Angelina Jolie’s best mom moments

Angelina adopted the then seven-month-old Maddox from Cambodia in 2002. She had filmed Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in the country in 2000, sparking an interest that led to her returning as a Goodwill Ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. While playing with kids at a local school she had a life-changing realisation: “It was suddenly very clear to me that my son was in the country, somewhere,” she said.

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Maddox has grown into a responsible young man, escorting mom to premieres and taking up biochemistry at a college in South Korea. Dropping him off there was incredibly hard for Angelina, who said she couldn’t control her emotions: “Oh my god, an ‘embarrass your children’ ugly cry!” she told Entertainment Tonight. She continued: “It‘s nice to know how much he knows he’s loved…but yeah, I miss him, I miss him. Or I’ll just get out there. It’s not like I haven’t set my plane tickets.”

Zahara was born in Ethiopia in 2005 and adopted by Angelina when she was six-months old. In 2006, Brad adopted her and brother Maddox, changing their surnames to Jolie-Pitt. Speaking to our sister magazing HELLO! magazine in 2017, the Maleficent actress said that the sound of Zahara’s laugh makes her truly happy. “She is one of those people who laughs with her whole body. Completely open and full of joy,” she said.

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A veritable media frenzy was unleashed when Angelina revealed her pregnancy and the birth of Shiloh in Namibia in 2006. Opening up about a procedure two of her daughters went through recently, Angelina highlighted the caring nature of her girls: “I have watched my daughters care for one another,” Jolie wrote in Time. “My youngest daughter studied the nurses with her sister, and then assisted the next time. I saw how all my girls so easily stopped everything and put each other first, and felt the joy of being of service to those they love.”

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The bond between all of Angelina and Brad’s kids are strong but there seems to be an extra special connection between her two eldest daughters. She took them both to Ethiopia in December 2019 to meet President Sahle-Work Zewde – the country’s first female president. According to Angelina, none of her children are interested in acting but would prefer to follow her in her humanitarian footsteps instead.