Angelina Jolie's mum taught her to be friends with her kids

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has credited her mother for teaching her to be friends with her children.

Angelina says her mum taught her the values of being a reliable parent and having a close-knit family.

The Tourist actress and her partner Brad Pitt, 47, raise six kids together, Maddox, ten, Pax, seven, Zahara, six, Shiloh, five, and three-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, with the eldest three adopted.

Jolie and her older brother James were brought up by mum Marcheline, who died aged 56 in 2007.

She told British newspaper The Sun: "My mum always made it clear that I was her friend - and that is a lesson on how to bring up my own children.

"When we talked, I felt she wanted to hear what I had to say. She enjoyed me and I feel I'm enjoying my kids.

"We play together, we dance. Even though they're all from different backgrounds, they feel like they're part of the same family. My mum was my heroine. She was a generous, warm individual, who led a very private life but walked through it with kindness and grace."

The 36-year-old also admitted she was inspired to adopt from her role in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

She revealed it was the scenes she shot in Cambodia that convinced her to adopt her first child, son Maddox, from the country.

Jolie added: "A turning point in my life came when I made Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, in England. It involved filming, partly, in Cambodia.

"I learned that the world is bigger than I thought it was and there were more important things than a film. I did not know much about Cambodia. I did not appreciate how beautiful it was and I had never met such open-hearted people."

Advertisement