We’re still more than two months away from the release of Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken, but that doesn’t mean that Angelina Jolie and her people are staying quiet. Jolie is already promoting the film in international interviews, and the cast of Unbroken have been talking too. Jai Courtney, a sexy Aussie actor cast as one of the Americans, told HuffPo that Angelina is a “fantastic” director and he loved every part of making the film. Universal just announced that Angelina and Jack O’Connell will premiere Unbroken in Sydney, Australia in December as a “thank you” for hosting the production. Angelina and Universal have gone out of their way to invite Australian heroes too!
Meanwhile, for People Magazine’s 40th anniversary issue (the one with Taylor Swift on the cover), they asked various stars “What advice would you give to your younger self?” Angelina had some good advice:
People: What advice would you give to your younger self?
Jolie: “Not to change anything. I would probably say enjoy the freedom as much as you can possibly can before it goes away. Enjoy the walks in the park and the backpacking and traveling and living. Which I did, but I would have liked to have done more before it became a little less easy to do so. You can never prepare for the future because it’s all those things that build up to who you are. You have to let your younger self be scared of things and attack things head on. Make bold choices and make mistakes, and it’s all those things that add up to the person you later become.”
[From People Magazine, print edition]
I like the way Angelina has always owned her past. She grew up as a young adult in the spotlight – I mean, she’s been doing interviews and getting media attention since she was about 19/20. Angelina didn’t really start to become the woman she is today until her mid-20s. She made a lot of mistakes and dumb choices in her early adulthood, and those mistakes and choices were thrown in her face over and over again. There are still people today who criticize her for crap she did in 1999, for goodness sake. But Angelina doesn’t regret that stuff because it’s made her who she is today. Good for her.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I just love her… she’s always been so frank and honest about her life. You can’t help but have respect for her because of that.
And… she may have been wild and crazy in her youth, but she definitely moved past that and really has morphed into a beautiful, gracious and giving woman.
#TeamJolie
Yeah! Certainly #TeamJolie
🙂
Holy custard pie!! If anyone knew what I did in 1999..I mean come on. Most of us have done some stuff that, looking back, makes us cringe. Or seek therapy. Or maybe smoke a Jeffrey. but really, she’s right. I’m glad I did (almost) all of those crazy things when I was young. As long as you come out a decent human, go ahead and make some mistakes.
Well then, my 19 year old daughter is definitely on the right track! 😉
Personally I love that she was so crazy when she was young. That’s the time to do it. Oh and as much crap as she’s got for her past she’s never been arrested or overdosed or done half the things that other celebs have done and everyone looks the other way.
+10000000
THIS!
Well, she did admit to being wreckless with drugs. Possible od’s. And a few attempts on her life. By pure luck and millimeters she’s alive today.
Still love Dame Jolie. And it’s a great way to be.
I just fainted. God, I love her.
I think it’s good advice. I keep telling one of my son’s gf’s to have more fun, experiment with her hair and clothes…have fun and figure out who you are, what you like and what you don’t. Take some risks. I mean, I want them to stay safe and be smart, but when I look back my biggest regret now was that I didn’t join that rock band in my early twenties. lol! My kids are bigger risk-takers than me or my husband, but in good ways and I’m glad. Live and be a little crazy while you have that freedom. It’s so much harder later when you have kids, pets, a house, job, etc. Plus I think it also gives you a greater ability to understand people and realize that just because you make some mistakes and do some stupid stuff when you are young, you still turned out okay and to be a good person. You don’t have to be perfect and sometimes making mistakes along the way makes you grow in ways you wouldn’t have otherwise. I like Angie. I think she’s the real deal with her charity work (unlike other celebs who pretend to care and do charity work once in a while so they can get papped doing it, or start a charity that only seems to be a way to scam people). She’s had a lot of emotional issues from her childhood to deal with and she has experienced some dark places, but has turned it around and has become a caring and empathetic person who strives to make the world a better place.
