Once again, we can demonstrate that despite the naysayers’ claims to the contrary, Angelina Jolie does not self-promote by advertising all her good deeds. Rather, those good deeds come out to the public because other people involved want us to know. Take, for instance, the fact that Angelina visited the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The only reason this came to light is not because Angie herself screamed it from the rooftops - we heard about it because the USO group posted photos of her visit on Facebook. Go check it out!

Also, totally stating the obvious but goodness she looks gorgeous!

(Thanks JM for the heads’ up about the USO photos!)

Once again Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are taking a stance for a cause that I personally believe in whole-heartedly. The couple has given use of their names in accordance with an attempted ban on diamonds from Zimbabwe.

Known as “Blood Diamonds” or “Feud Diamonds”, the gems are exactly what you’d expect from the name - precious stones obtained courtesy of a trail of blood-shed. I try to keep my political opinions in a separate compartment of my life, but I am very much against the unethical diamond trade - so much so that my own ring is not a real diamond because I have no interest in contributing. Obviously, you can get ethically obtained diamonds fairly easily with some simple research and information, but I just chose not to. Anyway. The fact that Brad and Angelina are endorsing a stop to the blood diamond trade fills me with so much joy.

Considering some of the most common victims of this particular form of diamond trade are children, it’s not much of a surprise that Brad and Angelina would stand together against it.

Read the full story here.

(Thanks to those of you who commented and emailed about the story!)

Image: Newscom

There is a great featured slideshow over at MSNBC about Angelina Jolie. It shows a timeline (from most recent, working backwards) that really lets you see how she always finds time to do her work for the UNHCR no matter what else is going on.

Angelina Jolie distributes balls to the children at the Tham Hin refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border 19 May, 2002. Newscom

If you go through the slideshow, you’ll see beautiful photos of Angelina with Brad Pitt at red carpet events, and equally wonderful photos of Angelina with her so-loved kids. In between though, there are regular photos of Angelina on UNHCR missions where she heads to war zones and refugee camps to understand exactly what is going on in the areas of the world that traditional media doesn’t always cover - all so she can make sure that the rest of the world isn’t allowed to forget about the refugees who fled their homes and have nothing.

People who dislike her say that it’s all a stunt, that she’s chasing the publicity. They’re partially right but they’ve got the biggest part wrong - yes, Angelina does this for publicity but NOT FOR HERSELF. She does it because she knows the media follows her every move and she brings that publicity to the people who so desperately need it the most. If it wasn’t for her name and celebrity power, unfortunately a large number of people wouldn’t know about the devastation going on around this planet.

So they can say what they want about her, but today on World Refugee Day, I can do nothing but offer up thanks that she is strong enough and brave enough to keep working so hard to help the refugees who need everything we can offer them, whether it’s money, physical assistance, or simply spreading awareness. I look at Angelina Jolie and I see nothing but a selfless, incredible force to be reckoned with.

(Please remember you can still peek in on life in refugee camps by viewing this UNHCR page which offers live streaming as well as archived videos.)

Photo:Newscom

(Thanks for the link Ligaya!)

Angelina Jolie has been very busy making the world aware of World Refugee Day (which is tomorrow, June 20th). This morning the Today show aired an interview that Ann Curry did with Angelina Jolie yesterday.

It was yet another wonderful interview bringing important facts about refugee to light. They even spoke of one of Angelina’s first UNHCR missions to Pakistan in 2001. She talked about how, as a mother, she wants to make sure she has enough snacks for her kids on long drives so that they won’t be hungry and yet she had met with mothers who sometimes have absolutely no food at all to offer to their children for days at a time and how that must be one of the most difficult things in the world for a parent to go through.

I also liked Angelina’s response when Ann said that sometimes Americans don’t feel like they care about refugees because American lives are being lost in those same areas in wars, so what makes Angie care so much. Her reply was that she cares and others should too because those refugees are fighting (or fleeing) the same extremists that the U.S. is fighting - in other words the troops and the refugees are allies (and I’d like to add with the main difference being that the refugees aren’t able to defend themselves as much).

Angelina added that the point is not to simply feel pity for refugees but to help them to get to a point where they can rely on themselves because they are such strong, smart people. They are the future there.

Much like in the Anderson Cooper interview last night, Angelina said that it is her intention to take her children to these camps to help them to understand how fortunate they are and how important compassion and aid is. Ann brought up the fact that Angelina has already taken Maddox to some of the camps - what an experience. Angie said that she wants her kids to be raised with a more accurate view of the world than she was - and indeed, most of us were - so that they can grow up to be better people than they would be if they were sheltered. She even said if she had understood the problems of the world better at a younger age, she probably would have gotten through her own youth better and would have been less self-destructive.

Every time I hear Angelina Jolie speak about refugees I feel so inspired. Don’t you?

