Unsurprisingly, news of the end of this celebrity relationship is providing as much fodder for gossip as news of its beginning did.
Angelina Jolie broke the news to Brad Pitt that she wanted to end their two-year marriage and 12-year romance just days before filing for divorce…
Though Pitt, 52, was aware that their marriage was in trouble, he was still ‘wrecked’ when Jolie told him of her plans two days before she filed divorce papers, marking irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split, says a source in his circle…
Pitt, who had been in counseling ‘to try to figure out how to make things better’ for their six kids ‘begged [Jolie] to press pause’ and slow down the proceedings, says the Pitt source – not so that they could reconcile, but so they could move forward in a way that would both protect and prepare the kids for the massive upheaval that was to come.
(People, September 22, 2016)
Of course, Jennifer Aniston, the woman left scorned by their affair, can be forgiven her schadenfreude. She’s reportedly gloating that their split constitutes inevitable karma coming home to roost.
But, if quotes attributed to Aniston are true, her long-suffering pining for Pitt remains such that she cannot help casting him as a victim whom the notorious “groom raider” Jolie ensnared.
Truth be told, however, I find it unseemly when “people” speculate about the irreconcilable differences that cause any couple to split up. This is why I never commented on Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s equally sensational divorce earlier this year.
Mind you, many actors invite such speculation by marketing their marriages the way they market their movies. Jolie and Pitt are A-listers in both respects. Imagine getting tabloids to shell out millions for pictures of your newborn babies…?
But, as I couldn’t care less who Angie will do, here is why I’m interested in what she will do.
Since 2001, Jolie has been the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). During that time, she has visited UNHCR refugee operations in many of the poorest and emphatically unglamorous countries of the world (most notably starved, diseased and war-ravaged places in Africa).
As an international celebrity, Jolie attracts throngs of media attention everywhere she goes. And this has proved a rather salutary fringe benefit for the UNHCR. Because, even though the refugees she greets are never the focus of media interest, at least their plight receives some heart-rending notice from her reflected glow.
But beyond lending her celebrity status to this worthy cause, Jolie has also donated millions of dollars to UN relief agencies that are working to alleviate the suffering of poor people around the globe. Not since Audrey Hepburn has a bona fide do-gooder looked so damn sexy.
(“Angelina Jolie: the UN’s Goodwill Never Looked So Good,” The iPINIONS Journal, March 14, 2005)
In fact, I have chronicled her forays into public service over the years in many commentaries, including “Celebrity-Obsessed World Has Made Actors and Rock Stars the Statesmen of Our Times,” May 23, 2005, “To Jolie and Pitt a Child Is Born … to Save Namibia?!” May 30, 2006, and “Latest Hollywood Trend: White Actresses Adopting Black Babies?” March 16, 2012.
Hell, she even turned her concerns about developing breast cancer someday into a goodwill/public-service opportunity. Never mind that the “awareness” she wrought led to thousands of women electing to replace perfectly healthy breasts with perfectly fake ones … like hers.
I denounced her self-enhancing mammary crusade in “Angelina Jolie’s ‘Heroic Decision’ to Get Breast Implants,” May 16, 2013, and “Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Beware the ‘Angelina Effect’,” October 1, 2015.
More to the point, though, I suspect Jolie has been rehearsing much of her adult life for the role of Secretary-General of the United States. It’s even arguable that there was method training in the way she assembled her family to resemble a mini UN.
Indeed, it’s instructive to note that Usain Bolt seems to think his diplomatic mission, as Jamaica’s goodwill ambassador, is to screw a woman in as many different countries as he can. Whereas Jolie seems to think hers is to play shadow general-secretary. Nothing demonstrates this quite like the “coven” of seasoned aides and advisors she’s enlisted to manage her ambassadorial brand.
Mind you, the Republicans have set the bar so low with their nomination of Donald Trump for president of the United States, Jolie might consider running for this top job; you know, like Kanye plans to (SMH).
As for Pitt, with Jolie filing for sole custody of their kids, he might have more time now to properly fulfill his goodwill mission.
You probably know about his charitable foundation, Make It Right. He generated a lot of goodwill when he pledged to build eco-friendly homes in New Orleans for survivors of Hurricane Katrina. His foundation made similar pledges for displaced people in places like Kansas City and Newark.
What you may not know is that most of those homes remain on the drawing board and many already built are turning out to be houses of cards.
It’s uncertain if any potential homebuyers would even want the homes built by Make It Right, since the existing houses crafted by the foundation — many of them in Hurricane Katrina-stricken New Orleans — have been described as shoddy and slapdash.
(Global News, July 28, 2016)
Clearly, Pitt would do well to … make this right.
Related commentaries:
UN goodwill…
Celebrity-obsessed world…
Namibia…
Adopting black babies…
Breast implants…
Breast cancer awareness…