Angelina Jolie on Raising 6 Individuals and Her Coming 'Nomadic' Era

Angelina Jolie has rarely pulled back the curtain on her life as a mother of six, but a new interview offers a candid, thoughtful glimpse into the values she tried to instill in her children — and the wide-open chapter she sees ahead for herself. The actress and humanitarian spoke with L'Officiel in a conversation that feels less like celebrity profile and more like a quiet reckoning with identity, purpose, and what comes next.

'Not Getting in the Way' as a Parenting Philosophy

For Jolie, the central tenet of raising her children — Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Knox and Vivienne, both 18 — has been one of deliberate restraint. Rather than mapping out futures for them, she describes her role as largely protective of their autonomy. "You try to not get in the way of this human being who has a life separate from yours," she told the magazine, emphasizing that genuine support means recognizing each child as their own sovereign person with distinct potential.

It's a philosophy that echoes some of the most enduring ideas in developmental psychology — and, frankly, in the best coming-of-age cinema — the notion that growth happens not through prescription but through space. Jolie said she is "proud" that her children follow their own paths, describing them plainly as "definitely individuals." That much seems evident. Several of her kids have already begun making defining choices, and Vivienne Jolie-Pitt has filed to legally drop Pitt from her name, a step that reflects just how independently they are navigating their own identities.

A Nomadic Future on Her Own Terms

With her youngest children now all legally adults, Jolie is allowing herself to think about what she wants — something she frames not as indulgence but as a kind of return to form. She told L'Officiel that she envisions more fieldwork, more travel, and a lifestyle without a fixed home base. "I'm not somebody who vacations or shops," she said, describing instead a desire for deeper community, hands-on humanitarian engagement, and freedom of movement — including getting back on a motorcycle and into the cockpit of a plane.

Her foundation work in Cambodia remains a clear anchor point. Rather than retreating into domesticity or Hollywood's comfortable orbit, Jolie says she plans to be deliberately unmoored — "nomadic for a while," in her own words — with no single place to call home. It's a vision consistent with her long record as a UNHCR ambassador and global advocate, and it aligns with what she has described elsewhere as a renewed sense of self. As she has noted in other contexts, her fighting spirit is finally back.

And her children, she says, are entirely on board. She joked that they would love nothing more than to receive a call from their mother having just landed a plane in Tunisia to connect with local artists — a warm, wry detail that speaks to the kind of relationship she appears to have built with them.

The Shadow of a Complicated Family Dynamic

The interview arrives against a complicated backdrop. According to Page Six, Jolie's six children are estranged from their father, Brad Pitt, 62, and multiple siblings — including Vivienne, who has taken legal steps to drop "Pitt" from her name — have moved to distance themselves from that side of the family name. Pitt, for his part, recently spoke with striking candor in an Esquire interview about the psychological toll of the years following their split, describing suicidal ideation during what he referred to only as "family stuff."

Jolie has not publicly responded to those remarks, and sources close to her have previously told Page Six that she harbors no active desire for conflict — though they suggested the full picture of the family's circumstances would generate more public sympathy for the children than currently exists.

What Jolie's L'Officiel interview ultimately conveys is a woman moving forward — deliberately, purposefully, and on terms entirely her own. Whatever the next chapter holds, it appears she is stepping into it with both clarity and momentum.