Showing posts with label 2000 DeMille Drive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2000 DeMille Drive. Show all posts

Friday, October 9, 2026







“That’s not true ... It’s fun to see certain arms of the press kind of flop around,” said Carswell. “They’re so anxious to just get a name and when we sign a non-disclosure agreement, protecting the buyer’s privacy, we do not utter a word and give any clues. So, in the absence of giving a clue, they kind of pulled something out of the air that’s not true.”

He added that throughout the process of finding a buyer for Jolie’s home, background checks were done for security and to avoid “wannabes” who want to see celebrity homes but have no real intention of buying the property.

“Part of my job as a listing agent is to prevent that from happening, only bonafide buyers who are qualified and that’s what we did,” said Carswell.

When asked if the Maria actress was happy with the $24.75 million sale of the property, Carswell told Real Talk, “Doubly so. Quite. The ending was quite the climax after the journey we had been through on the market. It’s a difficult market presently in Los Angeles, which is always just temporary until things go back up the rollercoaster.”

“We had had enough of that challenge and then it ended quite well for our client, so she was doubly happy,” he concluded.




Friday, September 25, 2026







Sotheby's



Monday, May 4, 2026



















Monday, August 11, 2025



Random Fuzzy

Like much of their public story, things do not compute.

She normally holds her cards close to her chest. We only learn of things after the fact. Here she is essentially announcing a year ahead that she plans to sell and that she intends to make minor improvements before she does.

- Why and what for.

The storyline is that she is waiting for the twins to turn 18 because of a custody agreement -- an agreement that is not mentioned in their divorce settlement which left child custody and support totally blank. There is no reference to any provision in the Confidential Judgment attached to Form FL-180 (the divorce judgment) about custody and visitation.   As far as the divorce judgment is concerned, it is not an applicable issue.

- The court cannot enforce what it is not cognizant of.  Brad is not worried that she will not honor this missing agreement despite the fact that he claims she did not honor an unwritten agreement not to sell her shares in Miraval to anyone else.

Both cannot be true.

He isn't worried because she never gave him reason to worry.  She is honoring this agreement just as she honored all their other agreements, formal and informal.  The Nouvel sale not only had his full support, it was likely his idea.  He wanted to exit the wine business while retaining the estate.  He needed and wanted the sale more than she did.

In the months leading up to September 2016, as his alcohol-fueled behavior became increasingly more problematic, he used the goal of growing the wine business -- testing new varieties and a new champagne -- to brush aside his family's concerns.  The Miraval wine business then became a constant reminder of why and when the destruction of his family life started. 

In 2022 filings in France, the same year as the Nouvel lawsuit, it emerged that Familles Perrin had taken majority control of SAS Miraval Provence.  The labels on bottles of Miraval rosé which used to say "Mis en bouteille par Jolie-Pitt & Perrin" now say "Mis en bouteille par Miraval" -- dropping not just Jolie, but Pitt and Perrin as well.  The lawsuit is just another decoy.

She isn't in L.A. for the twins because she is required to be, but because she wants to be.


Angelina Jolie is ready to part ways with her historic Los Angeles home.

The Maria star, 50, is officially planning to “put the house up for sale” as she explores a move abroad, a source tells PEOPLE. Page Six was the first to report the news.

Jolie “never wanted to live in L.A. full time. She didn't have a choice because of the custody arrangement with Brad,” continues the source, referring to the star’s ex-husband Brad Pitt, 61.

The exes — who reached a divorce settlement in December 2024 after an eight-year legal battle — share six children: Maddox, 24, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17.

The source adds that Jolie “plans to relocate as soon as Knox and Viv turn 18 next year. She's eyeing several locations abroad. She'll be very happy when she's able to leave Los Angeles."

Of Jolie’s Los Angeles home, the source notes, “It's a historic masterpiece and truly such a beautiful estate.”

Another insider confirms that the Without Blood writer/director is planning on selling the home after she makes some minor improvements to it.

Jolie purchased the historic 1913-build in 2017 for $24.5 million, a source told PEOPLE at the time. The sprawling property boasts six bedrooms and ten bathrooms across 11,000 square feet.

Its Hollywood ties make it a one-of-a-kind property, as it was purchased by director Cecil B. DeMille for under $28,000 in 1916, PEOPLE previously reported. Charlie Chaplin also lived in a neighboring house, but after he moved out, DeMille purchased and combined the two estates.

Jolie previously opened up about why she’s still living in Los Angeles despite her desire to leave, per a 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

The Academy Award winner, who filed for divorce from Pitt in September 2016 after two years of marriage, told the outlet at the time that she is currently in the city "because I have to be here from a divorce."

However, once her twins turn 18, Jolie said she’s ready to live abroad full time as she seeks qualities that Los Angeles can’t offer her or her children.

"When you have a big family, you want them to have privacy, peace, safety," she said at the time. "I have a house now to raise my children, but sometimes this place can be … that humanity that I found across the world is not what I grew up with here."

After she leaves L.A., she noted, "I’ll spend a lot of time in Cambodia," which is where she adopted her oldest son Maddox in 2002. She added, "I’ll spend time visiting my family members wherever they may be in the world.”

Jolie previously shared that Cambodia is the one place “in my heart” that she considers her home during a conversation at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February.



This Hollywood home could be ready for its latest close-up!

