Angelina Jolie Is Pretty Incredible Sometimes
I give Angelina Jolie a lot of crap and rightly so, I think for some of what goes on with Angelina and Brad Pitt and whatever happened with Jennifer Aniston. I am actually much more of a Team Angelina person than I let on but Brad Pitt kind of brings me down on them. I understand why he and Jen divorced. I mean Jen is and was whiny. Lets face facts that she i probably VERY high maintenance. Brad, not so much. I also think that when Angelina sets her eyes on you, that you are done. You belong to her at that point. I still don;t see the Brad and Angelina as a couple thing, but it obviously works for them.
My respect for Angelina comes from the work she does for the UN. There are lots of celebrities who talk the talk. When exactly is that Rwanda trip going to happen Paris? There are even some celebrities who take a jaunt through Iraq and Afghanistan to bases to perform for the troops. They are great and I love them and admire them for doing that. What Angelina does is one or two or even three steps further. She goes out away from the green zones and meets with real people in real streets and real homes and talks to people actually on the ground in Iraq from their government and other NGO's.
She is the one celebrity with the exception of perhaps Paul Newman who does the most for a cause. Her thing is refugees and she will travel to any country in any condition to use her celebrity and get something done. The fact that she is intelligent and knows what she is talking about, rather than just spouting some 3rd hand talking point about some political candidate who would be great for the environment, Angelina is respected on both sides of the aisle.
You know that she could be making another bad film somewhere and earning her $20M, but instead she is doing something that is much more important to her. There are reports that she gives away up to 75% of her income to charitable organizations, and the only reason it isn't more is because she keeps having kids and wants to leave them something.
Another positive aspect of her philanthropy is that she has pushed Brad Pitt to do something besides sit at home and smoke pot and remodel his house. Do you think Brad would be involved in Darfur issues or the rebuilding of New Orleans and some other things if it were not for Angelina? Nope, he would be sitting there glassy eyed with Jen just letting the world pass him by.
If you want to read the transcript of Angelina Jolie's interview with CNN which never talks about anything celebrity, click here.
