Angelina Jolie on Her Insecurities & Finding Happiness

In person, it’s obvious why Angelina Jolie is an A-list celebrity. Her beauty is like a mesmerizing magnet, keeping all eyes fixated on her, yet it’s clear that she is somewhat of an introvert. Her gestures and her walk are so graceful that they take a person off-guard, especially given the fact that her complex public persona is known for dueling personalities: she’s a biker chick, humanitarian activist, and mother all rolled into one. It’s because of her seemingly opposing interests and dedications that few really have a grasp of who the real Angelina is. What better way to find out than through her own – very famously sexy – lips…

Urbanette Magazine: You’re one of the most famous women on the planet. How do you feel about being in the public eye all the time?

Angelina Jolie: I like to hide behind the characters I play. Despite the public’s perception, I am a very private person who has a hard time with the fame thing. I would like to be open with the public. I don’t want to keep secrets or be careful when I talk. I don’t want to have to plan things. I want to be outspoken! I want to say my opinions and I hope they’re taken in the right way. I don’t want to stop being free …and I won’t…

Urbanette: I think that people appreciate your opinions and the fact that you do so much activism. Is it hard to balance your activism, and your UN ambassador role, with your film career?

Angelina: My role as goodwill ambassador has made my work as a film star relatively dull. I love to travel and I find deep purpose in my activism. It’s rare for me to find a project that interests me enough to go back to work. It would need to have real meaning, like First They Killed My Father does. I’m simply not excited about going to a film set anymore.

Urbanette: You seem so confident as a mother and as a woman. Are you ever insecure?

Angelina: Oh, God, I struggle with low self-esteem all the time! I think everyone does. I have so much wrong with me. I’m odd looking. Sometimes I think I look like a funny muppet.

Urbanette: I’m pretty sure that nobody in the world thinks you look like a muppet! But I can only imagine the pressure you’re under to look a certain way. What helps you forget all that? What makes you feel special?

Angelina: I’m going to come home and my babies are going to be in little pajamas and come running at me and hug me. Then I’ll feel special.

Urbanette: That’s sweet! Is that what you’d consider the ultimate love and happiness?

Angelina: I think that we come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly. Raise kids. Have a good life. Be a good friend. And try to be completely who you are. And figure out what you personally love. And go after it with everything you’ve got no matter how much it takes.

Urbanette: I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what caused problems in your previous marriage?

Angelina: It was a real deep connection, a deep marriage, so it’s not that simple to say this or that one thing caused the problems. But we’re focusing on the health of our family. I’m focused on my children.

Urbanette: Speaking of children, you have so many of them! Did you always want to be a mother?

Angelina: When I was younger I thought ‘Oh God, I couldn’t be someone’s mother’. I didn’t know if I’d ever be a mother, or be a good mother. We all thought that! [laughing] I just know that my wilder days are going to come back at me later. Someday, my kids are going to ask ‘What were you doing?’!

Urbanette: So have you finally, officially shed your ‘bad girl’ image?

Angelina: Because I seem like a bad girl, people always automatically think that I am 100% bad girl. Or that I carry a dark secret with me or that I’m obsessed with death. The truth is that I am probably the least morbid person one can meet. If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do!

Urbanette: How do you escape all this?

Angelina: If you don’t get out of the box you’ve been raised in, you won’t understand how much bigger the world is. You might never find out that you are useful for all the right reasons – and not all those stupid things that people tell you you’re useful for.

Urbanette: You’ve gone through some hard times in your life. How do you get through it?

Angelina: I adjust my perspective. I just think ‘My God, that woman just crossed a border with five children and no food’. So we all just need to get on. So we move on.