On the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, the name stood out from those of charity workers, teachers and civil servants: Angelina Jolie – Honorary Dame Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, for her campaigning work “for services to UK foreign policy and the campaign to end war zone sexual violence”. This means that the Hollywood A-lister has become one of a tiny group of US citizens to be honoured by the British establishment (though they can’t use their titles).
It was an extraordinary accolade – doubly so when you consider that the demure Jolie, who last week hosted a London summit dedicated to ending war rape in her capacity as special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is the same Jolie who, not long ago, was making headlines for her tattoos, hard-drug use and intimately kissing her brother in public.
Then she was a twice-divorced, self-confessed bisexual and self-harmer. But in just 14 years, Jolie, 39, has dramatically reinvented herself, from out-of-control starlet and apparent homewrecker (actor Brad Pitt left his wife Jennifer Aniston after meeting Jolie on the set of their film Mr & Mrs Smith) to devoted mother and humanitarian powerhouse, travelling to war zones such as Congo with William Hague, the Foreign Secretary.
Her youthful recklessness has transmuted into selfless bravery. Her unauthorised biographer, Andrew Morton, whose most famous subject was Diana, Princess of Wales, became intrigued after learning that she’d been working in Peshawar, Pakistan – “hardly a place for charity workers, let alone bona fide Hollywood movie stars,” he says. “We now see her as a humanitarian and a substantial, solid and serious-minded citizen of the world, not the woman who broke up Jen and Brad.”
Then, last year she underwent a preventative double mastectomy after testing positive for a gene linked to breast and ovarian cancers, which killed her mother at the age of 56. This gave Angelina a powerful voice in women’s health.
Indeed, so drastic has been her rehabilitation that Jolie’s status is now among the tiny section of Hollywood stars deemed untouchable. According to US pollster Q Scores, which determines celebrities’ likeability factor, Jolie’s score is 23 – meaning 23 per cent of US adults consider her “one of [their] favourite personalities”, while 85 per cent of adults know who she is. This compared with a 15 per cent likeability score and 46 per cent awareness for the average actress. Many of her films have performed poorly at the box office (though her latest,Maleficent, has earned $140 million in just three weeks), yet Jolie is considered one of the few female stars who can “carry” a film, and is estimated to be Hollywood’s highest-paid actress, earning $33 million last year.
“She’s hardly Meryl Streep, but the actual quality of her work is irrelevant. She’s Hollywood royalty, a megabrand,” says one film insider. Indeed, a recent poll named her, along with Pitt, as the celebrities most sought-after for endorsements. “Jolie has formed a strong emotional bond with American consumers, which is on the rise,” confirms Henry Schafer, executive vice-president of Q Scores.
Perhaps her appeal comes from her chameleon-like qualities. She has a sex-bomb persona (she is regularly named the world’s most beautiful woman by magazines such as Vogue) but is simultaneously a “madonna”, the mother of six children, three of whom are adopted.
“What’s remarkable about Jolie is she’s the best at everything she touches,” says Christina Hopkinson, author of The A-List Family. “When she was in her bad-girl phase, she was the baddest imaginable. Now she’s a mother, she’s the ultimate earth-mother of three boys and three girls – even her twins were the perfect boy-girl combination.
“She projects a cool, independent persona but she also appears to have a blissful home life with the ultimate movie star, Brad Pitt. She’s skinny but with big breasts – and you can’t even hate her for those breasts, because she’s had a mastectomy.”
Born in Los Angeles, Jolie is the daughter of actors Jon “Midnight Cowboy” Voight and the late Marcheline Bertrand, but her parents split when she was a baby as a result of Voight’s infidelities. Jolie and Voight’s relationship has been stormy ever since, with the pair not speaking for years at a time.
In contrast, she forged a possibly-too-close bond with her mother, who treated her like a friend, allowing Jolie to have a live-in lover from the age of 14.
Living in modest circumstances compared with her peers at Beverly Hills High School, Jolie was bullied. She became anorexic and began to self-harm, cutting herself with her collection of knives. Wearing only black clothes, she aspired to become a funeral director, taking a course in embalming. She decorated her body with 14 tattoos, including the Latin proverb quod me nutrit me destruit (“what nourishes me destroys me”). By the age of 20, she had tried “just about every drug possible”, including heroin.
At her first wedding, to British actor Jonny Lee Miller when she was just 20, she wore black rubber trousers and a white T-shirt, upon which she had written the groom’s name in her blood. Before they separated, Jolie had a relationship with an actress and has since confirmed her bisexuality to interviewers.
Four years later, she married actor Billy Bob Thornton after a two-month courtship. The pair wore each other’s blood in phials around their necks and for their first anniversary, she bought him his-and-hers cemetery plots in a Louisiana graveyard. Yet 18 months later they abruptly split.
