The Most Tragic Details About Angelina Jolie's Life

Content warning: the following article mentions self-harm, suicidal ideation, addiction, and sexual assault. 

Angelina Jolie has endless claims to fame. Throughout the years, she's been known as an A-list actor, an international sex symbol, and an award-winning filmmaker, just to name a few. Jolie began her rise to fame in 1995 when she starred in "Hackers." In 2000, the actor nabbed an Academy Award for her visceral performance in the blockbuster drama, "Girl, Interrupted." 

Jolie traveled to Cambodia in 2000 to film "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." After observing the country's social and environmental issues, she decided to take action by becoming a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations. The following year, the Hollywood icon adopted her first child, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, from a Cambodian orphanage (Jolie's family would eventually come to include six children). Since then, the actor has dedicated copious time and resources to philanthropy. She's founded several charitable organizations and has tackled numerous humanitarian issues, including public health, conservation, education, and more. 

In addition to her illustrious acting career, Jolie has also directed several films, including 2017's award-winning "First They Killed My Father." And she hasn't stopped there: in 2023, she claimed her place as a fashion maven when she opened her clothing store, Atelier Jolie, in New York City. With such an elite resume, one might assume that everything Jolie touches turns to gold. But in reality, the A-lister has endured plenty of heartbreak and trauma. From grappling with mental health struggles to suffering an earth-shattering loss, Jolie has been dealt some terribly tragic cards in life. 

Fans might know her as the star of blockbusters like "Changeling" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," but Angelina Jolie was in the spotlight long before nabbing her first movie role. As the daughter of Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, Jolie was born into Hollywood royalty. Throughout her childhood, the starlet made several red carpet appearances alongside her dad. Jolie's inaugural movie role came in 1982 when the then-6-year-old made a cameo in Voight's film, "Lookin' To Get Out."

Jolie was raised in Los Angeles, attended acting school as a teen, and was seemingly on track to become a young Hollywood success story. But despite her charmed upbringing, she always felt like an outsider, even among her closest kin. As a child, Jolie struggled with depression and identity issues. "I didn't know why I was so destructive and miserable," she told Wall Street Journal Magazine in 2015. "I didn't appreciate or understand my life."

As she got older, Jolie felt increasingly empty and unfulfilled. "It took me a good while to feel I could be of use to anyone because I felt for a long time that I was a little crazy, that I was a little unhinged, and not settled," the "Salt" star told the Guardian in 2021. "If you would have asked me as a teenager if I could have been anybody's mom, or of any use to the UN or write a book, I would have said absolutely not."

During the late 90s, Angelina Jolie landed several movie roles that catapulted her into the big leagues. In 1997, the actor earned a Golden Globe for her role in "George Wallace." Two years later, she delivered an Oscar-winning performance in "Girl, Interrupted." However, despite all of the fanfare and accolades, Jolie continued feeling depressed, lonely, and uninspired. At one point, her anguish became too much to bear and the actor turned to self-harm. "It's not a secret that I went through a self-destructive period, self-searching, looking for the extremities," Jolie told Parade in 2010. "I used to cut myself or jump out of airplanes, trying to find something new to push up against because sometimes everything else felt too easy."

In 1996, Jolie married her first husband, actor Jonny Lee Miller. However, the romance did little to dull her pain. "I felt so off balance all the time," Jolie recalled in a 2003 episode of "20/20" (via ABC News). "I remember one of the most upsetting times in my life was after I had attained success, financial stability and I was in love, and I thought, 'I have everything that they say you should have to be happy and I'm not happy.'" For Jolie, true fulfillment came in 2002 when she adopted her son Maddox Jolie-Pitt from Cambodia. For the first time in her life, the actor felt a deep sense of purpose. 

Angelina Jolie was born in 1975 to actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. When Jolie was about a year old, Voight had an extramarital affair and walked out on the family. For the next few decades, Jolie had a strained relationship with her dad. Voight didn't have much involvement in his children's lives, and Bertrand struggled as the family's sole provider. "After her divorce, we had financial troubles," Jolie revealed to Parade in 2010. "We never owned a home. We moved from small apartments to even smaller ones."

In 2001, the father-daughter-duo briefly settled their differences when they appeared together in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." Not long after filming the movie, Jolie adopted her first child, Maddox Jolie-Pitt. Instead of congratulating his daughter on her bundle of joy, Voight slammed her in an Entertainment Weekly interview, claiming that Jolie had "mental problems." The "Girl, Interrupted" star fired back at her dad's comments, stating, "After all these years, I have determined that it is not healthy for me to be around my father, especially now that I am responsible for my own child" (via Entertainment Weekly).

