Angelina Jolie has captivated audiences for over two decades with her dramatic flair both on and off the silver screen, but the thespian icon reveals she now yearns for a more peaceful existence overseas. In an exclusive interview, the “Maleficent” star discloses her intent to bid adieu to Hollywood and decamp to southeast Asia as she seeks authentic connection untethered to her public persona.
“I wouldn’t be an actress today,” confides the 48-year-old ingenue who first garnered attention with her intense performance in 1999’s “Girl, Interrupted.” “When I was starting out, it wasn’t as much of an expectation to be as public, to share so much. Because I grew up around Hollywood, I was never very impressed with it. I never bought into it as significant or important.”
Her ambitions to relocate have been thwarted in aftermath of her contentious 2016 split from husband Brad Pitt following 12 years as a couple and a brief two-year marriage. The former pair continue a fraught custody battle over their six children, with Jolie retaining sole custody of the minors while Pitt procures visitation rights.
“It’s part of what happened after my divorce. I lost the ability to live and travel as freely,” laments the “Eternals” star who last graced the silver screen in 2021. “I will move when I can.”
Escaping to lands unknown holds special significance for the thespian who muses, “I grew up in quite a shallow place. Of all the places in the world, Hollywood is not a healthy place. So you seek authenticity. I realised my closest friends are refugees. Maybe four out of six of the women that I am close to are from war and conflict.”
Jolie already owns a home in Cambodia, the remote Battambang property she purchased in 2002 prior to adopting first child Maddox, now 22, from the southeast Asian nation. “I don’t really have a social life,” she confides, adding her brood of six remain her nearest and dearest.
Meanwhile, her former flame Pitt appears to have moved on, quietly dating jewelry designer Ines de Ramon this past year.
Professionally, Jolie finds herself busier than ever with five projects in varying stages of production, including “Maleficent 3” and “Maria” in which she inhabits opera soprano Maria Callas in 1970s Paris. She also prepares to debut the sustainable clothing boutique Atelier Jolie in New York.
So while this glamazon has bewitched the world with her alchemy of glamour and grit on celluloid, she now seeks to conjure a new life beyond the limelight. Where will her storied journey take her next? One thing is certain – Angie will have the world spellbound.
