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Article about Angelina Jolie’s sadness from her brother’s point of view

by Sherry on March 25th, 2007

There’s a fantastic article up where Angelina Jolie’s brother talks about the sadness that Angie deals with.

It starts off mentioning Angelina’s well-known desire to adopt babies from all corners of the globe, despite criticism that she should adopt locally instead of just in third world or developing countries. It also contrasts the current humanitarian with who she used to be back when she was all about wild sex, knives, and tattoos.

James Haven Voight is a quiet sort of person who obviously cares about his little sister and for the first time he has done an interview where he defends her reputation and also explains some of the chaos of their childhood which ultimately helped turn them into who they both are.

In a fascinating insight into a very private world, he blames the bullying and manipulation of their handsome movie-hero father, Jon Voight, star of Midnight Cowboy, for blighting both their lives. And he says it is the trauma of their childhood which has driven his sister to create a huge and independent family of her own.

As everyone knows, the death of their mother left Angie completely devastated and the rumors still continue to swirl that she isn’t eating enough, perhaps due to a combination of grief, stress, and her determination to put as much energy as possible into the lives of her growing brood of children.

The article quotes James as such:

“I have no memory at all of my mother shouting at me or at my sister,” James explains. “But I do have horrible memories of my father and the way he behaved. He was so tough on our mother.

“He lived in the same town. We saw him around Christmas time or at school recitals. He was always around but he never did his job as a father. I think one of the reasons Angelina and I care so much for other people is his treatment of our mother. Angelina and I were very protective of her for that reason.”

When Marcheline Bertrand passed away recently, Angie not only lost her mother, but her emotional stability. James says that he believes it’s the grief which is causing her to eat less and that he reminds her regularly to remember to eat. He knows though, that it’s unintentional, that she just hasn’t been able to bother as much with the food she needs.

The article goes on to point out that theoretically James and Angelina should have had a wonderful childhood as children of Hollywood aristocracy and students of Beverly Hills High where stars are known to study. Of course, if you’re familiar with another star, Drew Barrymore could tell you Hollywood royalty doesn’t always equal happiness.

The article quotes James about his memories of childhood with his mother:

“There was very much that home feeling when we came back from school,” he recalls. “Angie and I would walk in and comment on how we could smell things cooking and baking in the kitchen.

“My mum was methodical in making sure we did our homework perfectly. She would do outlines to help us. When we were younger, she used flash cards.

“Or she’d be in the middle of cooking and pick up a carrot and teach us about the vegetable or the fruit so that it was visual as well. Angie is now the same with her kids.”

The article goes on to explain that although money never should have been a problem, it was a constant source of battle with Angie and James both having to beg their own father to pay his child support bills.

Because of their mother’s struggles and their father’s repeated denials that he had any money to spare, James says these lessons are part of what pushed her to become a successful and independent woman; she never wanted to find herself at the mercy of someone else’s money and as a result she has more than enough for herself.

Growing up, James claims that their father only pointed out shortcomings and never took time to congratulate them on their strengths and it would seem that hasn’t changed:

“Look at what Angelina is doing - her work with the United Nations, raising awareness of refugees. It would just be great if Dad would commend her, or send her a message of encouragement. But she’s never heard those words from him.”

James says that not only is Angelina a driven and hard-working woman, she looks out for her big brother, giving him advice, protecting him by telling him to find the right woman, and is a constant close friend. She has influenced him too - James says once he finds the woman he is meant to be with he intends to adopt a child. In other influences, he works for charitable causes, currently helping the upcoming US campaign to fight AIDS in Uganda.

Of course you can’t talk about Angie and James without that while kiss in 2000 coming up. He only had this to say:

“I did not give Angie a French kiss, it was something simple and lovely,” he insists.

“She was about to go off to Mexico to finish filming Original Sin with Antonio Banderas. I congratulated her on the Oscar win and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. It was snapped and became a big thing round the world.”

Although Jon Voight and his daughter made leaps forward by starring in the first Tomb Raider film, he then blew it by telling Access Hollywood that Angie had serious mental problems which then prompted her to legally remove the name Voight from hers and to ban him from having contact with her children. He’s not faring very well with his son either as he apparently hasn’t spoken to James in person yet since his mother died.

James said:

“When I first lost my mother, I couldn’t stop crying. Fortunately, I was with Angie when we heard. It was such a big moment.

“If Angelina understood something about missing parents before, she understands completely now. Angelina and I are orphans too, in a way. When you see those kids in orphanages, they cling to each other. And that’s exactly what they have - they have each other.”

Be sure to check out the article in its entirety as it’s excellent. Angie is so lucky to have such a wonderful brother.

(photo of Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight, and James Haven Voight courtesy of Daily Mail)

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