Tribute to Mothers: Angelina Jolie

T hanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Angelina Jolie has had to adjust to life as a stay-at-home mom. 

The mom of six does not think she’s “good at it at all,” according to her new interview with British Vogue, with featured personal photos amid lockdown with her six kids, Maddox, 19, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 12. 

“I was never very good at sitting still. Even though I wanted to have many children and be a mom, I always imagined it kind of like Jane Goodall, traveling in the middle of the jungle somewhere,” Jolie said. “I didn’t imagine it in that true, traditional sense. I feel like I’m lacking in all the skills to be a traditional stay-at-home mom. I’m managing through it because the children are quite resilient, and they’re helping me, but I’m not good at it at all.”

However, she says the seven of them have become a team. “It may sound clichéd, but you love and you try, and even if you burn the eggs, that doesn’t matter in the end,” she said. 

Honestly, it sounds as though she’s doing just fine. In fact, her teammates have become pretty protective of their 45-year-old mom. “We were on the trampoline the other day, and the children said, ‘No, Mom, don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself,’” Jolie shared later in the interview. “And I thought, God, isn’t that funny? There was a day I was an action star, and now the kids are telling me to get off the trampoline because I’ll hurt myself.”

Jolie—who recently revealed she separated from ex-husband Brad Pitt in 2016 for the well-being of her children—did share some specific updates about her kids. “We went into it having just gotten out of the hospital with Zahara [who underwent surgery early last year], and we were so happy she was OK that we entered lockdown in a different state of mind,” she said, adding that COVID-19 has put a damper on some of their milestones. “But, you know, there are also these other markers of life: Pax going into his senior year, but not being able to enjoy all that it is to be a senior; Zahara finally getting her driving license, but she’s taking the test with the driver wrapped in the full outfit with the masks.”

She continued, “It’s not how you imagine these moments. But birthdays go on, and I think that for many people, it’s made us all feel very human together. There’s something beautiful about that.”