Two Day Magazine

The Star Opens Up On Love, Family, and Possilbe Retirement?

I always get excited when Angelina Jolie sits down for interviews because she seems so elusive and standoffish when it comes to opening up about her very public private life. But, I guess when you have six children, a famous and devastatingly handsome partner (or at least he was pre-beard), and a non-stop acting career, it would be hard just to find the time to sit down at all!

Well, someone at Vanity Fair managed to get the lovely Ms. Jolie to dish about her family life, love life and whether or not she wants to continue in the spotlight as one of the world’s most sought-after actresses. Here are some of the highlights that Angelina dished to Vanity Fair’s contributing editor, Rich Cohen while on the set of her movie in Venice, Italy.

On making an honest man out of her longtime love, Brad Pitt:

They are not “against getting married, but it’s like we already are. Children are clearly a commitment, a bigger commitment [than marriage]. It’s for life.”

On having more kids:

Not opposed to it, but she worries that she won’t be able to give each child the individual attention that they need, especially as they begin to get older.

“We want to make sure we can give everybody special time. They’re kids now, and can play together, but they’re going to need a lot more talking in the middle of the night, like I did with my mom for hours. We want to make sure we don’t build a family so big that we don’t have absolutely enough time to raise them each really well.”

Her thoughts on that beard:

“I love Brad in every state.”

What Brad loves to do in Venice:

“He sculpts and designs. He makes furniture, sculpts things related to houses. Traditional male.”

On how Brad handles the children:

“I keep telling Brad he owes me. He’s had a few months off in one of the most beautiful cities in the world with the children. And he’s such an artist and goes tot he stone yards and the art exhibits, and loves being in such a cultural place.”

Working again with her real-time love:

“I’d love to. We’ve talked about it. We’d have to figure out who’s going to watch the kids, but it’s really about finding the right thing, because we’ve looked. When you’re a couple, there are certain things people don’t want to see you do. It becomes too indulgent, too personal. I don’t think people want to see people who are really together intimate on-screen. Maybe we have to play bad guys that try to kill each other, so it’s just fun and aggressive, not dealing with some man-woman deal.”

Is she REALLY retiring?

[Acting] “is not the most important thing in my life. Acting helped me as I was growing up. It helped me learn about myself, helped me travel, helped me understand life, express myself, all those wonderful things. So I’m very, very grateful, it’s a fun job. It’s a luxury. Look, I’m at work today in the middle of Venice. But, I don’t think I’ll do it much longer.”

This is due in large part to her family life:

“Because I have a happy home...I got back from work last night, and everybody was playing music and dancing and I suddenly found myself dancing around with a bunch of little fun crazy people.”

Check out the full interview in Vanity Fair (I know I will!) when it hits newsstands Wednesday, June 30!

Oh, Brangelina. We have gone through so much together! The rise to fame, the torrid love affair, the adopted babies, the pregnancies, the fights, the rumors... the drama with these two never ends! We’ve heard it all before, she has threatened to retire from acting many times before, and every time, some project like Salt pops up and she straps on her harness and gets to work dangling from buildings.

Then, there are all the rumors that her and Brad aren’t even together, they are just co-parenting the baseball team of children that they have together. I had heard this from a reliable source about six months ago and I wonderif their relationship is a big farce? Then there are the rumors that he sleeps in a different house than she does when they are in Los Angeles or in their rented estate in France; the rumor that he is drinking too much and she is moody, difficult and jealous of his past relationships...the list goes on and on.

Even the way she referred to him when speaking about their kids in Venice and how he “owes her.” Owes her? He is with their children all day, took off time from his work so that she can be uninterrupted while filming her movie with Johnny Depp. Sounds to me that you take turns sharing the domestic workload, so when your partner takes time off to raise the children (with the help of nannies, I’m sure!) don’t you actually “owe him” so that he can film a new project when he gets the urge?

I’ve always wondered how she has even been able to work at all after having all of these children. One child is a full-time job...but six? Two still in diapers? It’s hard to imagine Angelina up at three in the morning feeding a crying baby, or coddling a toddler who had a bad dream when she has a call time of 5am and then a full day of work ahead of her. I find the answers to her interview to be really nice but fake. Coming home to your kids playing is great, but I believe Ms. Jolie wants us all to think her life is perfect and everything is a cinch.

She doesn’t realize that the flaws in people, what irritates them, frustrates them, or worries them, is what people can really relate to. Seeing her beautiful face on the cover of one of the most iconic magazines in America is great, but then to open the cover and read a glossy story about her perfect life is a little much to take. Not that I don’t believe that she has a great life, but if she would just let down her guard and be real for five minutes, I think the public could understand her a lot better and it would help her image immensely.

But, then again, perhaps this is all part of her master plan. She wants to hold herself to this unrealistic standard that the public has set for her. I feel sorry for her. She can’t ever be herself, ever let her hair down, ever make a mistake. The smartest thing to do would be for her to quit acting for a while, live somewhere quiet and work on being a full-time a mom and lover for a while. The fame machine can make people crazy, make people believe their own hype, but at the end of the day, it’s about her family, it’s about those children, and it’s about understanding that while you may believe that you are Superwoman, even Angelina Jolie has her limits.