Many parents will have had debates about how to juggle their careers and family commitments.
But when you’re a couple of the biggest stars in Hollywood, it’s a little bit easier to get the balance right.
Angelina Jolie has revealed that she and Brad Pitt refuse to work at the same time so that one of them is always at home with their six children.
The Tomb Raider actress said the pair carefully arrange their filming schedules so that they are never both away from their family.
But being left behind with the brood probably isn’t too much of a chore, as the couple are rumoured to have as many as five nannies to help care for their adopted children – Maddox, ten, Pax, eight, and Zahara, six, as well as their biological children Shiloh, five, and twins Knox and Vivienne, three.
Miss Jolie, 36, said that making sure one parent was always at home was her attempt to give her children the kind of stable upbringing her own mother had given her.
Fighting back tears, the Oscar-winning actress revealed her admiration for her parent – who died at the age of 56 in 2007 following an eight-year battle with ovarian cancer.
Miss Jolie described Marcheline Bertrand as ‘grace incarnate’ and admitted that she will never match her commitment to her family.
Talking about her parent’s self-sacrificing nature on 60 Minutes, she said: ‘My mother was a full-time mother.
‘She didn’t have much of her own career, her own life, her own experiences. Everything was for her children.
‘I will never be as good a mother as she was. She was just grace incarnate. She was the most generous, loving – she’s better than me’
Marcheline was married to Angelina’s father Jon Voight from 1971 to 1980, and despite studying under famed acting teacher Lee Strasberg, she concentrated on her family rather than her career.
Miss Jolie revealed that the ideal family set-up was when Pitt, 47, was working and she was ‘at home with the kids’, but revealed that their golden rule is ‘we never work at the same time’.
The interview did take a more macabre turn when she revealed she had a back-up plan in case her acting career failed.
She is launching a new career as a director, but has admitted she she once planned a directorial profession of a different kind – as an undertaker.
She had actually taken courses in the subject, and said: ‘It sounds like this very strange, eccentric, dark thing to do but in fact I lost my grandfather and was very upset with his funeral.
‘How somebody passes and how family deals with this passing and what death is should be addressed in a different way.
‘If this whole acting thing didn’t work out that was going to be my path.’
And she had been deadly serious about the profession, even getting a certificate in the subject.
She said: ‘I thought I could do better, so I got a home course when I was about 14. I did a mail-order degree.’
Despite being considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, Miss Jolie also admitted she thinks she has ‘big features’.
But she added: ‘As long as Brad thinks I’m beautiful, I just don’t think about it. I wake up and I want to be a smarter person.’
Angelina also claimed that things people read about her in gossip magazines are far removed from who she really is.
She said they are missing ‘Me,’ adding: ‘I don’t see those things. I don’t know who they are but I assume they’re not me.
‘They’re not who I am. They’re not what I spend my day caring about.
‘I find them quite shallow and often quite wrong.’
Angelina also said she cannot believe she is making her directorial debut with unlikely Bosnian War love story In the Land of Blood and Honey, which she also wrote.
She said: ‘I still think it’s crazy. I think I’d be terrible with a comedy.’
And she admitted she did not realise it would be so controversial with people from the country.
She said: ‘I did not realise it was going to be be as sensitive. Everything was something to be careful about and sensitive.’
And she admits she is worried about how it will be received, but denied it was a risky move.
She said: ‘I am nervous that people are not going to understand it.
‘What’s risky? Is living your life never trying for anything, never trying anything brave? I’m scared in a good way.’
The A-lister also said she would prefer to only direct from now on.
She said: ‘I prefer directing. I loved having the spotlight on someone else. I would much prefer it.
‘It’s nice for all of that [her appearance] not to matter.’
And while she usually shies away from mentioning her past, she also admitted she had very wild days.
She even claimed she is lucky to be alive, given what she put herself through in her youth.
She said: ‘I’m still a bad girl. I still have that side of me.
‘it’s just in its place now. It belongs to Brad, or, our adventures.’
The sexy star also claimed she is lucky to be alive given her racy past.
‘I went through heavier, darker times and I survived them. I didn’t die young.’
She added: ‘So I am very lucky. There are other artists and people that didn’t survive certain things.
‘People can imagine that I did the most dangerous, and I did the worst.
‘For many reasons, I shouldn’t be here.’
‘You just, too many times where you came close to too many dangerous things, too many chances taken too, too far.’
Her wild side has been highly documented and visible in the past.
In addition to her plethora of tattoos, she was once famous for dating co-stars and famously wore then-husband Billy Bob Thornton’s blood in a vial around her neck.
She also gave brother James Haven a passionate kiss on the lips at the 2000 Academy Awards and has spoken publicly about bisexual trysts.
She had a lesbian love affair with her Foxfire co-star Jenny Shimizu, of whom she has said: ‘I would probably have married Jenny if I hadn’t married my (first) husband (Jonny Lee Miller).’
The now-painfully thin star is known for her humanitarian efforts and her gigantic brood of children.
She is now attempting to make her name as a director with the upcoming film In the Land of Blood and Honey.
The actress also wrote the film, which is a dark love story set during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