By now Jolie was established, winning the best-supporting actress Oscar for her role in Girl, Interrupted. After the ceremony, she scandalised onlookers by passionately kissing her brother, actor James Haven, and telling the world, “I’m so in love with him”. Haven, for his part, is an unmarried, born-again Christian. He said: “Because I’m so close to Angie, it’s like I’ve already got the perfect woman in my life, and it’s hard for anyone else to live up to that.”
But just as tongue-wagging about her eccentricities was peaking, Jolie – then 26 – began visiting refugee camps. Her first trip to Sierra Leone was revelatory. “I realised how completely naive I was to think I had a difficult life,” she recalled. “It was as if someone slapped me across the face and said, 'Oh, my God, you silly young woman from California, do you have any idea how difficult the world really is for so many people?’ ”
The turning point, says Morton, came when she made Tomb Raider in 2001. “It was her rehab role, the actress weaning herself off heroin in order to sustain the physical demands of the movie,” he says. “During the filming, she decided to adopt a Cambodian boy named Maddox. The infant changed her life, she began focusing on him and her growing role as an international advocate for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.”
In 2005, she adopted Zahara from Ethiopia (Pax, from Vietnam, arrived in 2007), that same year making Mr & Mrs Smith. Within months, Jolie and Pitt were visiting Pakistan together to solicit aid donations after an earthquake, and within a year Jolie was pregnant.
Yet her new reputation as a husband-stealer had no effect on Jolie’s popularity. Polls showed her kudos continued to rise year on year, despite Aniston describing Jolie’s behaviour as “uncool”, and the couple announced their engagement in 2012. Pitt has downplayed any suggestions that there was a “dastardly affair” and insists that his break-up with Aniston was amicable.
An executive on the Hollywood magazine Variety said: “She is perceived as somewhat saint-like – a woman who only wants to do good in the world. When you’re in her presence, she’s so serene, you’d feel like an idiot asking a dumb question, such as: 'So, did you break up Jennifer Aniston’s home?’ ”
Dorie Clark, author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future, uses Jolie as a prime example of reinvention. “Because her negative brand attributes centred around too much predatory sexuality,” she says, “motherhood and her clear devotion to her children showed a different, gentler side and balanced out her reputation.”
The couple’s fame rose as they travelled the world with their huge “rainbow family”, alternatively making films or doing good – be it campaigning to help New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, or working in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
Many suspect that Jolie has brilliantly manipulated her narrative so the husband-stealing/wild-child persona has been airbrushed by the human saint. Whatever the motives, for more than a decade she’s travelled frequently to some of the most insalubrious corners of the world, bringing huge publicity to previously unfashionable causes.
“Frankly, if a celebrity isn’t genuinely interested in poverty and is simply trying to get good press, there are better ways to do it. Travelling to Darfur or Congo is dangerous, expensive and uncomfortable, and the outhouses have bats, scorpions and camel spiders,” says Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times, who spoke with Jolie at a 2008 session at the Council on Foreign Relations about justice in Darfur.
While she plays the celebrity game, it always seems to serve a higher purpose than personal vanity or greed. Pictures of her newborn twins were sold for a $14 million donation to her Jolie-Pitt Foundation. Those who have worked with her say her behaviour is strikingly un-divalike and professional.
Still, a suspicion persists that her youthful eccentricity (her father once tearfully described her as having “serious mental problems”) has never gone away, but that her restlessness is now being channelled to positive ends.