Angelina Jolie is prepping to sell the estate of famed filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, which she snapped up for $24.5 million in 2017, sources tell Page Six.

Sitting on 2-plus acres in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz, the house — where “The Ten Commandments” director lived for roughly 40 years, until his 1959 death — was built in 1913 and has six bedrooms and 10 bathrooms across more than 11,000 square feet of interior space.

The estate also has four fireplaces, a vast wine cellar, a tea house, views of the Griffith Observatory, formal gardens and a pool with cascading fountains on either side.

Jolie reportedly spent the pandemic isolating there with her kids, and also housed friends there who were displaced by the area wildfires earlier this year.

She told British Vogue in 2021 of the location, “I wanted it to be close to their dad, who is only five minutes away.”

Jolie added in 2021 of the property: “I felt a little pressure moving in. Like I had snuck into where DeMille and [Charlie] Chaplin would hang out. I love most that there is no entertainment room, but lots of pathways and places to walk and think. I feel very fortunate we have that at this time.”

Multiple reps for Jolie did not get back to us.


Sunday, April 9, 2023



A few months ago.  At the DeMille.




guitar on a stand together with piano in the living room



story from



link from angelinajoliefamily

Sunday, November 6, 2022



Random Fuzzy


James Gray recently disavowed having anything to do with Brad's voice-overs in Ad Astra, indicating they were entirely Brad's making.

Variety Oct., 2022
“Creatively, it became a very torturous experience. The film was taken from me, ultimately: it’s not my cut of the movie, and I find it a very painful experience to have people tell me things they hated about the movie that I had nothing to do with.

Vulture, Nov. 2022
James, you’ve been more open recently about the difficulties you had on Ad Astra. Why did they force these changes on you?
J.G.: It was a kind of a perfect storm. The birthing of it was so screwed up for reasons that had nothing to do with the movie. New Regency made the film, and they were trying to get it through Fox, and we were talking to Fox people, and then Fox got sold to Disney and folded up, basically. .... Also, with a film that is quite personal, people sometimes see themselves in it and will argue that other things are better. I did not have final cut, so I could not say, “I don’t like it. That’s the way it is.”

Now, I was very upset about it because, as the writer-director, I felt that my view should win the day. And when people start coming up to you and saying, “Why’d you do all that stupid voice-over?” and you didn’t do it, that’s a very frustrating experience. But it’s not like I want people to hate the movie. The way I feel about it is — by the way, I’m not saying it’s as good — you hope it’s your own Blade Runner, where there are things in it that are clearly you that you love, and there are other things that were put into the film that aren’t you. There’s a lot I’m very proud of in the movie. But until then, I had been very lucky to have control over the films, and when the film stopped being a hundred percent mine, I became like a petulant little child.

Brad's character, the astronaut Roy McBride, is described as "exceptional across the board."  He is sent on a mission to find his missing father and the source of the surges threatening Earth.  His wife makes brief appearances, leaving him in the beginning and returning in the end, but has little to no dialogue.  The notable voice-overs:

"So many times in my life, I've screwed up. I've talked when I should have listened. I've been harsh when I should have been tender."
"I made a promise to always be truthful, but I wasn't."
"I'm selfish. I'm selfish. I've let so many people down. I'm just a selfish person."
"A self-destructive side"
"I am looking forward to the day my solitude ends, and I'm home."
"I'm unsure of the future, but I'm not concerned. I will rely on those closest to me, and will share their burdens, as they share mine. I will live, and love."

It was obvious that these had nothing to do with Roy, that it was Brad and not Roy talking.  While promoting the film, Brad told GMA: "I'm interjecting something, some point of view of mine" -- and was flustered when asked what it was.

The last voice-over is a love note and features suggestive cut aways to Roy's wife, but it is presented as a post-mission self evaluation that Roy submits to NASA because there is no reason for Roy to say it to his wife who is only tentatively returning to him.  It's understandable that people found the voice-overs perplexing, and over time their complaints grated on Gray.  He is now saying that Brad, a producer with his Plan B partners, essentially hijacked the film to place those voice-overs.  Brad had told GMA, "James and I are both at an age where we've probably lived more than we have left. And you start thinking about impermanence."  He wanted to publicly express his true thoughts and feelings against the false narrative they are forced to live under.  He wanted the truth on the record in some form.  It is a corollary to Galileo and the circumstances that led him to say "Eppur Si Muove".  As Angelina explained her new tattoo to British Vogue in 2021: "'And yet it moves.' Galileo's reported words at the end of his trial, when he was forced to deny that the Earth moves around the Sun. Certain truths are undeniable."

The film ends with the aforementioned love note where Brad declares his trust and confidence in leaving his future entirely in Angelina's hands.  Acknowledging her efforts to share his burden and help heal the family so his "solitude ends" and he is "home."  It is because of her and with her that he "will live, and love."  She kept his "low-grade depression" from becoming a more serious case.  As he told AP,  “There’s still much beauty in the world and a lot of love. And a lot of love to be given."  It is also notable that it was during promo for OUATIH in mid 2019, a few months before Ad Astra, that he started wearing rings -- specifically, bee rings.  At around that time Angelina told Harper's Bazaar,  "Life takes many turns. Sometimes you get hurt, you see those you love in pain, and you can’t be as free and open as your spirit desires. It’s not new or old, but I do feel the blood returning to my body."


