As she drags her family across the globe, Angelina Jolie is on the edge of a burnout, while Brad Pitt is Sad Pitt now
Her hectic schedule seems to be taking its toll
Over the past few weeks, Angelina Jolie has been in four different countries: the US, Cambodia (twice), the UK – she was in London to give a lecture at the LSE, privately tour Buckingham Palace and shop at Hamleys – and Switzerland to give a speech on refugees for the UN. All while caring for her six children. Even typing all that is exhausting.
Unsurprisingly, the usually calm and composed actress is starting to look frazzled, and friends tell heat they’re worried she might be close to meltdown. “Angelina has so much on her plate right now,” says an insider close to Ange, who has been seeking sole custody of Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, ten, and twins Vivienne and Knox, eight, since her split from Brad in September. “She’s doing everything she can to keep her mind off the break-up of her family. She’s promoting her film, developing projects for the UN, house-hunting in LA and looking for new charitable ventures. All while also trying to make sure the kids are happy and well cared for. It’s almost impossible
– she goes to bed well after midnight and wakes up in the early hours.” The friend adds that she has “a zillion work commitments, but she feels she needs to be there for the kids because their father isn’t there as much, so she’s promised each of them an hour on their own with her every day, to do whatever they want – read, play, go shopping – but that’s six hours a day!”
Life has been on fast-forward recently for Ange, 41, who has been travelling around the world promoting her Netflix show First They Killed My Father about Cambodia, as well as representing the UN in Geneva and guest lecturing in London on the impact of war on women. She’s also launched a perfume campaign for Guerlain – her first modelling job since 2007 – all while trying to settle an acrimonious divorce with Brad, 53.
The insider says that Angelina won’t accept help. “She finds it hard to delegate – she can be control freak, and she wants to make sure she’s there for the kids,” we’re told. “The family are seeing therapists and they’ve all urged her to slow down, but she doesn’t want to disappoint anyone and also wants to prove she is the better parent. Something needs to give, though, as sometimes she barely has time to eat.”
‘She refuses to delegate anything – she’s a control freak’