Angelina Jolie opens up about her family
The actress and her children attended their film's premiere in Cambodia.
— -- Angelina Jolie stepped out publicly for the first time in several months for the premiere of her new film "First They Killed My Father" in Cambodia.
Accompanied by her six children -- Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8 -- the actress attended the premiere with King Norodom Sihamoni in Siem Reap Cambodia at the Terrace of the Elephant, in Angkor Wat, on Saturday evening.
Jolie fell in love with Cambodia when she filmed the 2001 film "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" there and later adopted her eldest son Maddox from an orphanage in Battambang in March, 2002.
"Most of all, this film is my way of saying 'thank you' to Cambodia," she said at the premiere. "Without Cambodia I may never have become a mother. Part of my heart is and will always be in this country. And part of this country is always with me: Maddox."
The actress said during the press conference, "Maddox is happy to be back in his country."
Both Maddox and Pax participated in the production of the film. Her eldest son made remarks as did her daughter Shiloh.
"Thank you everyone for attending tonight. We finally made it. It’s a great honor to present this film to all of you, and to stand by my mother and my family," Maddox said. "And now I’d like to introduce my little sister Shiloh, as she has something to say."
"My name is Shiloh and I love Cambodia," she said in Khmer.
"First They Killed My Father" is based on Loung Ung's autobiography, which chronicled the Khmer Rouge's genocide. The film, which will premiere on Netflix later this year, is told through the eyes of a child and explores the themes of family and loss. It also celebrates the resilience of the Cambodian people.
"I cannot find words to express what it means to me that I was entrusted with telling part of the story of this country," the actress told reporters. "This film was not made to focus on the horrors of the past, but to celebrate the resilience, kindness and talent of the Cambodian people."
The mother of six also addressed her recent split from Brad Pitt in an interview with the BBC.
"I don’t want to say very much about that, except to say that it was a very difficult time. And we are a family and we’ll always be a family," she said. "And we will get through this time and hopefully be a stronger family for it."
She described how she's found ways to cope with the break-up.
"My family, we’ve all been through a difficult time," she said when asked about how she's been coping. "My focus is my children, our children ... and my focus is finding this way through. And as I said, we are and forever will be a family. And so that is how I’m coping. I’m coping with finding a way through to make sure this somehow makes us stronger and closer."
Jolie also spoke about the warm moments she shares with her kids.
"Right now, I’m going through a moment where there's just, everybody’s in my room. Two hamsters and two dogs and two children at the moment," she said. "It’s wonderful. But, usually I just wake up trying to figure out who’s going to get the dog out, who’s going to start the pancakes and did anybody brush their teeth."
The U.N. Humanitarian Envoy also addressed where she saw the family in five years.
"Five years' time. Do I have all teenagers?" she asked. "At that stage I hope just standing!"
"In five years' time, I would like to be traveling around the world visiting my children, hoping that they’re just happy and doing really interesting things, I imagine, in many different parts of the world. And I’ll be supporting them," she continued.
"Everything I do, my hope, is that I represent something, and I represent the right things to my children and I give them the right sense of what they’re capable of, and the world as it should be seen -- not through the prism of Hollywood or through a certain kind of life, but really take them into the world where they have a really good sense of the come-round of people."