By coincidence, this was just posted:

"James and I are both at an age where we've probably lived more than we have left. And you start thinking about impermanence, you start thinking of your own personal values.
My style is, I'm interjecting something, some point of view of mine usually."
Which point of view were you interjecting here?
"Well, I ummmm
I'm listening
"Yeah, you are, and you're calling me out on it"
In a good way
"No it's fair, it's all fair. It's really coming to terms with knowing yourself. A full acceptance of yourself. Instead of living with regrets, or grief we carry. The loneliness we carry."





whimn.com.au  Sept., 2019 Ad Astra
“I’m hoping to deal with all my regrets. It takes some forgiveness of self as well,” “And if there’s someone that you need to [apologise to], something you need to clean up, then you clean it up, and that’s the best you can do.  Then maybe we can dispense with those regrets if they’re handled. I’m a big believer in making amends.

I don’t think I’m the only one to experience those bouts in your lifetime, those feelings of despair, of meaninglessness, of no worth.  ...Everyone hits those darker periods in life where we feel really cut off from everyone and feel a profound loneliness, a real disconnection.”

When I grew up, the idea of therapy meant you had to be crazy. We weren’t taught to take inventory of how we were feeling and how to deal with those feelings. Nowadays, I try to be make that a daily practice.

But when I want to escape, I spend a lot of time in an art studio,” he says. “Or I will read the occasional book on spirituality, or listen to podcasts on philosophy. I also meditate and I do therapy, but I also talk to friends and find that a lot of stuff gets hashed out that way.”

Having lived all over the world, where does he call his favourite place?
“I’ve been thinking about that because I’ve been thinking about death, just in terms of, ‘Where do you want to spend that last leg of your life?  We settle in places or get sucked into a place sometimes because of a job or for family, speaking of which, my kids have probably eight more years of school to keep us relatively in one spot. But then comes a time where you think about where you want to spend that last period. For me, it would be somewhere in the mountains.”

Various Ad Astra Sept. 2019

“I'm telling you, even someone who's hit the lottery has trouble sleeping sometimes,” Pitt says. “We all have our demons, the things we're wrestling with. We can spend a lifetime pushing them away until we have to deal with them at the very end in a very scary, frightening, ugly way. Or we can start acknowledging those. That's pretty much where I see it now.”

Pitt, who also has definite thoughts on "Netflix-cheating” as a concept. “See, this is the problem with (couple) viewing. It’s something you’ve got to say, ‘Honey, you're just going to have to catch up because I can't wait.'”

"James and I have been friends for a couple of decades and have always been pretty open in our conversations about our missteps -- the stupidity, really. ..."I think it's cyclical, certainly in America the post-war generation was all about strength and not showing weakness, and winning. And that works to a certain degree, but I think more vulnerability, more getting you arms around your successes and your failures, makes for a better partner, a better dad, a better son."

"We set out to make a very sincere film, a real bare bones, bare, raw honesty.

"You get older and you just get tired of protecting yourself or having any secrets. You want to get on with it and we wanted to get on with it in this film in a way. We all carry great pains, great regrets. We've all experienced loss, we've all experienced great loneliness at times. And we're good at packing that away and not dealing with it. Some of us are good at getting through it and coming out the other side with a more well-rounded, a more confident and loving human being. We just wanted, no holds barred, let's just go, let's get it out there."

"I mean a man who owns his own flaws and is aware of them and open about it. And vulnerable, with real feelings, rather than being this macho, trying-to-be-tough guy."

"I’m realizing, as a real act of forgiveness for myself for all the choices that I’ve made that I’m not proud of, that I value those missteps, because they led to some wisdom, which led to something else. You can’t have one without the other."




With a $17.15M Comerica mortgage on the $24.95M purchase of the DeMille, the entire owners' equity of $7.8M was Brad's, structured as a loan to Angelina. 

I believe he will be shouldering all the expenses they've incurred as a result of the incident, and it's extension with Nouvel.

ANGELINA JOLIE - $17.15MILLION/ $72,000 MONTHLY

After splitting with Brad Pitt, the Tomb Raider star bought late director Cecil B. DeMille's Los Feliz mansion for $25million in April 2017, with a $17.15million mortgage from Comerica Bank.

It has six bedrooms, ten bathrooms and sits in 2.1 acres of land, there is also a tea room and swimming pool.

The 47-year-old is worth $120 million according to Forbes, she can afford the estimated $72,000-a-month repayments.

The film star and her children moved into the sprawling 7,500 square foot home - just a few blocks away from the sprawling family home she once shared with her ex-husband Pitt, 58.










GQ, May 2017 War Machine
He mentioned his estranged wife's name only once, when referencing her Cambodia movie, First They Killed My Father, telling me, “You should see Angie's film.”

"And we grew up First Baptist, which is the cleaner, stricter, by-the-book Christianity. Then, when I was in high school, my folks jumped to a more charismatic movement, which got into speaking in tongues and raising your hands and some goofy-ass shit."

it didn't fuck me up—it just led to some eating questions at a young age.

I was really on my back and chained to a system when Child Services was called. And you know, after that, we've been able to work together to sort this out. We're both doing our best."

For me this period has really been about looking at my weaknesses and failures and owning my side of the street. I'm an asshole when it comes to this need for justice. I don't know where it comes from, this hollow quest for justice for some perceived slight. I can drill on that for days and years. It's done me no good whatsoever.

