Angelina Jolie at 50: The star who closed the Brangelina chapter to lead her own clan

For many years, Angelina Jolie has been more than just an actress. Not even the label of “star” does her justice — she transcends every category she touches. Jolie isn’t just a radiant performer known for her performances, nor is she simply another Hollywood figure turned ambassador for fashion, beauty, or luxury brands, who graces magazine covers with striking appearances. She is all of that — yet distinguished by a singular identity that makes her truly unique. She is also a director, activist, mother of six, a woman who has gone through three divorces, and, as of Wednesday, June 4, a new member of the 50s club.

Angelina Jolie enters her sixth decade a world away from the explosive young woman who began in music videos and TV miniseries, later rising to fame with Girl, Interrupted (which earned her an Oscar) and the global blockbuster Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, back when adapting video games for the screen was still a novelty. Today, that wild, youthful energy has given way to a more measured, yet deeply influential presence — both in the film industry and beyond.

When it comes to celebrities, she’s arguably among the most admired figures on the planet. Yet, in true Hollywood fashion — and in true Jolie fashion — her story is full of contradictions: she doesn’t even have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Although she was born into an acting dynasty, Jolie never used her family surname. “Jolie” is actually her middle name, though she made it her legal last name more than 20 years ago. Her father, Jon Voight — now known as one of President Donald Trump’s Hollywood allies — disappeared from her life just months after her birth. She was raised instead by her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, watching old movies alongside her brother, fellow actor James Haven. Four members of the same family, four different last names.

Identity carries great weight within the Jolie clan, and the actress may be the one who understands and asserts hers most clearly. Despite having portrayed dozens of characters — from Maria Callas to Evelyn Salt, and Maleficent to Tigress in Kung Fu Panda — her face and name have always taken center stage. At times, her presence is so powerful, it can be counterproductive for an actor constantly seeking chameleon-like transformation.

Over the course of 50 years, she’s taken on many identities — but she has always remained, unmistakably, Angelina Jolie. Only for a brief chapter, between 2014 and 2019, was she someone else: Angelina Jolie-Pitt. After her separation from Brad Pitt, reclaiming her original name was one of her top priorities.

And it seems she has passed on that deep sense of identity to her children — her tribe — who have always been her top priority. The divorce between the superstar couple (whose union was so media-saturated it even had its own moniker: Brangelina) marked a turning point, transforming her into a different kind of celebrity. Her battles against cancer and global injustices had already shown the world she wasn’t a typical actress, but her fierce defense of her family during those dark times cast her in an even more singular light.

The public, long used to celebrity whims and the image of stars having or adopting children around the globe, didn’t pay much attention at first to a famous couple with six kids from every corner of the world (coordinates tattooed on her skin, of course). But after the separation, when one by one the Jolie-Pitt children began siding with their mother, the public began to see her differently.

It began with the incident between Maddox and Pitt aboard a plane. What initially sounded like tabloid speculation following the divorce filing in late summer 2016 was later confirmed when it emerged that even the FBI had spent hours interrogating Jolie and the children. The full details of what happened on that flight, on September 14 of that year, and during the three-hour questioning were never made entirely public — but it was clear the conflict escalated so severely that Jolie decided to file for divorce and take the children with her.

The New York Times accessed documents alleging that Pitt “choked one of the children and struck another in the face,” and “grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her.” A lawsuit filed just a year ago claimed that this “marked the first time he turned his physical abuse on the children as well” — as well because “Pitt’s history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family’s September 2016 plane trip.” The divorce dragged on for more than eight years and wasn’t finalized until late last December. But when it came time for the children to choose where they wanted to live, the decision took only minutes.

Since then — mostly in private and gradually more in public — Jolie has focused on her role as a mother, fiercely protecting her clan from outside interference while also guiding them out into the world. She has introduced her children — Maddox, 23; Pax, 21; Zahara, 20; Shiloh, 19; and twins Vivienne and Knox, 16 — at premieres and events, sometimes all together, sometimes individually, depending on each one’s interests. Some work with her or in the film industry; others have chosen to pursue university studies. But one thing is clear: they all identify more with Jolie than with Pitt.

It’s not just a matter of genetics (Pitt and Jolie have three biological children together) or of origins (it was she who adopted Maddox and Pax from Cambodia and Zahara from Ethiopia before Pitt legally co-adopted them). It’s also about conscious decisions. More than half of the children have either dropped or delayed using their father’s surname.

Maddox —“Mad,” as his mother calls him — has reportedly taken the name Jolie. When introducing herself to classmates at Spelman College in Atlanta, Zahara said: “My name is Zahara Marley Jolie.” Shiloh, the eldest of the biological children, legally changed her name to Shi Joli last August upon reaching adulthood. The youngest, Vivienne, was listed as Jolie in the playbill for the Broadway musical she worked on last year.

What Knox — still a minor — and Pax will choose to do remains to be seen. Pax, in particular, does not have a close relationship with Pitt. On Father’s Day in 2020, he posted on social media: “Happy Father’s Day to this world class asshole!”

The message continued: “You time and time again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person. You have no consideration or empathy toward your four youngest children who tremble in fear when in your presence. You will never understand the damage you have done to my family because you are incapable of doing so. You have made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell. You may tell yourself and the world whatever you want, but the truth will come to light someday.”

Jolie turns 50 as an undisputed global star — but also as the undeniable matriarch of her clan. She has instilled in her children a strong sense of identity, which is already evident in the choices they’re making, which are already causing a lot of buzz. While only one Jolie emerged from the actress’s small original family, she has now passed on her surname to half a dozen others, who, when they choose to speak, are sure to have a great deal to say.

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