Now Jolie is reinventing herself again, as a director. Her latest, second, film Unbroken, about a Second World War hero, is hotly tipped as a 2015 Oscar contender. But before picking up another golden statue, there is the matter of a visit to Buckingham Palace to collect her gong.在英国女王生日宴的贵客名单上，一个名字赫然立于慈善工作者、教师和公务人员名单之列：安吉丽娜·朱莉。她致力于为英国对外政策提供服务并号召结束战争地区的性暴力，因此被授予圣米迦勒及圣乔治勋章，成为一名“荣誉女爵士”。这也意味着，这位好莱坞的一线女星成功跻身于获封过英国爵士的美国人之列（尽管他们不能使用他们的头衔）。
端庄的朱莉，作为联合国难民署特别专员，在上周主持了致力于结束战争性暴力的伦敦峰会；而这样的朱莉在不久之前，还因其纹身、吸毒和在公众场合亲密地亲吻她的哥哥而登上新闻的头条。
她离过两次婚，承认自己是一个双性恋者，喜欢自残。然而，在14年当中，39岁的朱莉发生了令人惊叹的转变：她从原先一个行为失控的小明星和插足他人家庭的第三者（布拉德·皮特在拍摄电影《史密斯夫妇》时认识了朱莉，并因她而离开了自己的妻子），变为了一个无私奉献的母亲和人道主义奉行者，与英国外交大臣威廉·黑格一同前往像刚果这样的战争地区。
她年轻时的莽撞已经转变成为无所畏惧的勇敢。安德鲁·莫顿是其非正式的传记作家，他最为有名的传记对象便是威尔士王妃戴安娜。莫顿了解到朱莉曾在巴基斯坦的白沙瓦工作过，便对朱莉产生了兴趣。“对于慈善工作者而言，很难有一席之地，更别提那些好莱坞真正的电影明星了，”他说。“我们现在将其视作一位人道主义者，以及一位重要、坚强、认真的世界公民，而非是破坏詹妮弗和布拉德婚姻的那个人。”
朱莉的母亲因患乳腺癌和卵巢癌，56岁时就去世了。去年，当她得知自己拥有与这两类癌症相关的基因后，她接受了预防性的双乳切除术。这让她在女性健康方面，获得了重要的话语权。
的确，朱莉对自己名誉的修复取得了惊人的效果，她是好莱坞明星当中为数不多的地位难以撼动的人。美国的民意调查公司Q Scores调查了明星受人欢迎的原因，朱莉在其中获得的分数是23分，这意味着有23%的美国人认为她拥有“他们最喜欢的性格之一”，而85%的成年人都知道她是谁，而这也远高于一般女演员15%的受欢迎分数和46%的被了解程度。她主演的许多电影，票房表现都很糟糕（尽管她的最新作品《沉睡魔咒》，上映3周就获得了1.4亿元的票房收入），但人们仍将其视为少有的能“扛起”一部电影的女星，并预估其为好莱坞收入最高的女演员，仅去年就获得了3300万美元的收入。
“她很难成为梅丽尔·斯特里普，但其作品的实际质量与此无关。她是好莱坞中的皇族和大腕，”一位电影从业者表示。的确，最近的一项民意调查将她和皮特定义为广受赞誉和欢迎的名人。Q Scores公司的执行副总裁亨利·谢弗对此予以确认：“朱莉与美国消费者之间建立了一种强烈的情感联系，这一联系日益密切。”
或许其吸引力源自于她多变的个性。她有着性感的一面（她经常被像Vogue这样的杂志评为世界上最美的女人），但她同时也有圣母一样的品质，她是6个孩子的妈妈，其中的3个孩子是收养的。
“朱莉最棒的一点在于，她能将自己所接触的每一件事都做到最好，”《一流家庭》一书的作者克里斯蒂娜·霍普金森说。“当她还处在坏女孩时期，她是人们所能想象到的最坏的女孩。而现在她是一个母亲，是3个男孩和3个女孩的母亲，甚至她的双胞胎是最完美的龙凤胎。”
“她展现出冷静和独立的一面，但同时和动作影星布拉德·皮特有着幸福的家庭生活。她很瘦，却有着丰满的胸部，可你无法为此而嫉妒她，因为她已经接受了双乳切除术。”
朱莉在洛杉矶出生，她的父亲是主演了电影《午夜牛郎》的乔恩·沃伊特，母亲玛琪琳·伯特兰德也是一名演员。然而，由于父亲的出轨，她的父母在她还是婴儿的时候就离婚了。从那时起，朱莉和父亲的关系就一直很僵，双方曾一度数年没有交流。
与此相反，她与母亲关系非常亲密，母亲如朋友般对待她，允许朱莉从14岁时就与男友同居。
与她在比弗利山高中的同龄人相比，她的生活条件很一般，她也常常受到欺负。她出现了厌食的症状，开始自残，用自己收集的各种刀具割伤自己。她只穿黑色的衣服，立志成为一名殡仪业工作者，选修了有关尸体防腐的课程。她身上共有14处纹身，其中包括了一条拉丁谚语“培育我的东西同时也摧毁了我。”20岁时，她几乎吸食过各类毒品，其中包括海洛因。
