Angelina Jolie praises daughter Zahara for being an ‘extraordinary African woman’
Angelina Jolie has spoken about her pride for her daughter Zahara, describing her as “an extraordinary African woman”.
During a video conversation with Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate for TIME 100, the Maleficent actor discussed everything from activism and climate change to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Jolie also questioned how American schools cover black history in their curriculum and revealed how her daughter has influenced her life.
“One of the things that’s been interesting is the education,” she said.
“I don’t know about the schools in Uganda, but I know in the United States there’s a very big question ... My daughter is from Ethiopia, one of my children. And I have learned so much from her.
“She is my family, but she is an extraordinary African woman.”
The mother-of-six continued: “Her connection to her country, her continent, is very — it’s her own and it’s something I only stand back in awe of.
“But what I see in, for example, American history books and how limited they are … they start teaching people who are black about their lives through the Civil Rights movement, which is such a horrible place to begin.”
The Changeling star adopted Zahara from an orphanage in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in 2005, when she was six months old.
Jolie was already mother to her adoptive son Maddox, who was born in Cambodia and later adopted another son, three-year-old Pax Thien, from Vietnam.
The actor also has three biological children — Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne — with ex-husband Brad Pitt.
While Jolie rarely discusses her children, she recently opened up to Harper’s Bazaar about raising her children amid the “racism and discrimination in America”.
“A system that protects me but might not protect my daughter — or any other man, woman or child in our country based on skin colour — is intolerable,” she said.
“We need to progress beyond sympathy and good intentions to laws and policies that actually address structural racism and impunity. Ending abuses in policing is just the start. It goes far beyond that, to all aspects of society, from our education system to our politics.”
In a recent interview with Vogue, Jolie also spoke about the adoption process and the challenges of raising children from different backgrounds.
“What is important is to speak with openness about all of it and to share. ‘Adoption’ and ‘orphanage’ are positive words in our home,” she said.
“All adopted children come with a beautiful mystery of a world that is meeting yours. When they are from another race and foreign land, that mystery, that gift, is so full. For them, they must never lose touch with where they came from. They have roots that you do not.”
Jolie continued: “Honour them. Learn from them. It’s the most amazing journey to share,” she said. “They are not entering your world — you are entering each other’s worlds.”
