Of all the celebrities and celebrity families, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie seem the most skilled at working the media to their advantage. They know how to share just enough so that we get a glimpse into their charmed chaotic life, but then hold back a little and go into hiding to maintain that sense of mystery. We always seem to seeking more of the secret that keeps them so gorgeous, fit and content as they care for six kids and jet around the globe, their relationship fulfilling and their children so happy and playful. They’re rare exotic birds that come out and do tricks when they want a treat, and we end up giving them the whole bag.

The two have several interviews and photo spreads coming out just in time to promote Angelina’s thriller The Changeling. Yesterday the upcoming cover of W Magazine was released online. It features a black and white photo of Angelina breastfeeding taken by Brad. You can see the corner of her breast and a little hand popping out as she smiles at the camera. The effect is intimate and touching.

Parade Magazine has an interview with Angelina posted online, and I think the most revealing part is where she talks about when she first laid eyes on her first child, Maddox, and knew she was meant to be his mom. She also says that she’s still friends with her exes and that she wakes up happy to see her kids every day:

Q: In Changeling, fate intervenes. Do you believe in that kind of mysterious turn of events that can dramatically change one’s life?

A: Only in a positive way.When I met my son Maddox, I went to Cambodia and left feeling I’d left something behind. I went back on a humanitarian mission and I felt, ‘My son’s here.’ It was the strangest feeling. I woke up that morning thinking, ‘They’re going to introduce me to my kid today and I wonder how I’m going to feel.’ And the moment I saw Maddox I knew I was his mother. I can’t explain it.

Q: Does doing a film like this make you feel even more protective of your own kids?

A: We have a high-profile family, but I don’t want my children to be scared when we have to quickly get into the car because some person is running at us with a camera or something. It is a fine line of wanting them to be aware of strangers but not making them afraid. I suppose that, like with everything with children, it’s just communication and being honest with them.

Q: Billy Bob Thornton recently said that in spite of your divorce, you’re still best friends.

A: I have two divorces behind me but I’m still good friends with both my exes, Billy Bob and Jonny Lee [Miller]. I’ve never had to deal with secrets from the men in my life because I’ve always married artists and they’re a very talkative and expressive bunch. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Q: Is that true of your relationship with Brad Pitt?

A: I don’t want to spend my life pretending to be somebody else, and I don’t want the person next to me to have to pretend ever, because we have a long life ahead of us. So you just want to be able to be who you are in every moment, and that’s the only way you’ll ever be truly happy.

Q: What helps you deal with all the fame and celebrity that surrounds you?

A: I’m just a mom and I’m very grounded by my family. I’m very happy, and I’m so lucky. The world can like me, hate me, fall apart around me, and at least, you know, I wake up with my little kids and I’m happy.

[From Parade]

People Magazine has upcoming details of Angelina’s W Interview that accompanies the photos taken of her and the family by dad Brad in France. She says that Brad was instrumental in convincing her that she should have biological children, and that it’s something she initially didn’t think was right. She wouldn’t have it any other way now.

“I think one of the life changing things that [Brad] did, one of many, is that I was absolutely never going to get pregnant. I never felt that it was the right thing to do,” Jolie, 33, tells W magazine, in an article featuring photos taken by Pitt of her breastfeeding.

But when she saw Pitt, 44, with adopted children Maddox and Zahara, “I knew that he would never see them as different, and that gave me a certain peace,” Jolie says.

“I suppose I just looked at him and loved him and just felt open to (getting pregnant),” she says. “I suddenly wanted to. It’s one of those things you can’t explain.”

Now, after having three children with Pitt, including 3-month-old twins Knox and Vivienne and 2-year-old Shiloh, “I wouldn’t trade that experience for the world,” says Jolie. “It taught me a lot about life, just the process of it, and now we have three other beautiful children that wouldn’t otherwise be here…

“I’m with a man who’s evolved enough to look at my body and see it as more beautiful, because of the journey it has taken and what it has created,” she says. “He genuinely sees it that way. So I genuinely feel even sexier.”

Jolie says she has “a lot of respect” for Pitt, who helps her “to be better and fight hard for the things that I love.”

“I do think that I’m in a good partnership now,” she says. “I think it just needed to be the right man.”

[From People]

She phrases that part about Brad being the one for her well, and I feel the same way about my husband. I don’t feel sexier after having a kid, though, and I only had one. What’s wrong with me? Damn you, Angelina Jolie. I couldn’t raise six little kids, look perfect, have a career and also give time to charity. No one pays me millions of bucks to work for a month, either. I’ve never even had a job where someone brings me coffee. Rare bird indeed.

Angelina Jolie, Maddox and Pax are shown playing in New Orleans on 10/7/08. Credit: Fame Pictures