Angelina Jolie Says She Could Get into Politics

Angelina Jolie is on the cover of Vanity Fair. Jolie and long-time boyfriend Brad Pitt were married in a surprise ceremony back in August. In the Vanity Fair piece, Jolie tells about the wedding, amon...
Angelina Jolie Says She Could Get into Politics
Written by Mike Tuttle
  • Angelina Jolie is on the cover of Vanity Fair. Jolie and long-time boyfriend Brad Pitt were married in a surprise ceremony back in August. In the Vanity Fair piece, Jolie tells about the wedding, among other tidbits.

    She said that the couple’s children wrote their wedding vows for them.

    “They did not expect us never to fight, but they made us promise to always say, ‘Sorry,’ if we do. So they said, ‘Do you?,’ and we said, ‘We do!’ ”

    Jolie is known for her humanitarian work. She is a special envoy to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which brings her in close contact with political realities around the world. She knows that working within the political world could enable her to do more in that regard. She said that she is “open” to possibly pursuing a life in politics.

    “When you work as a humanitarian, you are conscious that politics have to be considered,” she said in the interview. “Because if you really want to make an extreme change, then you have a responsibility.” Jolie then catches herself. “But I honestly don’t know in what role I would be more useful—I am conscious of what I do for a living, and that [could] make it less possible.”

    Jolie’s political aspirations bring to mind her own father, actor Jon Voight, in some regards. Voight is an avid conservative who has criticized actors who speak against Israel regarding the conflict with Palestine. When Voight spoke to Bill O’Reilly on Fox News in 2007, he said he did not know what Jolie’s politics were.

    “Your politics are more conservative than hers,” O’Reilly asked, “would you say?”

    “I would say so, Voight replied, but added “I don’t know really exactly her politics.”

    Perhaps Jolie’s politics can be divined by what she does. But if her accomplishments show anything, it is that she eschews hard positions in favor of helping. According to a profile of her on the UNHCR website:

    – In 2005, she launched the National Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Children, an organization that provides free legal aid to young asylum-seekers.

    – In 2007, Jolie became a member of the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Jolie has since funded various CFR special reports, including the “Intervention to Stop Mass Atrocities and Genocide.”

    – Following several visits to Haiti in 2010, she established the Jolie Legal Fellows Program to enhance government capacity around the rule of law. The program places young lawyers within the existing structures in Haiti to support the government’s child protection efforts.

    – In 2003, she was the first recipient of the Citizen of the World Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association, and in 2005 she was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the United Nations Association of the USA and the Business Council for the United Nations for her work with refugees.

    Get the WebProNews newsletter delivered to your inbox

    Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

    Subscribe
    Advertise with Us

    Ready to get started?

    Get our media kit