Sitting with those horrible feelings, and needing to understand them, and putting them into place. In the end, you find: I am those things I don't like. That is a part of me. I can't deny that. I have to accept that. And in fact, I have to embrace that. I need to face that and take care of that.

This house was always chaotic and crazy, voices and bangs coming from everywhere, and then, as you see, there are days like this: very…very solemn. I don't know. I think everyone's creative in some way. If I'm not creating something, doing something, putting it out there, then I'll just be creating scenarios of fiery demise in my mind. You know, a horrible end. And so I've been going to a friend's sculpting studio, spending a lot of time over there. My friend [Thomas Houseago] is a serious sculptor. They've been kind. I've literally been squatting in there for a month now. "

I'm making everything. I'm working with clay, plaster, rebar, wood. .... Yesterday I wasn't settled. I had a lotta chaotic thoughts—trying to make sense of where we are at this time—and the thing I was doing wasn't controlled and balanced and perfect. It came out chaotic.

I remember literally having this thought a year, a year and a half ago, someone was going through some scandal. Something crossed my path that was a big scandal—and I went, “Thank God I'm never going to have to be a part of one of those again.” I live my life, I have my family, I do my thing, I don't do anything illegal, I don't cross anyone's path."

How do you make sense of the past six months and keep going?
"Family first. People on their deathbeds don't talk about what they obtained or were awarded. They talk about their loved ones or their regrets—that seems to be the menu. I say that as someone who's let the work take me away. Kids are so delicate. They absorb everything. They need to have their hand held and things explained. They need to be listened to. When I get in that busy work mode, I'm not hearing. I want to be better at that."

AP, May, 2017 War Machine
He’s getting through it, he assured. “I’m not suicidal or something,” Pitt said, laughing. “There’s still much beauty in the world and a lot of love. And a lot of love to be given."

VF,  July, 2017 FTKMF
"It’s just been the hardest time, and we’re just kind of coming up for air. [This house] is a big jump forward for us, and we’re all trying to do our best to heal our family.”

By the time First They Killed My Father was in postproduction, in the summer of 2016, “things got bad,” says Jolie. “I didn’t want to use that word. . . . Things became ‘difficult.’ ”

“They’ve been very brave. They were very brave.”

Brave when?

“In times they needed to be.” Other statements are similarly cryptic. “We’re all just healing from the events that led to the filing . . . They’re not healing from divorce. They’re healing from some . . . from life, from things in life.”

She looks down, formulates an answer. “We care for each other and care about our family, and we are both working towards the same goal.”

“I was very worried about my mother, growing up—a lot. I do not want my children to be worried about me. I think it’s very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything’s going to be all right even when you’re not sure it is.”

NY Times, Sept., 2017 FTKMF
“It took me a few months to realize that I was really going to have to do it. That there was going to have to be another base regardless of everything,” she said, her voice falling quiet and low, as it would each time the subject of the split arose. “That there was going to have to be a home. Another home.”

The new house, a Beaux Arts manse that was once the residence of the legendary filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, is a beaut, with a library, rolling lawns, cascading fountains that burble into the pool, and a view of the Griffith Observatory. Ms. Jolie had an elaborate treehouse built — “more a parkour treehouse,” she said — and the kids helped decorate and pick out the furniture for the whole house. They have an agreement, Ms. Jolie said, that not everyone can agree on everything, but you have to try to like it if you don’t hate it. If you do hate it, you can overrule.

“It has a lot of moments,” Ms. Jolie said of the home, “It’s happy. Happy and light, and we needed that.”

I asked how everyone is doing now.

“None of it’s easy. It’s very, very difficult, a very painful situation, and I just want my family healthy,” she said quietly.

Are they? “They’re getting better,” she said, her voice approaching inaudibility.

She intimated that “First They Killed My Father” might have informed her decision to leave Mr. Pitt. The film centers on Ms. Ung’s family members, some of whom survived, and Ms. Jolie said she thought a lot about what family meant during production, and how they should help each other and take care of one another (the film is adapted from Ms. Ung’s 2000 book of the same name). “Loung had such horrors in her life but also had so much love, and that is why she’s all right today,” Ms. Jolie said. “That is something I need to remember.”

Awards Chatter, December, 2017, FTKMF 
"I’m happy we did that film (By the Sea) because we did explore something together, and whatever it was, maybe it didn’t solve certain things, but it did, we did communicate something that maybe needed to be communicated to each other.”

Inquirer, November, 2015 By the Sea
"We thought, this is the best honeymoon because we felt, as the film says in the end—whatever you go through, weather the storm and stay together. It was a message to each other of we are going to weather whatever comes and we are going to stick together so that was nice."
Ad Astra


eOnline Oct., 2019 Maleficent Mistress of Evil
"The real truest love pulls out your best self. It's what you value, what you're loyal to and what you're willing to fight for."

MMoE, Tokyo Premiere
Is there anything more powerful than love?
“Family.”

Harper's Bazaar, Nov., 2019 Guerlain
Life takes many turns. Sometimes you get hurt, you see those you love in pain, and you can’t be as free and open as your spirit desires. It’s not new or old, but I do feel the blood returning to my body.

I would love to live abroad and will do so as soon as my children are 18. Right now I’m having to base where their father chooses to live.