In related news, I left this link in the post about Anderson Cooper but I want to bring it here too. If you’re interested in learning more, the UNHCR is running live streaming today and tomorrow from various refugee camps. You can watch and get even more educated on life in their world by clicking over here.

Last night, Anderson Cooper aired an exclusive interview with Angelina Jolie on his CNN show Anderson Cooper 360. Luckily for people who weren’t able to see it yesterday, I was able to find the segment on YouTube. I’ve often found CNN to be pretty generous with its news feeds so hopefully this won’t be removed from YouTube at any point in the near future.

Anderson starts off by saying how none of the segment went as planned - explaining that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also supposed to be a part of the discussion but that she had fallen and broken her elbow and was unable to attend. He also added that he was meant to interview Angelina in person but that horrible weather had diverted his flight straight back home (his re-telling of the flight was pretty humorous!).

Luckily, they were able to set up a satellite feed and they did the interview that way so they could talk about the more than 42 million refugees around the world. He kicked things off by asking if there’s one particular refugee crisis that is more alarming to her than the rest and Angelina said that Pakistan is at the top right now, mostly because although it’s so recent the numbers have been climbing so rapidly - at a pace of 100,000 displaced people per day, pushing past two million in total.

Anderson then asked Angelina if her kids worry and how she explains to them all that she’s doing when she goes to these regions. I loved her answer; she said that she just tells them that there are families all around the world that aren’t as fortunate as they are, children that aren’t as lucky and that it’s important to go to these places and understand what’s going on so that they can be helped.

He also pointed out that there’s a danger of getting to a point where you keep hearing the same story over and over, and how to keep in mind that each person is an individual (I think he was sort of getting at how to avoid becoming jaded and still being able to listen to each person’s story as their own). Anderson asked Angelina if anyone ever really sticks out in her memory and she told the story of a 15-year-old boy who had lost his entire family and had been shot in the back, leaving him paralyzed. She pointed out that we all complain of so many little things on a daily basis and this boy who had lost everything was so full of life and good spirit. She broke down momentarily saying that he had passed away and that she often wondered what he could have been under better circumstances.

I don’t know how she holds it together when she’s there.

I actually had to pause the video to have an emotional moment myself when Angelina spoke of an 8-year-old girl in Tanzania who fled with her little baby brother after seeing the rest of her family killed right in front of her; she carried him and ran through the jungle, eating fruit along the way and fled for two weeks before finally arriving at a refugee camp. A year later she saw the little girl again and she was like a tiny woman despite her age, taking care of her brother at the camp and just showing remarkable, gracious resilience.

Speaking to Anderson of her own family, she said that she hopes to provide a good education for her own children, and not just when it comes to the basics of math and writing; she wants her children to go out into the world and meet the same people, the same children that she does so that they too can learn about the world and how other people live, to carry on trying to help others. The Jolie-Pitt kids are going to grow up to be the most compassionate kids in the world.

And yes, Anderson asked about her children too. He mentioned there are a lot of birthdays coming up and how do they handle that at home. Angelina laughed - she always seems so pleased to discuss her kids as long as she’s able to discuss the big issues first - and said they have so many kids right now that it’s just a big year-long birthday and they rotate it. She also said the older kids now help to plan the parties for the younger ones, which sounds cute!

In closing, Anderson asked if Brad and Angelina have plans for more kids and without hesitation she said yes, they love kids and both want a large family so they never say no.

The interview was fantastic, even if they weren’t able to sit in the same room together this time. Anderson Cooper is amazing, he’s always been my favorite on CNN and he does his job exceptionally well.

Enjoy!

Angelina Jolie headed to the National Geographic Museum after arriving in Washington, D.C.

She took part in a World Refugee Day conference, then spoke to the audience, addressing the fact that leading world countries need to step up and help refugees to either obtain asylum during times of tragedy or to help them safely make their way back home.

I’m hoping to find video footage of her speech; I’ll put it up if and when I do.

(edit: we’re currently experiencing a problem with the comments and I apologize for the frustration - the tech team is trying to resolve it right now. Please feel free to continue to comment, because they actually are going through, they just aren’t showing up at the moment but they will appear as soon as tech gets things sorted out. I’m sorry for the problems!)

More photos of Angelina Jolie at the National Geographic Museum below the cut!

Read more

As I mentioned earlier this morning, Angelina Jolie is in Washington, D.C. today for World Refugee Day events. She arrived via private jet this morning with Maddox and Pax.

Meanwhile, as for her plans to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Hillary’s Chief of Staff issued the following statement:

“On the way to the White House late this afternoon, Secretary Clinton fell and suffered a right elbow fracture. She was treated at The George Washington University Hospital before heading home.”

