Harper\'s Bazaar USA - 12.2019

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HB: How did you like to dress when you were younger?

AJ: At school I wasn’t that popular person; I was a punk. I loved

leather, PVC, and fishnets. Those were my three favorite fabrics

in my early 20s. I remember the first time I wore PVC pants. I was

waiting for an audition, sitting in the sun in L.A. By the time

it was my turn, my pants had fused together. I didn’t get the part.

But I loved those pants. I wore something similar when I married

Jonny [Lee Miller].

HB: Women often feel forced to live up to the standards of “the

perfect mother” and “the perfect wife.” Do you think this idea of

perfection is dangerous and damaging to women?

AJ: Labeling people and putting them into boxes isn’t freedom.

Difference and diversity are what I value most—in my family and

in others. I don’t want to live in a world where everyone is the

same, and I imagine that’s true for everyone reading this. I want to

meet people I’ve never met before and learn things I don’t know.

The challenge today is to embrace our differences. And not to be

fooled by efforts to divide us or make us fear others. We’re seeing

a retreat of values worldwide. Many governments are less willing

to stand up for the kinds of values that previous generations fought

and died to secure. When governments stand back, people have to

lead the way, as they are in different parts of the world.

HB: Have you ever felt restricted in your own life?

AJ: I don’t think of myself that way. In my youth, I focused on

what I didn’t have. But as I traveled in my early 20s, my awakening

was realizing the freedoms I had in comparison to many people

around the world. I’d experienced a childhood free of war. And

since then I’ve had the freedom to build my family, to create art,

and to play the characters I have. It’s one of the reasons I’ve invested

in schools for girls in different countries. To see anyone—but espe-

cially a young girl with so much potential—denied their freedom

is infuriating to me. I don’t think we will be living in a new era for

women’s rights until there has been progress. Until people who’ve

raped and abused women and girls in Syria and Myanmar and the

DRC, for example, are held accountable. That’s why the focus for

the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative is to push

for an international accountability mechanism, a body that would

allow us to overcome the barriers to justice so prosecutions happen.

HB: Has there been progress in Hollywood, in light of Me Too?

AJ: As anybody knows, the usual starting point in any situation

like this is an independent inquiry by experts who can look into

the facts and identify what legal changes and protections are needed

so there is some measure of independent expert scrutiny and

accountability. That hasn’t happened.

HB: You built a home in the Cambodian jungle and became a

Cambodian citizen. Can you tell us about that decision? What were

some of the biggest challenges? And biggest rewards?

AJ: When you have a loud mind, as I do, you go to places that

quiet you, and I find that in the desert, or in the jungle in Cam-

bodia. When I first went to Cambodia, I thought people would

be hardened by having experienced so much war and suffering.

But in fact it was the opposite. I found them to be full of grace

and fight and life. It’s a home and a headquarters for my foundation.

There were physical challenges, though. We had to clear nearly 50

land mines before we could live there.

HB: You have traveled the world as both an actor and a United

Nations special envoy. What is your favorite place?

AJ: My favorite place is somewhere I’ve never been. I like to be

dropped into the middle of something new. I enjoy being out of

my element. I want the children to grow up in the world—not

just learning about it but living it and having friends around the

world. Next year we break ground on a home in Africa.

HB: Are you going back to Cambodia soon?

AJ: We got a call the other day informing us that chipmunks have

moved into the house. They asked if we should remove them, and

Vivienne was very clear that we needed to cover the wires and

let them stay. However, the local snakes may have their own opin-

ion on that. The last time I stayed there, I heard screaming down

the hall because a friend had found a giant lizard under their

pillow. Clearly, the animals are there more than I am and they feel

it is their home.

HB: You talk about wanting to encourage your children to explore

the world, including the world of ideas and expression. Can you

give a specific example of a time when you and your family per-

sonally butted up against these kinds of unspoken societal limits?

AJ: I would love to live abroad and will do so as soon as my

children are 18. Right now I’m having to base where their father

chooses to live.

HB: You say you want freedom for others. What do you mean?

AJ: I do, and not just for those who are oppressed or living with

limited rights. I often ask people, “What is it you’ve always wanted

to do?” Ninety percent of the time it is an attainable goal and

something they admit they could have already done. I think the

challenge is to ask yourself what you’ve always wanted to do, and

do it. Don’t just be comfortable with what is generally accepted,

but find the new. Find your oxygen, your originality, your own

voice. Live more fully. Rebel. Resist. Question. Be curious. Explore.

Go outside what is comfortable to you. Say the thing you’ve been

afraid to say. Put down this magazine, and go and do one thing

today you’ve never done before. ■

“The last time I stayed [at my house in Cambodia],

I heard screaming down the hall.

A friend had found a giant lizard under their pillow.”

Angelina Jolie is Special Envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, after 18 years with the agency, and Visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics

Centre for Women, Peace and Security. She is also cofounder of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, a global campaign against war-zone rape.

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