WHAT I LEARNED FROM ANGELINA JOLIE

(And Angelina's Leg!)

Once upon a time, a beautiful girl was born to a beautiful mother.

She had her daddy's eyes and her mommy's smile.

Her daddy left the beautiful Mommy, when the beautiful girl was young, 

and she grew up with her brother, James, living with their mommy,

Marcheline....

By the time the teenager began modeling, it was clear she

wasn't just another pretty face, although her face was strikingly gorgeous.

She had a bit of gypsy in her soul, and a whole can of rebel in her blood.

Did she know she would grow up to become famous, infamous, famous?

After all, she was just another beautiful girl, who hadn't yet quite gotten over the defection of her daddy. She has said her beautiful mother never quite recovered from that loss as well...

Deviled by self-admitted suicidal depression, self-harming, and drug addiction,

her uneasy co-existence with life led her to star in the movie GIA, in '98, at age 23. Gia Carangi was a famously beautiful fashion model, my personal fave, who fell by the heroin wayside into addiction, full-blown AIDS, and died at age 26.  And that's when I, and much of the world, really first noticed Angelina Jolie, even though she was a cult favorite from the movie HACKERS, by then.  Uncompromisingly fearless. Living life ONLY on her own terms. And if anyone was hurt along her way, it was herself. She was tough. Beautiful. Haunted by her devils as she allowed us to view their chase. Fantastic actress. Always felt like an outsider. Except when watching movies with her beloved mother.

Angelina pretty much experienced everything the world had to offer, at one time or another. Openly. Such as her relationship with fellow model Jenny Shimizu, with whom she fell in love in 1996, having left her first husband, Jonny Lee Miller. At their wedding, the beautiful bride wore rubber pants and a tee shirt with his name written on it in her own blood. Her eccentricities were showing, and the public was paying close attention. No worries; she had things as under control as they'd be allowed to get. And she had more important things to do than worry what anyone else thought.

Angelina married Billy Bob Thornton in 2000, after a 2-month courtship. Those crazy kids! They began wearing small (reportedly) Tiffany vials of each other's blood around their necks. They practiced every PDA known to mankind, and then some. Their chemistry was so crazy it could melt a tv screen. And when they adopted son, Maddox, in 2002, they separated 3 months later. Billy Bob went his way, and Angelina doted on and devoted herself to Mad; he seldom left her hip, or her side. She mesmerized me. No matter what the rest of the world thought, agreed with, or demanded from her, she was always Angie. Take it or leave it. Initially, her quirks were chalked up to her youth. Her beauty and talent were undeniable, her box office magic inarguable. She became, and remains, one of the highest paid actresses in the world, ever. By the time she starred in TOMB RAIDER in 2001, she was a household name. Women wanted to be her, men wanted to do her. Her acting career was wide open; even the sky couldn't limit her options. She had her son and best friend, Maddox, by her side.   In demand as a model. Typecasting would never be a problem with the variety of acting roles she chose. Angelina Jolie was sitting on top of the world! I watched every movie she made, read every interview she did, looked at every magazine photo of this rough, tough, Peter-Pan gamine. As was the rest of the world. We were happily saturated with her incredible visage, everywhere. And glad to bask in her glow!

Then came 2005, and MR & MRS SMITH, starring Jennifer Anniston's then-husband, Brad Pitt. All good things must come to an end. I don't know who said that. But it sucks. Jennifer was the 'Friends' tv star who'd branched out into movies, dubbed 'America's Sweetheart'. With Brad Pitt, they became Hollywood's Golden Couple, a couple for all couples to aspire to. If we're playing he said/she said, we are to believe that not only did Brad and Angie fall in love during filming, but Angie blatantly 'stole' Brad from Jennifer. Jennifer herself has voiced many times her disdain of this version; having tired of being the 'victim' and 'poor poor Jenn'. Suddenly, Hollywood's BadAss Beauty was Hollywood's biggest HOmewrecker. Unforgiveable. 

And herein lies my problem... and what I've learned from Angelina Jolie...

