Dark Facts about Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is one of the most glamorous stars in Hollywood—but her history is utterly heartbreaking. Behind those striking features, Jolie has always battled an onslaught of personal demons: Depression, daddy issues, and a deep-seated distrust of everyone around her. As famous and resplendent as she seems, Jolie doesn’t forget her sordid past: “I am still at heart—and always will be—just a punk kid with tattoos.”
She Hated Her Father
Born on June 4, 1975, Angelina Jolie fell straight into the middle of an unhappy family. Her parents were actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, but their marriage was a hot mess. When she was still a baby, Jolie’s father betrayed her mother with incessant cheating, effectively tearing the family apart. Raised almost entirely by her mother, Jolie grew to resent her absent father—a long-lasting sentiment with poisonous consequences.She Was An Awkward Teen
Although Jolie’s father had a flourishing acting career, she maintains that he was not the reason she pursued acting herself. Instead, it all came down to her mother. By consuming film after film alongside Marcheline Bertrand, Jolie found all the inspiration she needed. Still, Angelina Jolie was no child actress and, like any awkward teenager, had one more hurdle to clear before heading to Hollywood…High school.
She Was The Odd One Out
High school is either heaven or hell, and for Angelina Jolie, it was a downright nightmare. Believe it or not, she didn’t really fit in with her classmates at the Beverly Hills High School and quickly became the subject of ridicule. Unlike many of her peers, Jolie’s family wasn’t exorbitantly wealthy, and to make matters worse, her gangly appearance put a target on her back.
She Lived With Her Teenage
Boyfriend
When she was only 14 years old, Angelina Jolie had already shacked up with her first boyfriend, Anton Schneider. In fact, her mother invited the young man to live with them, and in doing so, ensured that these young eccentrics kept out of trouble: “It was the smartest thing my mother could have done because, this way, we weren’t hanging out in a park together. We lived like a married couple for two years.”
Far beyond her years, it wasn’t long before Jolie started jonesing for the next exciting thing.
She Hurt Herself
Angelina Jolie was a troubled girl and struggled to truly connect with anyone. The consequences were brutal: She harmed herself in an effort to cope with her depression. Later, she said, “For some reason, the ritual of having cut myself and feeling the pain, maybe feeling alive, feeling some kind of release, it was somehow therapeutic to me.” But that was only the beginning of the nightmare.She Was “Too Dark”
At the tender age of 19, Angelina Jolie tried to die by suicide. Luckily, she narrowly evaded death, but even so, her troubles were far from over. On top of her dwindling mental health, Jolie also struggled to find her foothold in the entertainment industry. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her early auditions never quite made the cut and were often cited as “too dark.”
Although she’d one day be a megastar, Jolie’s road to fame and fortune was full of surprising twists and turns.
She Loved Another Woman
On the set of 1996’s Foxfire, Jolie began a passionate affair with the model-actress Jenny Shimizu who swept Jolie off her feet the moment they met: “I would probably have married Jenny if I hadn’t married my husband. I fell in love with her the first second I saw her.” But scandalously enough, this delightful tryst didn’t end in 1996…
She’s A Proud Bisexual
Angelina Jolie is open to falling in love with anybody, and when asked about her attraction to women, she said, “Of course. If I fell in love with a woman tomorrow, would I feel that it’s okay to want to kiss and touch her? If I fell in love with her? Absolutely! Yes!” But while Jolie held a burning flame for Shimizu, what about her marriage to Jonny Lee Miller?
She Wanted To Give Up
Acting
While filming Gia, Angelina didn’t break character, not even to phone her husband: “I’d tell him: ‘I’m alone; I’m dying; I’m gay; I’m not going to see you for weeks.'” In fact, her devotion to the role made a lasting impression on the actress, so much so, that when the film wrapped, she wanted to give up acting altogether. She felt like she’d given every fiber of her being to becoming Gia and that she had “nothing left to give.”
Just as her star had begun to rise, Jolie wanted to throw in the towel—but that wasn’t even the worst part.
She Suffered A Nervous
Breakdown
Not only was Jolie done with acting, but she was also done with her husband Jonny Lee Miller. Although the split was amicable, Jolie’s mental health was on the brink of a disaster. At the age of 24, she suffered a complete nervous breakdown and ended up spending three days in a psychiatric ward. Thankfully, however, the darkness was short-lived—and for one heartening reason.
Her Father Betrayed Her
Jolie’s life turned upside down after her father brutally threw her under the bus. Jon Voight decided to betray Jolie by talking about her personal life with Access Hollywood. He openly shared his thoughts on her recent marriage and how he knew it was doomed from the very beginning. But that was only the tip of the iceberg.
Her Father Attacked Her
After taking her father’s letter, Jolie locked eyes with her father and said, “That’s wonderful, I love you, see you later.” But when she opened the letter, her world practically imploded: Her father’s words viciously attacked her character, and she later said, “He’d written that I was a bad person.” This was the nail in the coffin.
In the end, Jolie thought the best way forward was to cut ties with her toxic father and in more ways than one.
She Lost Her Mother
In 2007, Jolie lost her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, to ovarian cancer. Bertrand was only 56 years old. She later said that “…her death changed me.” But the heartache was far from over. When Jolie found out that she herself was at risk of getting either breast cancer or ovarian cancer, she decided to take some drastic preventative measures.
She Had A Dangerous
Pastime
Right before Jolie was about to set off on a UN mission to Cambodia, her father decided to destroy everything they’d worked so hard to build. He gave her a letter and said, “This is my truth, this is unchanging.” Daddy dearest was being a little dramatic, but Jolie didn’t have any negative suspicions about the letter. Considering what happened next, Jolie’s response was absolutely devastating.
She Hired A Hitman
Here’s where it gets weird. Angelina Jolie hired a hitman to take her out. Not only that, but she also had the whole thing planned out to a tee. To avoid arousing suspicion, she arranged to have the hitman’s payment withdrawn from her bank account in small amounts. She didn’t want anyone to know that she died by suicide, especially her mother.
But as airtight as her scheme seemed, there was one thing that stood in her way.
