Can you believe this? Maddox Jolie is now 18 YEARS OLD. I still remember when Angelina Jolie adopted him from a Cambodian orphanage and brought him home and how much everything changed in her life overnight. And now he’s 18 years old. And headed off to college. Months ago, we heard that Maddox was looking at many different colleges, not just in California and New York, but universities in Asia too. Turns out, he loved the colleges they visited in South Korea. He’ll be attending Yonsei University in the fall. Wow.
Angelina Jolie‘s first son is officially college bound. Maddox Jolie-Pitt, who turns 18 Monday, is set to start classes at South Korea’s Yonsei University where he will be studying bio chemistry, a source exclusively tells PEOPLE.
“He got accepted to other universities but choose Yonsei,” the source says. “He has been studying Korean language. He has lessons multiple times a week to prepare.” And the oldest in the Jolie-Pitt clan is starting classes this month, with Jolie, 44, making the trip to help him get started.
“Mom is dropping him off in August,” the source says of Jolie. “She is very proud. She will miss seeing him as much, but he’s ready.”
The source adds that while he’ll be far away from their American home base, his new school is close to the family’s Cambodian home. “He’s very close to his siblings and they all hope to visit,” the insider says of Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13, and 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.
Maddox’s choice to attend a South Korean school comes after he was spotted visiting universities there with Jolie back in Nov. 2018. The two visited campuses in Seoul while Jolie was in the country on an official visit as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) Special Envoy.
I can imagine how emotional it was for Angelina to visit all of the college campuses with Maddox. And I think it’s interesting that after years and years of pearl-clutching nonsense about how she – and to a lesser extent, Brad – raised the kids, Maddox is college bound and about to start a life far away from LA, and he’s seems overwhelmingly well-adjusted for all of it. Even if Maddox doesn’t stick with it – and I’m not saying that will happen – it will be a great, immersive experience for him to spend a year or several years in another country. Angelina’s first baby is all grown up. *muffled sob*
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
High 5 to Angelina – she is doing a fine job raising kids, advocate for women’s issues and still acting in well received movies.
Loud this!!!
The interest in celebrities children is kinda baffling to me , it really is .
I take baffling and raise it to creepy.
It’s baffling to me that someone would make this comment on…an article about celebrity children???
Hahahahahava
Is it? I like to regularly make the point on celeb sites that I find gossip speculation on children prurient and inappropriate. How else will they know how their readers feel?
I understand the interest (her kids are cute!) but I think it passes over to creepy when people know all of their birthdays, what they got for them, where they are at any given time…
the only celebrity birthday I know is Henry Rollins, and that’s because he’s my secret boyfriend.
2.13.61 😉
Also: Henry seems to be one of the greatest people around. So humble, yet so talented and intelligent. I’ve loved him for ages and it’s always nice to come upon people, who share this sentiment.
It’s not baffling when the parents have put them out there for it, paraded them for pap walks, and made no effort to give them privacy.
Wonderful and another kick in the ballz for the ones who criticized the way she raised these kids. Some even calling them wild and uncontrollable. Gossip made up of course. I don’t blame her at all for sharing this because this young man will study biochemistry and Life Science. And she didn’t have to bribe them. She is gleaming these days from pride and success. Wishing him well and the dig at Pitt was priceless. He didn’t even want to help house them so we know he ain’t helping with tuition.
Yeah remember those YEARS upon YEARS of people moaning about these kids getting uprooted and traveling the world and oh noes their education! and here he is, getting a STEM degree from a world class university.
When the kids were home schooled a lot of people criticized her now they are turning out well adjusted and normal
Studying bio chem seems hard enough but studying it in a second language seems really hard. Good for Maddox for taking on the challenge.
No kidding, that’s what I thought. Biochem is no joke, from what I’ve heard.
indeed.
and he gets extra credit from me for not just doing the celeb kids thing and NOT going to college and either partying or trying to use nepotism to get roles. or the OTHER celeb kids thing of getting into a school so he can party, a la Aunt Becky’s kids.
Wow good luck to him! Even if he takes courses in English, like a poster upthread said, going to college in another country would still be challenging, and I commend him for it. I wonder if part of his decision was trying to find an environment where he isn’t just a celeb kid. I know Brangelina are international stars but hopefully the interest would be a bit more manageable in S Korea than in an American school. Either way I’m really impressed that he’s pursuing a serious course of study when it would be so easy for him to just ride on the coattails of his famous family.
“would still be challenging” – Really? Kids with no financial help from their families do it all the time.
@BeanToo, it’s challenging for those kids too. Even more so for the lack of resources. Surely you won’t argue than going to university abroad in a second language is easier than doing it in your home country in your native language?
I have to say, this is a tough choice. Speaking a language fluently enough to do academia in it is tough.
Also, visiting a place like South Korea (or Japan) as a short-term tourist, and living there full time are two very different matters. I hope Maddox is well-prepared for the culture shock. It is a different way of thinking and being entirely. Everything is different. And that will include the way they learn and are graded. It is very very different from the American way.
I hope he overcomes these challenges and thrives and that he makes it through. If he doesn’t – that will be completely understandable! He hasn’t picked an easy option. But I hope he does finish his degree, in South Korea or elsewhere.
And yes, these kids seem much better balanced than many other Hollywood offspring. I think Angelina has managed to impress the importance of education on them, and likely meeting many of the people they’ve met around the world, who’d give anything for a good education or who are using their educations for great things, has impressed on them too.