In the following years, Jolie maintained a tumultuous off-and-on-again relationship with her dad. Then, in 2017, the pair reunited once more. Speaking with the Hollywood Reporter, Jolie declared that this time, their reconciliation was for good. "Jon and I have gotten to know each other — through grandchildren now — [and] we're finding a new relationship," the actor stated.

When Angelina Jolie burst onto the scene in the late 90s, fans were captivated by her timeless beauty and smoldering stare. But despite being a fully-fledged It-girl, the actor had a tendency to flub her public image. During her early years, Jolie gave several salacious interviews and was known for oversharing. Fans couldn't stop gawking in 2000 when the actor shared a bizarrely affectionate kiss with her brother, James Haven. In the early aughts, Jolie had tongues wagging when she spilled details about her sex rituals with her then-husband, Billy Bob Thornton.

Jolie's antics garnered a heap of bad press. Although the former wild child welcomed the media's attention, she felt deeply hurt by some of what was published about her. Looking back on her stint as a tabloid freak show, Jolie told Elle that she felt "misrepresented" by the media. In defense of her past behavior, the A-lister stated, "And in fact it wasn't a need to be destructive or rebellious, it's that need to find a full voice, to push open the walls around you."

After Jolie adopted her son, Maddox, she was devastated when the tabloids began questioning her parenting skills. "People wonder aloud about whether I am an okay mother. That is obviously painful because it's so important to me," she told Cosmopolitan in 2003. "It's hard to hear that people think I'm not a capable mother and a good person, that they just think I'm nuts."

Not only was Angelina Jolie admonished by the press during her early career, but she also contended with rumors about her alleged substance misuse. In 2010, Life & Style (via Huffpost) published an interview with a man named Franklin Meyer, who claimed to have sold drugs to the actor in the 90s. Meyer alleged that Jolie had been addicted to cocaine and heroin. He also shared a video of the actor looking gaunt and behaving strangely while talking on the phone. According to Meyer, the video had been recorded while Jolie was under the influence in 1999. 

For her part, Jolie chose not to comment publicly about Meyer's allegations — however, she hasn't denied having a history with substances. In 2015, Jolie hinted at her past drug use when she told Vanity Fair that she was previously "fascinated" by heroin. A few years later, the actor confirmed to the Guardian that she experimented with heroin and frequently drank alcohol as a teen. 

In 2003, the movie maven opened up to Rolling Stone about how motherhood had helped her forge a new path in life. The actor stated, "That thing I used to have when something would go wrong, that place of self-destruction or addiction or craziness, when you have a child you can't afford that and you just don't. When your world falls apart or you're feeling really depressed, you pick yourself up and smile so they don't worry."

In 1998, Angelina Jolie starred in the acclaimed biopic, "Gia," which earned her a Golden Globe Award. The actor portrayed Gia Carangi, an American fashion model who struggled with addiction and ultimately died from AIDS in 1986. In a conversation with Vanity Fair, Jolie admitted that she felt depressed after immersing herself in Caragani's tragic story. "I was feeling emptier than ever," the actor recalled. "I was scared of going out like Gia."

Shortly after filming "Gia," Jolie decided to end her life. Speaking with The Face in 2003, the star revealed that she hired a hitman to kill her. Jolie felt that her family would have an easier time accepting her death if they believed it was caused by murder rather than suicide. "So my solution to that was if someone else had taken my life — like in a 'robbery' — then it would be murder and it wouldn't be that anyone would feel they'd let me down." However, in an unexpected twist, the hitman convinced Jolie not to follow through with her plan.

Looking back, the A-lister credits her children for giving her the strength to keep going. "I was 26 when I became a mother," she told Vogue. "My entire life changed. Having children saved me — and taught me to be in this world differently. I think, recently, I would've gone under in a much darker way had I not wanted to live for them." 

Angelina Jolie may have had a turbulent youth, but there was always one constant in her life: her mother, Marcheline Bertrand. When Jolie's father abandoned the family, Bertrand put her own acting dreams aside in order to care for her children. Jolie recalled to the Guardian, "My mom married at 21 and by the time she was 25 she was divorced with two little kids." The actor described her mother as a strong, creative woman who encouraged Jolie to stay true to herself. 

Tragically, Bertrand died from ovarian cancer in 2007, and Jolie was completely shattered by the loss. "I lost my mother in my thirties," she wrote in a 2020 essay for the New York Times. "When I look back to that time, I can see how much her death changed me. It was not sudden, but so much shifted inside." The actor also spoke about how Bertrand's legacy lived on through Jolie's relationship with her own children. "But now, with my girls growing up and being the ages I remember so well as a daughter, I am rediscovering my mother and her spirit," Jolie reminisced. "She was a girl who danced all night on the Sunset Strip and loved rock 'n' roll. She was a woman who loved, even after loss, and never lost her grace and her smile."