Vogue, June, 2020, World Refugee Day
After choosing to separate from your partner and children’s father, actor Brad Pitt, how have you sustained a healthy environment for your children?
“I separated for the wellbeing of my family. It was the right decision. I continue to focus on their healing. Some have taken advantage of my silence, and the children see lies about themselves in the media, but I remind them that they know their own truth and their own minds. In fact, they are six very brave, very strong young people.”

British Vogue, March 2021 Know Your Rights
On her latest tattoo EPPUR SI MUOVE: "'And yet it moves.' Galileo's reported words at the end of his trial, when he was forced to deny that the Earth moves around the Sun. Certain truths are undeniable."

On Family barbecues: "Some of us are vegetarian, some are pescatarian, some eat all meat. For those of us who no longer eat meat, Korean barbecue is the most missed meal."

"I feel like I’m lacking in all the skills to be a traditional stay-at-home mom. I’m managing through it because the children are quite resilient, and they’re helping me, but I’m not good at it at all."

Oh, I don’t believe that!
"Well, I love them. I feel like we’re such a team. It may sound clichéd, but you love and you try, and even if you burn the eggs, that doesn’t matter in the end. But also, you’ve met our kids. They’re pretty capable."

We had the great pleasure of photographing you at your home, which also happens to be the former estate of Cecil B DeMille. How wonderful…
"I wanted it to be close to their dad, who is only five minutes away."

Where do I find you in your life and your outlook?
"I’m feeling that I’ve come through a few things. I’m trying to be hopeful. I think this is something we’ve all discovered through the pandemic.

You’ll soon be publishing a book for children and young adults with Geraldine Van Bueren QC and Amnesty International – can you tell me a little about it?
"It’s called Know Your Rights (And Claim Them). We want to help young people to identify who or what is blocking them from accessing their human rights, and how to try to overcome that. The message to young people is, no one has the right to harm you, to silence you.

Do you feel as if you’re at a happy stage in your life?
"I don’t know. The past few years have been pretty hard. I’ve been focusing on healing our family. It’s slowly coming back, like the ice melting and the blood returning to my body."

It’s a journey…
"But I’m not there. I’m not there yet. But I hope to be. I’m planning on it. I do like being older.

"So I like it. I’m looking forward to my fifties – I feel that I’m gonna hit my stride in my fifties. Though we were on the trampoline the other day, and the children said, “No, Mom, don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself.” And I thought, “God, isn’t that funny?” There was a day I was an action star, and now the kids are telling me to get off the trampoline because I’ll hurt myself."

I love that. Kids will always tell you how it is.
"Even at their young age they know that what matters is to feel safe and loved and stable. To not see those you love harmed. To know your own mind and truth and not to live a lie."


Brisbane Times, May, 2021 Those Who Wish Me Dead
“My mother was very gentle,” says Angelina. “I can be many things in my work and in life, but I am very warm and gentle with my children. That kindness and warmth is a foundation that’s unbelievably important. She gave me many other things and taught me many lessons. But if you don’t have that base, to feel valued and safe, then it’s hard for any of the other messages or lessons to land."

Those Who Wish Me Dead, Press Day, May, 2021
"This is how you pull through, you pull through together.

Find who you share the same morals and values with, and trust the right people, and hold those close."

Guardian UK, Sept. 2021 Know Your Rights
“Then I had an experience in the States with my own children and I thought... well, human rights, children’s rights.” “I remembered the rights of the child, and I took them out and looked at them and thought: well, these are for when you’re in a situation and you want to make sure there is support for the children in your life.”

“Then I found out the US hadn’t ratified the rights of the child. One of the ways it affects children is their voice in court – a child in Europe would have a better chance of having a voice in court than a child in California. That said a lot to me about this country.”

And did she fear for the safety of her children? This time she answers.
“Yes, for my family. My whole family."

“Often you cannot recognise something in a personal way, especially if your focus is on the greatest global injustices, because everything else seems smaller. It’s so hard. I’d like to be able to have this discussion and it’s so important...” “I’m not the kind of person who makes decisions like the decisions I had to make lightly. It took a lot for me to be in a position where I felt I had to separate from the father of my children.”

“What I know is when a child has been harmed, physically, emotionally, or witnessed the harm of somebody they love or care for, it can cause damage to that child. One of the reasons children need to have these rights is because without them they are vulnerable to living unsafe, unhealthy lives.”

When was the first time she felt sufficiently disrespected in the industry to tell somebody to fuck off?
"Well, no surprise, Harvey Weinstein. I worked with him when I was young.” “If you get yourself out of the room, you think he attempted but didn’t, right? The truth is that the attempt and the experience of the attempt is an assault.”
What happened? “I really don’t want to derail the book into stories about Harvey.” But that was an abuse of rights? “It was. It was beyond a pass, it was something I had to escape. I stayed away and warned people about him. I remember telling Jonny, my first husband, who was great about it, to spread the word to other guys – don’t let girls go alone with him. I was asked to do The Aviator, but I said no because he was involved. I never associated or worked with him again. It was hard for me when Brad did.”

In 2012, she says Pitt approached Weinstein to work as a producer for the noir thriller Killing Them Softly, which the Weinstein Company later distributed. In doing so, Jolie felt he was minimising the sexual assault she had endured. “We fought about it. Of course it hurt,”

How are you? “It’s really hard to answer.” “How am I? I’m realising that sometimes you can survive things, but not know how to feel and live in the same way. So it’s more about being open. I’m really trying to be open as a human being again.”