I am really surprised that she would not advise her younger self to avoid heavy drug use, specifically heroin. You can live and be wild and free without using dangerous drugs. I don’t think that sends a good message to our youth. It is okay to admit you made mistakes in your past, and I do think that Angelina has admitted to her mistakes (just not in this particular interview). God knows I did make mistakes myself, and I absolutely would change a few things if I could go back and give my 19 year old self advice. I would skip the self-destructive behaviors and focus more on the true freedoms of youth!
Why should she? That path also helped shape the person she is today. It is not advice aimed at anyone but herself.
Agree heather – not leftovers- someone once said you should try everything once apart from Morris dancing ( look it up) and incest but I think heroin should probably be on the list too.
That’s what turned me into a fan of AJ….her earnest, sometimes groping, explanations about her youthful experiments. She managed to convey a very tricky point: that she realised early that her background and particularly her appearance opened every door for her, that she never had to fight for what her friends found difficult…..and she reacted to this by seeking out anything that would make demands of her, make her feel challenged, to level the playing field somewhat.
I took from these interviews that she felt unable, or somehow undeserving, to accept the gifts she was born with, until she had in some way endured rigorous testing, and this impressed me enormously, not least because she never sounded self-satisfied, just at peace now to feel grateful. Also it speaks of a genuinely enquiring mind, which is no smsll thing.
She never lost this, she still craves connection with women who have struggles that she is spared.
I’m interested because I too was a druggy and almost delinquent young woman…..but in my case it was down to nothing more than innate irresponsibilty, at best. Angelina’s story, by contrast, is an inspiring one, imo.
Yeah, her comments weren’t just about her past self, but running around more freely before she became more famous. Seeing the world more before fame and not being afraid to put yourself out there. That can refer to creating your own business and moving somewhere where maybe the odds are stacked against you. Doing things where you may fail and have new experiences. Feeling down on yourself for what you did in the past is not healthy, but learning from them is. She said the past shapes who you are and I definitely agree with that.
Anyway, she mellowed at 25. I still find that amazing. There are people in their sixties still climbing the walls.
She told her younger self that, because that has worked for her, and she knows herself. What works for Angelina Jolie may not work well for others. I’m not saying you shouldn’t encourage yourself, be brave, be more willing to take risks when you’re younger. But I think you need to also recognize there are boundaries, for instance, beware if your actions are hurting yourself tremendously, or hurting other people. We learn not only from our own mistakes, but also from other people’s mistakes. This said, I reckon that she is just basically self-reflecting, not trying to preach to others.
I think it’s wonderful the things she did and I wanted to do such things too until I realised that when you’re truly on your own at 19 and having to hold down a crappy job to pay for your education, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to live bold and allow ‘stupid’ things to happen. Jolie was into modeling and acting and never really struggled financially if you read her old interviews. She was very independent at a young age and it helped that they weren’t poor at all. She had a lot of support from her family too. Sometimes you don’t have a choice but I’m happy for people like Jolie, there’s nothing more fulfilling in life than doing what you want to do.
Oh, how profound, Angelina (heavy sarcasm). I think ANY 40 year old would say the same thing! Live your life, make mistakes and learn from them. It is what LIFE is about after all.
.
It is the LEARNING from mistakes that some don’t get. Repeating them, expecting a different outcome.
Ah, I love her.
As much as I love her right now, I almost cannot wait to see her when she’s old (of course, that means I’ll be old too, so…). Point being: she is going to be a formidable elderly woman. Formidable.
Such a treasure she is, though. no matter her age.
Love Jai Courtney!
I love the first picture. She is utterly, ridiculously beautiful.
I like that she’s wearing a flattering color, and not black. She looks ten years younger.
That’s because in the photos where she’s not wearing black she’s at least 10 years younger.
The one thing I like most about Angie is, she’s never tried to paint herself as perfect. She’s always exposed herself, warts and all.
The top pic of her in the animal print coat; that face! It’s almost too much yet it works somehow. It’s like you can get drunk just gazing at her. 2002 to 2005 Angie was at her prime physically. Unforgettable.
Teach your daughters that its ok to be a dark, reckless, promiscuous fool bc they’ll eventually grow out of it. Awesome
When did she say any of that?
Way to exaggerate her comment about herself so that you can criticize her now that’s awesome.