It's been done before (see Mia Farrow) but rarely with such style and glamour. While Angelina Jolie hasn't actually adopted THAT many children (three at last count, on par with Sharon Stone) it's the "rainbow nation" style in which she's building her family that's unique. She started off adopting Maddox in Cambodia during the dying days of her marriage to Billy Bob Thornton (the absence of the actor's name on the adoption certificate was seen by many as a clear indicator that the union was finished). Since then, she's also adopted Pax (from Vietnam), Zahara (from Ethiopia) and if rumours are to be believed, is looking at adopting from countries as diverse as the former Yugoslavia and Syria, although she firmly denied that a recent visit to earthquake-devastated Haiti was for the purpose of adoption. Image Credit: AP
‘No' to traditional education
With the children all enrolled in an international schooling programme called the Lycée Française - a French school with outlets across the world where one curriculum is followed so the kids can drop in and out of various establishments - Angelina has admitted that traditional education does not suit her family of six.
"I do think we live in a different age and the education system hasn't caught up with our children and our way of life," says the Oscar-winner of educating Maddox, 10, Pax, eight, Zahara, seven, Shiloh, five, and twins Vivienne and Knox, three. But the mum-of-six says that often it is she who tries to rush the kids through their lessons so that they can quit the classroom.
"We travel, and I'm the first person to say, ‘Get the school work done as quickly as possible because let's go out and explore,'" she admits. Adding, "Instead of tomfoolery in the classroom, I'd rather them go to a museum, learn to play guitar, or read and pick a book they love." And Ange is adamant that hers and Brad's way of raising a nomadic brood, is teaching them more than traditional methods would, revealing that the children are adept at handling any situation their unconventional lives throw at them.
"They're very worldly," Ange says. "What I love is that they can be in New York in a hotel in Manhattan and think it's so cool, and then I can bring them to the middle of Kenya and drop them in a tent with no TV and no nothing, and they're just as happy. That's what we are trying to do, to balance them." Adding, "Now we are starting to get them where they each have their own luggage and they unpack their own clothes and pack their own, because it was just getting too confusing for me to figure out, but it's great, it's so much fun."
Coca-Cola for breakfast
Having long embraced a let-kids-eat-what-they-want philosophy, the six siblings are allowed to snack on junk food whenever they like, and the family is often spotted stopping for food at McDonald's drive-thrus.
"Brad and Angelina work really hard at letting their kids be normal. That means they let them do stuff we all did as kids, like eat chocolate or scarf down a bag of chips," spills an insider. "If Zahara wants ice cream for breakfast, she'll get it."
And Brad himself has admitted that he'll resort to whatever works food and drink-wise, to get the six kids ready for the day, last week revealing, "I admit there's times like, ‘We gotta get up. Get up! Here's your shoes. Here's your shoes. Drink this Coke. Drink this Coca-Cola. Drink it all. Right now! Drink it! Drink it! Drink it!' Just so we could get ‘em up and going." And the dad-of-six's ‘anything goes' approach to meal times is also reflected at dinner, of which he admits, "We actually have family dinner every night. We make a point of it. It's crazy. There's a good five minutes where everybody is quiet and sitting together and then it starts to break off."
"Brad might suddenly decide to eat pizza with them or take them out for the day," adds an insider. "For example, they took the twins out in the middle of the night in Jordan last year and fed them ice-cream. Brad and Angelina can't cook, so they look for food that comes out of a box and doesn't have to be cooked - and the kids just love fried foods."
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