"I think at the end of the day, even if you and a few people you love are the only people who know the truth of your life, what you fight for, or what you sacrifice, or what you’ve suffered, you come to be at peace with that, regardless of everything going on around you.”

"It has been so horrific that I almost have to see it as a godsend to be in a position to be able to fight this system. It doesn’t start with the violation [the plane incident]. It’s so much more complicated than that.

“My 17-year-old, for example, has been denied a voice in court.”

I just want my family to heal. 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.”

CBS,  Sept., 2021 VAWA
"It's a health crisis, what is happening," "And it's going to be solved if you look at it as healthy families and invest in when there is the harm within the families, especially for the children.  Getting the care early, and prevention, and a lot of the - as they say 'the upstream.'  A lot of focus on the prevention and the health and really seeing it that way.  So it's a less adversarial situation and more about keeping families together.  Focusing on protection of women and children, but protection of the whole family."

NBC Today, March, 2022 VAWA
“Yes, I've been in a family court system.

My children’s health is my priority at this moment,” she added. “And my focus for the last few years has been to help my family and … to focus on helping change laws to protect other families and other women and focus on their stories.

I think once you’re exposed to this system, whoever you are, once you’re exposed to it and you realize how unbelievably broken this system is, you have to do something to improve it.”

@TODAYshow VAWA
“There is science behind…the real medical damage that is done when there is abuse and post traumatic stress disorder and trauma…& if it's not responded to by the authorities appropriately, how that grows worse” Angelina Jolie says on the impact of violence on kids.

ABA
"None of these issues in America were at the center of my work until it became personal."

GQ, June, 2022 Bullet Train
"He’s also a guy who, hidden under his shirt, has a line from a Rumi poem inked across his right bicep: “There exists a field, beyond all notions of right and wrong. I will meet you there.” It’s a deeply romantic idea, but does it also hint at a certain solitude? “I always felt very alone in my life,” he explains, “alone growing up as a kid, alone even out here, and it’s really not till recently that I have had a greater embrace of my friends and family. What’s that line, it was either Rilke or Einstein, believe it or not, but it was something about when you can walk with the paradox, when you carry real pain and real joy simultaneously, this is maturity, this is growth.”

I think joy’s been a newer discovery, later in life....I spent years with a low-grade depression, and it’s not until coming to terms with that, trying to embrace all sides of self—the beauty and the ugly—that I’ve been able to catch those moments of joy.”

My interpretation of the stabbing dreams were on the surface about fears, feeling unsafe, completely alone—but beneath it all they mostly seemed to be about buried needs—those aspects of self that weren’t allowed to bloom as a child—like healthy anger, individuality, or especially a voice."

And he explains, as if to a friend, something he has learned about effective communication in a relationship, emphasizing that a healthy self begins with taking “radical accountability.”

AFP Bullet Train
"I'm over that hump of middle age and so I'm looking at that last leg... how do I want to spend that time? At my age, you've made enough mistakes... now there's a comfort in applying that kind of wisdom."

Variety, Aug., 2022 Without Blood
“I read it right as I was going through the beginning of a very dark time in my life. I read it in the month that followed my divorce [from Brad Pitt in 2016],” recalls Jolie, who shot the adaptation at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios. “It had the effect on me that it’s had on so many people,” Jolie says, noting that the blurb on the cover says that the book is about the complexity of the human condition

“This film raises different questions; there is no clear good and bad in this film, even though there is clearly bad, horrible, horrific and criminal behavior.”

FT, Oct., 2022 WE
“It’s all about self-reflection,” “I was looking at my own life and really concentrating on owning my own shit: where was I complicit in failures in my relationships, where have I mis-stepped. For me, it was born out of ownership of what I call a radical inventory of self, getting really brutally honest with me, and taking account of those I may have hurt.

You have to understand, at least where I grew up, we’re more the Clint Eastwood character; you hold everything within, you’re capable, you can deal with anything, you don’t show weakness. I see that in my dad and the older generations of actors, and, man, it’s exhausting. As I get older, I find such a comfort in friendships where you can be [completely yourself], and I want that to extend in the outer world. What people make of it: I’m fine. I feel safe here because there’s a focus on our struggles as human beings, because it’s fraught with peril. And joy as well.” 

I find I have to walk with the pain I experience, and I have to walk with the joy, the beauty.” 




========



Daily Mail


DailyMail.com did some digging into public records and can reveal which A-list singers and film stars took out mortgages for their pricey palatial homes.

'It usually comes down to one reason. Typically the investor feels that what they are paying on the mortgage is less than what they can do with that money by investing it,' Robert Pagliarini, based in Irvine, California told DailyMail.com.

BEYONCE AND JAY-Z - $52.8MILLION/$226,901 MONTHLY

The Hollywood power couple paid $88million in August 2017 for a stunning property in Bel Air, which features eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, four outdoor swimming pools, and a spa and wellness center.

They borrowed $52.8million to buy the place and refinanced again last year with Goldman Sachs for exactly the same amount at a fixed rate of 3.15 per cent, with repayments working out at an eye-popping $226,901-a-month.