It’s too bad that she won’t be able to attend, I would love to see these two powerful women discussing how we can all help refugees around the world, but at least Angelina is still there!

More photos of Angelina Jolie arriving in D.C. with Maddox and Pax below the cut!

Read more

Although Salt has wrapped, Angelina Jolie still has a few busy days ahead of her but it’s work that is so important to her that I’m sure she doesn’t mind.

Because of World Refugee Day coming up on June 20th, Angelina is making a few media appearances to talk about the importance of spreading awareness of the plight of refugees around the world.

There is a World Refugee Day event in Washington, DC today (June 18th). Angelina Jolie was supposed to join Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to host the event. However, I follow the UNHCR on Twitter and there was a mention that Secretary of State Clinton couldn’t be there. That message has since been deleted, so maybe it’s all been worked out. Either way, the event will include an exhibit of the winners of the World Refugee Day Poster Contest. The contest asked children to think about what they would need to survive as a refugee and to draw a poster representing that, to show how people should help refugees.

Later tonight, Angelina will be on “Anderson Cooper 360″ (check your local listings for times) to discuss refugees as well. Since not everyone gets CNN (including me) I will post whatever video I can get tomorrow. The CNN website often has great video footage from its shows.

I’ve also heard that Angelina will be on the “Today” show tomorrow (Friday, June 19th), which would fit in with the story I posted earlier this week about Ann Curry having a chance to talk about something of great importance with Angie.

I don’t know at this time if Angelina will be somewhere for World Refugee Day itself. However, if you’re interested in attending a special event yourself or learning more about the day in general, please check out the UNHCR’s information. I intend to use the day as an opportunity to share some video with my children and teach them that there are many children just like them who are nowhere near as fortunate as they are - will you do something for World Refugee Day?

(I also wanted to remind you that PittWatch is on Twitter and you can follow over here. New post alerts are automatically sent over there so you’ll never miss something new; I also intend to start using it as a way to interact with PittWatch readers to discuss ideas for future posts and contests, so make sure you’re following!)

Image: Newscom

With World Refugee Day 2009 just around the corner (this coming Saturday - June 20th), it’s excellent news to hear that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $1 million to help refugees. The funds which came from their Jolie-Pitt Foundation will help refugees in Pakistan.

The head of the UN Agency said that the situation right now in Pakistan is “the most challenging humanitarian crisis of the past decade.” There are over two million displaced people in the country at the moment.

First it was a million dollars to help children with cancer, now a million dollars to help refugees in Pakistan - their willingness to assist people in need is so inspiring. Actors and athletes get paid a ridiculous amount of money and so many of them waste that money; look at how some celebrities end up bankrupt despite making millions because they blew it on ridiculous lifestyles. That’s why I love the way Brad and Angelina use their money. Yes, sometimes Brad will purchase expensive art, sometimes they fly around the world on a private plane, they have several homes and rent expensive homes when they’re abroad. But at the end of the day they give so much of their money to those who really need a hand and they make such a huge difference in people’s lives.

(source)

Image: INF

Although they’re quite far past their own teenage years now, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie both received nominations for the 2009 Teen Choice Awards. The awards will air on FOX at 8 pm on August 10th.

Brad was nominated for the “Choice Movie Star: Drama” award for playing Benjamin Button. His competition is Hugh Jackman for Australia, Dev Patel for Slumdog Millionaire, Channing Tatum for Fighting, and Robert Pattinson for Twilight.

Angelina got her nomination for “Choice Movie Actress: Drama for her role in Changeling. She goes head-to-head with Nicole Kidman for Australia, Beyonce for Obsessed, Freida Pinto for Slumdog Millionaire. and Kristen Stewart for Twilight.

In all honesty, I don’t think they’re going to win. The award voting is open to teenagers (13-19) who can vote once per day online. That demographic is more than likely going to gravitate towards giving the award to Rob Pattinson and Kristin Stewart. Still, considering that it IS the Teen Choice Awards, I’m just really happy to see that they were nominated, especially Brad because I wouldn’t have thought of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as being a movie that would be overly interesting to your average teenager.

What’s especially interesting though is that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are competing against each other too. Both of them are nominated for “Choice Celebrity Activist” which is amazing. I’m so thrilled that this is an award, I think it’s a great example for young people, no matter who wins. Brad and Angie are up against each other, as well as Leonardo DiCaprio, Hayden Panettiere, and Natalie Portman.

I admire all five of them for their activism but I would personally love to see Angelina win for her hard work with the UNHCR or have Brad win for his efforts with Make It Right after he stepped up and helped the people who had been so beaten down by Katrina.

If you’re a PittWatch reader between the ages of 13 and 19, please go to the Teen Choice Awards website and register to cast your vote, and keep voting daily.

Good luck Brad and Angelina!

Image: Newscom