I always liked Milla Jovovich as a model but I didn’t know much about her beyond that. I know she got into acting but I haven’t seen her in much. But I just learned is she’s a musician who’s been writing songs since she was 15 and is pretty well respected in the music community. Color me impressed. Milla and her Resident Evil director, Paul W. S. Anderson will celebrate their 10-year wedding anniversary this year. The couple has two kids, daughters Ever, 11, and Dashiel, three. Milla knows that their lifestyle could negatively affect her daughters’ attitude. To prevent this, Milla checks them whenever they start sounding ‘entitled.’
Keeping it real! Milla Jovovich knows that her two children live a “privileged life,” but the actress opened up about how she keeps her 11-year-old daughter, Ever, from becoming “entitled.”
“It’s about having an open conversation every time,” the model told Us Weekly exclusively at the amFAR Gala New York on Wednesday, February 6. “Every time that I see my daughter getting a bit complacent, feeling a little entitled and … treating people in a way that’s not totally respectful, I call and say, ‘Hey let’s stop and talk.’”
She added: “We have these pep talks. I tell her about what’s going on in the world, I tell her how lucky she is and to remember what’s important in this life. To remember to appreciate people, to be curious about people. To really be interested in things, because, without that, you’re not going to get anywhere in life if you’re in your own head. You have to look outside.”
That’s one of the reasons why the Resident Evil star is all about “supporting great causes,” such as the Dian Fossey Fund for gorilla protection.
“[Ever] knows how important it is for me to give back to society, to give back to the world especially because we’re living a privileged life,” Jovovich told Us. “We’re living in this incredible country, America, where we have everything at our fingertips. So many people don’t. It’s so important to me to make her understand how lucky she is, and that it’s our job to give back and not just take.”
I think, “I call and say, ‘Hey let’s stop and talk,’” is a typo, because calling your kid to schedule a meeting to discuss not being privileged sounds *awfully* privileged. Milla’s message is solid and maybe she means she calls her out. I’m all for all parents reminding their children they are no better than anyone else. Making kids aware of the world, across all economic strata, is a good way to do it. I appreciate Milla acknowledging that her kids could be more susceptible to entitlement. There is nothing wrong with raising your kid rich, I know I’d love the opportunity. But understanding what other people go through is important and I respect Milla for passing that on to her kids. I don’t think you need to be privileged to share this lesson either, giving back helps everyone and if you can afford the time, it’s a great experience for kids.
And not to be too superficial but how genetically blessed is Ever?! Look at those eyes!
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Getty Images
Milla is probably on sets at work a lot. So I don’t think calling her daughter is privilege as much as necessary when you are not home. My guess is her kids have nannies who report on her daughter’s behavior and when Milla gets a bad report, she calls. It doesn’t sound like she’s scheduling a meeting as much as calling up and saying “I heard you were bratty; let’s talk about that” now.
I’m sure a great deal of her concern stems from growing up in Ukraine. I think it’s wonderful she is actually parenting her children to respect others & realize their privilege. We have had enough Kartrashians & the entiteled dross of the models who are only on runways because of their last names.
I’ve loved her since she was Leeloo. Still think she looked stunning with orange hair.
She did not grow up in Ukraine. She is living in The USA since she was 5 years old and claimed in interviews to be very much Russian.
I remember when Milla was starting to become in-demand as a model. One of the teen magazines booked her and then featured an article about the experience of working with her. I remember it precisely because the article was written in a more negative tone than what I was used to in that magazine. From what I recall, she was late to her shoot, and insisted that the hair stylist crimp her hair rather than curl it because she didn’t like it curled – even though it was the magazine’s shoot. Crimping her hair took forever, which added to the stress of an already late shoot. The article implied that she was rather rude and a bit unprofessional. These are small infractions for a teenager, I know, but I’m glad to hear that she sees the importance of not letting her daughter be rude to others.
Truth. I wonder if someone gave her the feedback and it stuck with her.
I remember one time being rude to the lady who cleaned our home and my mother absolutely lit me up. That was over 30 years ago and it still sticks with me to this day-it doesn’t matter what someone does for a living, they are always deserving of respect and kindness. I am so grateful that my mother did that then and we have been doing that with our 7 year old. I have employees who treat support teams and administrative professionals as beneath them-little do they know that those people always have the boss’s ear and have no problem sharing their experience. Our CFO was once a night-time janitor when he was in college-the stories he tells about that experience are very eye-opening.
ETA-I’m also still horrified to this day that I was rude to that lady about not dusting one of my toys when I was 6. What an asshole way to behave. Thank goodness for my mother having a zero tolerance policy.
@THEHUFFLEPUFFLIZLEMON, I would love to meet your mom! She’s my spirit animal! And you are too, because you grew from the lesson and pass it on.
The article about Milla influenced my opinion of her for years until I read interviews she gave as an adult. She seemed much more grounded and appreciative of her work and the people around her. I’ll bet someone did set her straight along the way or maybe her attitude affected her bookings and she straightened herself up. Lord knows, I had my bratty moments as a teen, and was called out on it, so I shouldn’t have thrown stones. Glad to hear she is modeling kind behavior for her offspring now.
Her husband is botoxed to the nines.
Her daughter has her mother’s incredibly striking, beautiful eyes.
That second pic makes me a little sad cuz she’s clearly got a bit much plastic/ fillers/ something going on and it only seems to mar her beauty. I’ve always thought she was just stunningly gorgeous and I loved her as Leeloo, too, and Joan of Arc. She has this touching vulnerability thing going on.
“Leeloo Dallas multi-pass” is one of my favorite line deliveries ever, in any film. Any time I happen to come across that movie, I have to watch it just to catch that line.
Whatever she was like as a teen/young adult, so glad to hear that now that she’s an adult, she gets it, and not only realizes that everyone deserves to be treated to respect, but she’s doing whatever she can to teach her children that too.
Wow, her kid looks just like her.
That doesn’t even look like Milla to me. I wouldn’t have even known that was her if the headline didn’t say it.
Her daughter is gorgeous.
Oh yeah, she released an album called “The Divine Comedy” in 1994 which I loved back then. I just put it on and it’s still as good as I remember. Folky acoustic pop, she’s got a beautiful voice and there’s a song in Russian (?) on it as well.