DRAKE - $52.5MILLION/$220,000 MONTHLY

The Canadian rapper, 36, bought his Beverly Hills home from British singer Robbie Williams for a staggering $75million this year in March, seven years after the Take That star purchased the property for $32million.

Drake took out a $52.5million home loan from Bank of America, with mortgage repayments of around $220k-a-month, and an assumed an interest rate of 3 per cent.

The stunning 24,260 square foot estate sits on Beverly Hills Crest, and has ten bedrooms, 22 bathrooms, a tennis court, swimming pool and is said to be the biggest property in the 90210 zip code.



THE WEEKND - $48.3MILLION/ $203,000 MONTHLY

The Canadian singer, 32, blew an eye-watering $70million on a nine-bedroom Bel Air mansion with 13 bathrooms, an indoor and outdoor pool with waterfall, sports court and cinema in August 2021.

At the time, he initially borrowed $55.2million from the City National Bank in a mortgage deal to rent out the property.

But that arrangement changed in February 2022, according to publicly available records.

The Weeknd - whose real name is Abel Tesfaye - reduced that figure to $48.3million, with his payments amounting to about $203k-a-month, and deciding he wanted to move into the place instead.

Boasting 13 bathrooms, an indoor pool, spa, outdoor pool and waterfall, gym, sports court, and cinema, the 33,000-square foot mansion was previously purchased by Media mogul Reinout Oerlemans and his wife Danielle in June 2015 for $21.4million



MARK WAHLBERG - $39.9MILLION

In 2009, the 50-year-old actor splashed out $8.25million on a plot of land in the North Beverly Park area to build his dream home with 12 bedrooms, a pool, library, theater and five-hole golf course.

In April, Wahlberg put the mansion on the market for a cool $87.5million, but then two months later borrowed $39.9million from the Bank of New York Mellon. The property is yet to be sold.



JENNIFER LOPEZ AND BEN AFFLECK - $14MILLION/ $59,000 MONTHLY

Lopez, 53, purchased a seven-bed, 13-bath Los Angeles property for $28million in May 2016, borrowing $14million from JP Morgan Chase Bank.

They'll never have to worry about the $59,000-a-month repayments, being worth $305million between them, according to Forbes.

Although Affleck, 50, does have other financial burdens, as he owns a seven-bedroom mansion in Pacific Palisades, which cost him $19million in April 2018, and has a $12million mortgage with First Republic Bank.



JOHNNY DEPP - $10MILLION

The former Pirates of the Caribbean star has been through the financial mill after admitted to blowing $650million during his career and going through a protracted legal battle with ex Amber Heard.

But he's kept hold of some of his assets, including his main LA residence, a 1920s-era eight bedroom castle-like abode, which cost $2.15million in 1995.

In March this year, Depp, 59, took out a $10million mortgage with City National Bank, maybe to pay some of his hefty attorney fees.



MEGHAN AND HARRY - $9,522,500/ $40,000 MONTHLY

After leaving the Royal Family in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the move across the pond and settled into a $14.65million Montecito mansion in June that year.

As Meghan, 41, and Harry, 38, have been cut adrift from the royal purse, the pair have had to fend for themselves and took out a huge $9,522,500 mortgage with City National Bank, costing around $40,000 in monthly payments.





ADELE

In August, DailyMail.com revealed that Adele, 34, had taken out a $37.7million mortgage to buy Sylvester Stallone's epic eight bed, 12-bath Beverly Park home for $58million six months ago.

KANYE WEST

Kanye West, 45, bought a Japanese-inspired $57.25million Malibu property in September 2021 without any help from the bank.



RIHANNA

The superstar singer, 34, bought two places within four months of each other - and didn't need a mortgage for either.

Rihanna paid $13.75million in December 2020 for a seven-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion, then bought the four-bed property next-door for $10million in March 2021.



TAYLOR SWIFT

the 32-year-old paid $25million cash on a Beverly Hills mansion in September 2015, which was owned by the family of late Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn.



Tuesday, March 16, 2021

British Vogue, March issue

Print, digital and online


- On Family barbecues: "Some of us are vegetarian, some are pescatarian, some eat all meat.  For those of us who no longer eat meat, Korean barbecue is the most missed meal."

- On her latest tattoo EPPUR SI MUOVE:  "'And yet it moves.' Galileo's reported words at the end of his trial, when he was forced to deny that the Earth moves around the Sun.  Certain truths are undeniable."  (An easy corollary to the filing she was forced to make, and their words and actions that belied the filing and point to their truth.)

- The dining room was set up to look like her study.  The papers in front of her look like scripts.

- Throughout the shoot she is mostly wearing jewelry provided by Vogue.  The exceptions are her mother's Cartier watch, a thick, masculine chain bracelet, and a thin gold band. (Recall that in Brad's GQ shoot, he took off the bracelets but kept the bee ring and a necklace.)

