Angelina Jolie Relates Refugee Camp To Her Kids, Supports Shiloh’s ‘Wishes To Identify As A Boy’
Angelina Jolie is known as an actress and a humanitarian. But she’s also a mom, and when Jolie recently visited a refugee camp, she related the tragedies she viewed to her own kids.
Angelina Jolie delivers an emotional speech at the Jordan refugee camps: "My own children are of that age." https://t.co/wzaMqLRIXM
— E! News (@enews) September 12, 2016
For Angelina, the sight of the ongoing conflict and the victims that resulted made her visualize her own children in a similar situation, reported E! News.
In her fourth visit to the refugee camps in Jordan, Jolie became emotional while talking about the Syrian conflict. Thousands of youngsters have been displaced, turning to Jordan’s refugee camps, which the actress began visiting after the conflict started five years ago. The mom of six imagined her own kids suffering through such hardships.
“There are children here who remember no life other than this harsh, desert environment and barbed wire fences,” pointed out Angelina in her role as a special envoy for the UN’s refugee agency. “There are teens here who bear terrible physical and mental wounds of the conflict—over half of all refugees in Jordan are under 18. My own children are of that age.”
Jolie and husband Brad Pitt are raising six youngsters, ranging in age from Maddox at 15 through Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and ending with 8-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. And as a parent, Angelina pointed out, she instantly associated the children she saw in the camps to her own brood.
“Like any other parent, it is impossible for me not to imagine what it would be like for my own children in this situation, and it breaks my heart.”
Jolie has a specific goal of shining the spotlight on the refugee camps, with her focus on enlightening the UN General Assembly and starting a dialogue on “the fundamental root causes of the Syria conflict and what it will take to end it.” Noting that the five-year mark had passed, the actress pointed out that the key for those affected is simple: When can they go home?
“After five years, refugees do not want to know by what percentage their lives might be made fractionally more bearable, but when they will be able to go home,” noted Angelina. “They do not want to be the passive recipients of aid, they want a political solution.”
When it comes to her empathy and compassion for the children trapped by the conflict, Jolie is protective of her own kids. She recently gave a rare glimpse into their individual lives.
Angelina Jolie Offers Rare, Intriguing Update About Children with Brad Pitt https://t.co/rQZxYAHd6D. OMG! What a fascinating brood!
— Susan Neal (@SusanNeal) August 30, 2016
The actress shared that there’s something special about every child, noted Vanity Fair.
“All the kids are learning different languages,” she noted. “I asked them what languages they wanted to learn and Shi is learning Khmai, which is a Cambodian language, Pax is focusing on Vietnamese, Mad has taken to German and Russian, Z is speaking French, Vivienne really wanted to learn Arabic, and Knox is learning sign language.”
Angelina emphasized that she believes in letting her offspring lead the way in choosing their own life paths.
“You don’t know who your children are until they show you who they are and they are just becoming whoever they want to be.”
When it comes to allowing her children become “whoever they want to be,” Jolie and her husband have both discussed their daughter Shiloh in particular. The couple has been candid about Shiloh’s desire “to be a boy,” pointed out OK! Magazine.
The 10-year-old is getting support for her “wishes to identify as a boy,” according to OK!, which cited an insider’s revelation that Shiloh does not own any girls’ attire.
“Shiloh’s so funny about her wardrobe and she couldn’t be more different from her sisters,” said the source. “She only wears boys’ clothes and is always stealing T-shirts from Pax’s wardrobe.”
Last year, Pitt and Angelina allowed their daughter to cut her already short hair much shorter, with a 2010 Vanity Fair interview including a statement that Shiloh “wants to be a boy” and prefers boys’ clothes.
“We had to cut her hair,” noted Jolie. “She likes to wear boys’ everything. She thinks she’s one of the brothers.”
Has the situation changed since that interview in 2010? The OK! insider revealed that the couple has decided to get professional help in order to keep their commitment to provide their daughter with “a loving family environment.” As to when and if they might address her reported gender identity quest, they plan to wait, added the source.
“Angie and Brad are getting advice from all kinds of experts on how to handle it carefully and not damage their child.”
Last year, Radar Online also reported that the couple had consulted with an expert about their child’s situation.
“Shiloh is very headstrong, and has insisted on wearing boys’ clothes for more than six years,” noted Radar’s source. “Brad was concerned having two older brothers was perhaps influencing Shiloh, and wondered if she would do so if there were no boys in the family.”
However, that specialist reportedly reassured Pitt.
“Brad was told Shiloh would have gravitated towards dressing as a boy, and being called John, even if her siblings were all girls,” explained the insider. “It’s just the way Shiloh is, and there is nothing per se that they did wrong as parents.”
In addition, the source noted that although Amber Rose once called the little girl a “transkid,” no definitive answers exist.
“Shiloh could be a tomboy, and as a teenager could become the most girly girl,” pointed out the insider. “There are no concrete answers. Brad and Angelina are committed to giving Shiloh a loving family environment.”
[Photo by Jordan Pix/Getty Images]
