Angelina Jolie Says She Became an Actress To Help Mom Pay Bills
Award-winning actress Angeline Jolie got into acting mainly to help her mom Marcheline Bertrand pay the bills. The "Maleficent" star admitted that acting wasn't in her nature despite having actors for parents.
Jolie said she pursued the craft as a way to help her mom in the beginning. She later learned to appreciate acting because it sparked her creativity, but it didn't give her a sense of fulfillment in general.
"When I started acting, it was a good means to an end," Jolie said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "It was a creative job, something where you get to explore different times in history, different people, different sides of yourself, learn different skills, so it's a wonderful job to have as you grow and as you learn as a person."
Jolie began acting at the age of 16. Despite having a famous dad like Jon Voight, though, she said she still struggled in Hollywood.
"You're young and you don't know exactly who you are," Jolie said. "People are asking you your opinions, and you haven't formed them yet."
Jolie said she wanted a different life from acting because being in front of the cameras did not make her happy. Winning an Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted" did not make her love acting more but it paved the way for her to discover directing.
Her mom, meanwhile, passed away in 2007 due to cancer. Jolie has, time and again, expressed her closeness to Bertrand.
She told Elle France in an interview in May that she would give up anything to have Bertrand back in her life, especially since she's going through a divorce with ex-husband Brad Pitt. She's regretful that her kids missed out on having their grandmother.
Jolie also revealed that she and her dad, whom she has been estranged for years, have slowly patched up their relationship. Voight has been visiting his daughter and his grandkids in recent months since Jolie's divorce.
