 'I think it's important to just have fun and not take everything so seriously. I'm not a politician. I am just an actor, and just supposed to entertain and tell stories - I remember that. But certainly when a film project comes along like this one, they're the ones that take priority.'