她20岁就开始了自己的第一次婚姻，同英国演员约翰尼·李·米勒结婚，她穿了一条黑色长胶裤和一件白色T恤，并在T恤上用自己的血写上了新郎的名字。在他们离婚之前，朱莉同一名女演员关系亲密，她也向记者们承认了自己是一名双性恋者。
4年后，她同只交往了2个月的演员比利·鲍伯·松顿结婚，这对夫妇脖子上戴着装有各自鲜血的小玻璃瓶。在他们的首个结婚纪念日，朱莉在路易斯安那州为丈夫买了块供他俩使用的双人墓地。18个月后，他们就突然离婚了。
现在，朱莉已经改头换面了，她在电影 《移魂女郎》中的出色表演，为她赢得了奥斯卡最佳女配角奖。在颁奖典礼之后，她与哥哥激吻，并向世界宣告：“我非常地爱他。”此举引起了轩然大波。她的哥哥海文是一位单身并历经重生的基督徒，他表示：“我和安吉（安吉丽娜的昵称）是如此的亲密，这让我觉得自己已经找到了生命中那个完美的女人，其他人很难像她这样完美。”
然而，就在人们纷纷议论她的古怪行为时，朱莉26岁起就开始访问难民营。她的第一站是在塞拉利昂，这次经历让她深受启发。“我原本以为自己的生活很艰难，参观完这里后，我意识到自己的想法是如此地天真，”她回忆说。“这就如同有人给了我一耳光，并告诉我‘我的天啊，你就是一个来自加利福尼亚州的蠢女人，难道你不知道这个世界对很多人来说，都是如此的艰难。’”
莫顿表示，朱莉人生的转折点出现在2001年拍摄电影《古墓丽影》期间。“这个角色让她重回正轨，为了保持电影拍摄所需的体力，她戒掉了海洛因，”莫顿说。“在拍摄期间，朱莉决定收养一个名叫马多克斯的柬埔寨男孩。这个孩子改变了她的人生，她的重心开始放在孩子身上，并逐渐成长为国际上联合国高级难民署的坚定支持者。”
在2005年，她从埃塞俄比亚收养了扎哈拉（2007年又从越南收养了派克斯），同年，她接拍了电影《史密斯夫妇》。数月内，朱莉和皮特一同访问了巴基斯坦，为地震寻求援助和捐款。一年之内，朱莉怀孕了。
然而，她抢夺别人丈夫的行为，并未对自己的知名度产生任何影响。民意调查显示，人们对她的赞誉逐年增多，尽管安妮斯顿称她的行为“不光彩”。2012年，这对情侣宣布订婚。皮特对任何有关“懦弱行径”的言论不予理会，坚称他和安妮斯顿是友好分手。
好莱坞《Variety》杂志的一位行政主管表示：“人们将朱莉视作一位圣洁之人，在世界上，她只是一个想要做善事的女人。看到她时，她给人一种安详之感，你会觉得自己像个傻子，只会问些愚蠢问题，如‘是你破坏了詹妮弗·安妮斯顿的家庭？’”
《转变自己：定义你的标签，畅想你的未来》一书的作者朵瑞·克拉克，将朱莉的经历视作转变自己的典型事例。“由于她的负面标签过多地强调其女性生活，”克拉克说，“她作为一名母亲的生活，为孩子们无私奉献，则展示了她全新且温和的一面，这改善了她的声誉。”
这对夫妇带着他们庞大的“多彩家庭”游历世界，不是在拍电影，就是在做善事，例如，在卡特里娜飓风过后，他们积极奔走帮助新奥尔良市；2010年海地地震后，他们前往海地工作。他们所做的这些事，都为他们赢得了良好的口碑。
很多人怀疑，朱莉成功地操控了人们对她的描述，因此，她的高尚便成功地掩盖了自己插足他人家庭和年轻时性格放荡不羁的一面。无论出于怎样的动机，10年多来，她频繁地探访了世界上一些最为混乱的角落，让公众广泛地关注这些以前并未盛行的事业。
“坦白地说，假如一个名人不是真正地对贫穷感兴趣，只想让自己获得媒体的赞誉，是可以通过更好的方式来实现这一目的。前往达尔富尔地区或刚果，路途危险、开销很大且旅程颠簸，住在棚屋中，还会遭遇到蝙蝠、蝎子和驼蛛，”《纽约时报》的尼古拉斯·克里斯多夫表示。2008年，在美国对外关系委员有关达尔富尔地区公平性的会议上，克里斯多夫和朱莉共同发言。
尽管朱莉是在玩弄名人的把戏，但这总是出于更为高尚的目的，而非为了个人的名誉或私欲。她新诞生的双胞胎照片，卖出了1400万美元，这笔钱捐给了朱莉—皮特基金。那些和她共事过的人表示，她的表现毫无明星的架子，并且非常专业。
人们还是坚持认为，她年轻时的古怪行径（她的父亲曾声泪俱下地说，她有“严重的精神疾病”）并未远去，然而她那不安于现状的个性却最终发挥了积极的作用。
如今，朱莉又一次转变了自己的身份，成为了一名导演。她的最新作品《坚不可摧》是其指导的第二部电影，讲述了一位二战英雄的故事。这部电影也被视作是2015年奥斯卡奖的有力竞争者，不过，在收获另一座奥斯卡小金人之前，朱莉还是需要前往白金汉宫，接受她的勋章。
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