Angelina Jolie says she's 'not a perfect parent' to her 6 children and has grown 'more aware' of her missteps
- Angelina Jolie spoke about raising her six children in People's 2021 Kindness Issue.
- The actress said she's "not a perfect parent" and has become more aware of her mistakes as a mother.
Angelina Jolie has become increasingly aware of her mistakes as a mother while raising her six children, she said in People's 2021 Kindness Issue.
"I'm not a perfect parent by any means," the actress admitted, adding, "Every day I feel like I'm more aware of everything I don't do right. And I'm pretty tough on myself, because I feel often, 'Am I doing the right thing? Did I say the right thing?'"
The 49-year-old "Eternals" actress shares her kids - Maddox, 20, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 15, Vivienne, 13, and Knox, 13 - with her ex-husband, Brad Pitt, whom she divorced in 2016.
One of the essential parts of her parenting approach is viewing her children as "six very individual human beings," she explained. And Jolie considers herself to be a family member among them, rather than above them.
"They're pretty great people, and because there's so many of them, I think they've had a very significant effect on each other. It's not like I'm the head of anything. I'm very honest with my kids. And I'm very human with my kids," she said.
Jolie said she hopes her transparency encourages her children to reciprocate openness back to her.
"We're supposed to help them figure out who they are. And you can't figure out who they are if you don't enthusiastically develop with them," she said, later adding, "My children have done many, many loving things. My children's kindness has been very healing to me."
Since Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in 2016 and requested sole custody of their children, the former couple has been in an ongoing custody dispute.
In September, the actress told The Guardian that going through the public divorce, which was finalized in 2019, and subsequent custody battle throughout the past five years has left her feeling "broken."
"I just want my family to heal," she told the outlet. "And I want everyone to move forward - all of us, including their dad. I want us to heal and be peaceful. We'll always be a family."