“Speaking a language fluently enough to do academia in it is tough.”
Millions and millions of international students do it all the time, every year: arrive in the US, Canada, UK, Australia , or NZ and start 100% English language degrees. It’s somehow considered a big deal if you’re going from English-speaking countries to the rest of the world. Probably a reflection of how we kind of get blase about a 2nd language in English-speaking countries. English is so convenient and widely used.
Those international students have most likely been learning English in since elementary school. Plus English is the de facto language of many sciences (especially in programming), so their level of fluency is much higher. It’s honestly really easy to learn English in many parts of the world, because of the wide availability of learning resources. Much harder to learn Korean.
I live in NYC and there’s not a single school for my kids to learn my native language. I haven’t even been able to find a good tutor. My cousins in my homeland have been taught English in their public schools since first grade.
Good for Angie. She did say that in 5 years time she’ll be traveling the world visiting her kids wherever they choose to study.
OMG 18 years old! I cannot believe how fast time has gone. Angelina was married to Billy Bob when she adopted Maddox. . .and the gossip! “Wild Child Angelina Jolie adopts baby!” Pearl clutching galore. Sigh. . .seems like such simpler times.
Wonderful. Angelina must be very proud.
Congrats to him. That is not an easy subject to study !
I think this is a Christian college. It looks like undergrads are required to go to chapel. I went to a private, Christian college, but chapel was optional for us. Religion classes, however, were mandatory.
He may be going to the “Underwood International College” portion of the university. Those classes are available in English. Of course, he would want to know the language of the country where he lives, but the classes themselves may be taught in English. One of the majors at Underwood is Integrated Science and Engineering and biochem is part of that.
Off-topic, but Pax is so handsome! Angie seems like such a good mom.
This headline makes me feel old.
Kudos to Angelina and extra kudos to Maddox. What a special time.
I’m not a fan of Angelina Jolie but I have new respect for her after reading this news. I learned from kdrama it’s extremely difficult to get admitted to one of the SKY (Seoul Uni, Korea Uni and Yonsei Uni). Congrats to Maddox!
Congrats to Maddox!! Good luck and enjoy all of it!
Good job Angelina!
When did they all grow up?? How are they all double digit ages?
I’m proud of him. He’s been through some SHIT in the past few years what with the Brad Pitt abuse incident and the fall out afterwards. I bet being in a new continent, studying something totally removed from the family business will be a wonderful, healthy change.
Absolutely right. Gossip and stupid drama. At least there he won’t have to listen to all that crap. You do know they criticized him in that blowout with Brad for trying to protect his mother. In a small confined space on a private jet with 6 kids ,two adults probably a nanny or two, and a flight attendant his dad did or said something while piss poor drunk and maybe even high to his wife that this 15 yr old teenager felt the need to step in. His father punched him and the media slaughtered his mom and him. Good luck to you young man.
I’m going to guess university in South Korea is a hell of a lot cheaper too? I mean maybe it’s expensive but I doubt it costs $70,000 a year! My parents love to tell me how much money they would have saved had my sister and I gone to university in France (where dad is from) or Canada. (In fact I have a friend who got into Georgetown years ago but opted for McGill in Montreal instead because it was way cheaper for her family to pay).
It will cost about 20,000 USD per year for an international student science degree at Yonsei.
I predict Maddox going to Yonsei U, and AJ and the kids visiting him there, will spark some cool new wave of cultural stuff there, like we’ll get some great new Korean fashion inspired by them or something. I can’t predict what genre it will be, might be music or film or food, I just sense that artists and cultural innovators there will take inspiration from this superfamous, ultrahype Cambodian-American celebrity kid living and studying there for 4 years.
To be fair, South Korea is super famous for their own food, are very fashion forward ( and they love playing with western + their own cultural aesthetics), are tech-savy and their skincare industry (and plastic surgery if we’re really, really honest,) in particular is out of the world. So, tbh, I don’t think ONE (admittedly very cool) kid/ bio chem student is going to rock their already rich culture. Yet, who knows, I mean his mum is Angelina Joli, so peeps r going to be interested in him. Let’s just hope he gets some fun alongside learning and experiencing new stuff (and people won’t give him crap about Brad Pitt and being darker skinned than East Asians prefer)
Agree with R; South Korea’s soft power strategy, sponsored for decades by their gov, has already worked. That biggest selling boyband for example. And SK shows are all over East Asia. They’re dubbed or subtitled or whatever.
I think that’s unlikely. Also, weirdly arrogant that a rich Asian culture will be massively impacted by the child of American actors.
Yeah, I’m always surprised when people think western culture is the centre of the world. Plus, since Maddox is the one moving to a whole another country and culture, with people who are mostly not white and not so heavily influenced by American (pop)culture (at least not so much like other western countries), it’s more likely, HE’S the one who’s going to influenced by South Korean culture.
He’s 18?!?! Wow time flies!
Yonsei is one of the top 3 most prestigious schools in Korea. Most Koreans have to get perfect scores and study ridiculous amounts to get in there, I’m not sure about international students, but go Maddox!!
Does Brad Pitt ever do things with these kids? I’m seriously suspect of him now!
Congrats to him! Uni is hard, and attending university + living abroad is harder, but it will a good experience for him.