In 2017, several women came forward stating they'd been sexually assaulted by famed Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The allegations sent Hollywood into crisis mode and sparked a national conversation about sexual abuse. In February 2020, the disgraced movie producer was convicted of rape and criminal sexual assault and received a 23-year prison sentence. Two years later, he was found guilty of an additional rape charge. 

Weinstein's crimes altered the lives of numerous women, many of whom were young and aspiring actors. Among them was Angelina Jolie, who had an unsettling encounter with the movie producer at age 21. In a conversation with The Guardian, Jolie revealed that she had stopped an unwanted sexual advance from Weinstein, and the experience had shaken her to the core. "If you get yourself out of the room, you think he attempted but didn't, right?," she explained. "The truth is that the attempt and the experience of the attempt is an assault." Jolie chose not to share specific details about the assault, but she did reveal, "It was beyond a pass, it was something I had to escape. I stayed away and warned people about him."

Despite Jolie's horrifying experience with Weinstein, her then-partner Brad Pitt decided to work with Weinstein's production company in 2009. Jolie admitted to the Guardian that Pitt's decision left her feeling betrayed. "We fought about it," she stated. "Of course it hurt."

In 2016, Angelina Jolie stunned the masses when she filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, thus putting the kibosh on their iconic 12-year relationship. As shocking as their split was, fans were even more astonished to learn why Jolie called it quits. According to court papers, Pitt had allegedly assaulted Jolie and the couple's eldest son, Maddox, during a private jet ride in 2016. The documents claimed that "Pitt grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her, and then grabbed her shoulders and shook her again before pushing her into the bathroom wall" (via NPR). Pitt was also accused of choking Maddox during the incident. 

As of August 2024, Jolie and Pitt have refrained from commenting on the events of the ill-fated flight. However, Jolie seemingly alluded to the abuse allegations in 2017 when the actor told Vogue that she and her children were "all just healing from the events that led to the filing. They're not healing from divorce. They're healing from some ... from life, from things in life."

In 2024, Jolie's legal team claimed that Pitt had been abusing Jolie long before she decided to end the marriage. In a court document, Jolie's lawyers wrote, "While Pitt's history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family's September 2016 plane trip from France to Los Angeles, this flight marked the first time he turned his physical abuse on the children as well. Jolie then immediately left him" (via People).

Despite grappling with numerous tragedies throughout the years, Angelina Jolie remains grateful for her life. But when speaking with The Times in 2021, Jolie admitted that even as a wealthy, successful movie star, she still struggles with mental health issues. "I've had a very blessed life but I've had my own challenges," the actor confessed. "I've had PTSD."

Sadly, Jolie's mental health took another hit after her separation from Brad Pitt in 2016. Amid the messy divorce proceedings (which are still underway as of August 2024), custody battles, and legal disputes over their shared properties, life has been a roller coaster for the superstar. Speaking with Vogue in 2024, Jolie admitted that she'd been pushed to her breaking point. "I feel a bit down these days," the actor confessed. "I don't feel like I've been myself for a decade, in a way, which I don't want to get into."

In 2017, Jolie was stricken with Bell's Palsy, a neurological condition that causes temporary facial paralysis. As a result, the actor lost muscle control over half of her face. Eventually, she made a full recovery — however, Jolie acknowledged that her condition was likely caused by the stress of rebuilding her life after the breakup. As the actor told Vanity Fair, "Sometimes women in families put themselves last until it manifests itself in their own health."

Following her breakup with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie put on a brave face for her kids. "I do not want my children to be worried about me," she emphasized to Vanity Fair in 2017. "I think it's very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything's going to be all right even when you're not sure it is." 

While Jolie did everything possible to try and hide her emotional scars, there was nothing she could do to escape the legal ramifications of her divorce. After their separation, Jolie and Pitt entered a bitter custody battle that raged on for several years. Then, in 2021, Pitt sued Jolie for selling her share of Château Miraval, a French vineyard that she had previously co-owned with Pitt. The "Ocean's Eleven" actor claimed that Jolie violated a prior verbal agreement between the exes when she made the business deal. In response, Jolie filed a counter suit claiming that Pitt refused to sell his share of the vineyard to her unless she agreed to sign an NDA that would bar her from discussing the details of their separation.

In 2024, the "Eternals" star filed new court papers stating that Pitt's legal actions were purely malicious. In the documents, her lawyers wrote (via the Daily Mail), "It is extremely painful for Jolie to have to defend herself from Pitt's lawsuit — itself another example of Pitt's unrelenting efforts to control and financially drain her."

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, self-harm, suicidal ideation, or depression, or may be a victim of sexual assault, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
• If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
• Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
• Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).