She went her own way. Did her own thing. Didn't ask permission. And that was fine. 

Until it wasn't. Facts and rumors circle, mix, and coagulate until who REALLY knows what actually happened at any given time in Angie's, Brad's OR Jenn's lives?

Tabloids SCREAM the *facts*, and so many will vehemently tell you that they LOVE her, or HATE her, because of 'what she 'did' to Brad and Jenn'. Whether deserved or not, this domino-effect reminds me of the girls in her school that Angelina said through out her life, teased her and refused to have anything to do with her. Karma really whacked them upside the head with a big case of 'take that'! Angie has gotten revenge whether she sought it or not. But what about the next girl who doesn't quite fit the mold? America prides itself on its melting pot blend of diversity and open minds... But are we really that accepting and forgiving? How did so many, turn so quickly, once Angie toppled the gilded pedestal they insisted topping her upon? 

Angie has who Angie needs.

She likely couldn't care less about the pettiness of life.

But what about the other Angelina's out there....

The ones who feel alone. Left out. Unimportant to hardly anyone...

And how can so many people be so enamored of a person, only to turn and revolt at the first

sign of an incident that may, or may not, have occurred? 

When Angelina and her right leg presented an Academy Award this season, news reports, social networking, blogs, comedians, everyone had a field day with it. After the Academy Awards, I went online to see photos of best-dressed etc, only to find a barrage of Angie's leg bashers in high 'HOW DARE SHE' mode. 'Who does she think she is?'. Not everyone hated, but the swiftness with which Angie fell out of favor, stuns me. If we don't even KNOW her, how can we really like or dislike, the person? I follow the everyone's entitled to their own opinion school of public opinion. But should we be so quick to judge, especially those we don't really know? Angie's leg even has its own Twitter page! Which I follow. It fascinates me! Angelina's Leg, tweets! It's probably even more shocking than her laying a Goth big one on her brother James, after winning her own Academy Award!

Call me crazy, but having lived a lotta years, and having known a lotta people, if there's one thing I now know for sure, it's that you can never know everything about anyone. No matter who they are, no matter how close or far, there can always be tricks up their sleeves that will surprise you. Sometimes in giddily happy ways, sometimes in heartbreakingly horrible ways.

Such is my 'interpretation' of the Human Condition.

Angelina is now the mother of 6 kids, and has been walking her talk for Humanitarianism,

for many many years now. Before it was all that hip. She's donated millions to organizations all over the world. She's walked through mine fields to raise awareness. In 2001, she was named a United Nations High Commisioner For Refugees Goodwill Ambassador, after being appalled at refugee conditions in Cambodia while filming TOMB RAIDERS. And still there are those who find ways to criticize. 'She's doing it for the publicity' (as if she needs more of that. Yet the cameras generate more funding for these causes.). 'She's pretending to be a good mother and all compassionate' (Why would anyone feel she has the need to pretend anything?!)... I just think, she wants to make a difference in the world, whether she stole Brad Pitt, or not?!

Angelina starred in ads shot in Cambodia (it's beautiful country, as seen here), for Louis Vuitton, to futher raise awareness of a country we otherwise would probably pay very little attention. As far as I know, to this day, she still has never employed a publicist or agent. And though I don't 'know' Angelina, I'm still crazy about the 'her' I see. I purchase every movie in which she stars. I follow her career and wish her nothing but happiness. Director. Actress. Model. Goodwill Ambassador. Mother. Humanitarian. Partner. She's not perfect, perhaps, but who is? She's possibly done things she might have changed could she go back, but who hasn't? She maybe wishes she knew 'back then' what she knows now, celebs, they're just like us? 

My most prophetic lessons learned from Angelina Jolie?

BE WHO YOU ARE.

Go your own way. Dare to dream, and then just do it. In the end, you have only to approve what you see reflecting back at you in your own mirror. Only you have the right to walk in your shoes. You can never make everyone, or even most, happy. Give yourself the freedom to walk your path.

And don't regret the hairpin turns along the way; the road IS the journey.

THANK YOU, ANGELINA JOLIE!