- She listens to punk rock and mindful meditation by Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

NOTES ON LOVE
Practices for Nourishing True Love by Thich Nhat Hanh
Heart Like A River
If you pour a handful of salt into a cup of water, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the water to cook, wash, and drink. The river is immense, and it has the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. When our hearts are small, our understanding and compassion are limited, and we suffer. We can't accept or tolerate others and their shortcomings, and we demand they change. But when our hearts expand, these same things don't make us suffer anymore. We have a lot of understanding and compassion and can embrace others. We accept others as they are, and then they have a chance to transform. So the big question is do we help our hearts to grow?
More on the DeMille:

Today, DeMille and Chaplin’s lots have been divided once again into separate residences, with Jolie and her family living in DeMille’s former home, set on 2.1 acres. In addition to the 7,500-foot main house, the compound includes a tea house, studio, and pool house. The gardens, which are studded with jacaranda trees and feature a rose garden, slope down to a pool capped by arched fountains. Tucked away in the basement, meanwhile, is a vast wine cellar – a necessary amenity considering Jolie’s sizeable Provençal vineyards. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the house, however, are the views. Visible from the private terrace off the master bedroom? The Griffith Observatory itself. If any house is fit for a Hollywood icon, it’s this one.



- “I’ve been focusing on healing our family" 

- "I wanted it to be close to their dad, who is only five minutes away." "You’ve met our kids."  They bought it (the DeMille) together.  

- "It’s slowly coming back, like the ice melting and the blood returning to my body."  







From L-R Vivienne wears a @LoveShackFancy cardigan and @Rails shorts. Zahara wears a @Vince top and BDG at @UrbanOutfitters jeans. Shiloh wears a @AnemosSwim shirt. Knox wears a @Molo T-Shirt. #AngelinaJolie wears a @Khaite_NY cashmere sweater, @MaxMara skirt and her own vintage @Cartier watch. Photographed by @CraigMcDeanStudio and styled by @Edward_Enninful, with hair by @HairByLorenzoMartin, make-up by @RachelGoodwinMakeUp nails by @Ashlie_Johnson, set design by @StefanBeckman, sittings editor @DenaGia, production company @Prodn_ArtAndCommerce and Vogue entertainment director-at-large @JillDemling.


Sunglasses and chain bracelet, Angelina's own.



Vintage @BrunelloCucinelli_Brand kaftan, Angelina's own. Thin gold band, Angelina's own.


Vintage Saint Laurent shirt, Angelina's own



 





scans Weibo 










#AngelinaJolie wears a coat and skirt by @MaxMara, a @Sablyn__ camisole, @RalphLauren shoes and jewellery by @Hoorsenbuhs, @JenniferFisherJewelry and @AnitaKoJewelry. Photographed by @CraigMcDeanStudio


“I’ve Come Through A Few Things. I’m Trying To Be Hopeful”: At Home With Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie is as much the all-action heroine at home and in the international arena as she is on screen. For the March issue of British Vogue, Edward Enninful caught up with the indefatigable star in her historic LA estate to discuss her latest directorial project, her book with Amnesty International and her continuing fight for the rights of women and children.

As the sun came up on Los Angeles on the first Tuesday of November last year, it brought with it the promise of an auspicious day. At 7am, the polls in California opened for a generation-defining American election, as the British Vogue team pulled up to a discreet estate tucked away in a quiet corner of Los Feliz, topped by an eye-catching Italianate Revival villa, built in 1913, and steeped in Hollywood history. Just like its owner.

Angelina Jolie – actor, film-maker, humanitarian – had invited us to spend two days with her, to let us into her world. To say the home she shares with her six children – Maddox, 19, Pax, then 16, Zahara, then 15, Shiloh, 14, and 12-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox – is full of life would be an understatement. Laughter, chatter, food, rabbits, dogs, lizards, political debate, music appreciation, impromptu haircuts and Zoom meetings are all part of the day-to-day. (The children ended up jumping into the photos, too.) As has been the way of late, I joined remotely from London to style the shoot. Angelina, who wears her clothes until they’re completely worn out and has a love for vintage, shared a few of her own treasured pieces.

#AngelinaJolie wears a @Burberry poloneck, @MaxMara trousers, @ChanelOfficial shoes, earrings by @MariaTash & @JacquieAiche and bracelet and ring by @AnitaKoJewelry. Photographed by @CraigMcDeanStudio  on the March 2021 cover of British Vogue.  

It was a remarkable day… and night… and day. As the hours ticked by, we were all checking our phones compulsively between shots, watching the election results creep in, feeling ever more tantalisingly buoyant. A few weeks later, Angelina, 45, and I caught up to talk, her warm laugh and thoughtful pauses as bewitching in conversation as they are on the big screen.

What follows is a portrait of a woman, a mother and a rebel at heart. With two decades of experience as a humanitarian and human rights campaigner under her belt, and with a host of new artistic projects coming, she was, I found, in a reflective and open-hearted mood, cautiously hopeful for both her future and the world’s. As ever, what strikes you most about Angelina is that, no matter what life throws at her, her fire remains undimmed.

Edward Enninful: Angelina, what a pleasure it is to be talking to you today. There’s a new president moving into the White House; some positive steps, in terms of vaccinations, are being made in the pandemic; and we’re on the cusp of a new season. Despite everything, are you feeling a little hopeful?

Angelina Jolie: Well, I put a lot of my hopes for the future on the younger generation. Maybe that’s because I live with six kids, aged 12 to 19, so I see that particular group – and I certainly see how much more pressure they are under than we were at their age. They’re quite overwhelmed with a lot of information that we were sheltered from. But I see Mad [Maddox] online speaking in Russian to someone or talking to Korea, or Shi [Shiloh] saying hi to her friends in Namibia, I see there’s this new way young people can connect and know each other in this global way. It’s how they’ll start to solve our problems.

How have the past few months been for you? I know you’ve been at home in Los Angeles with your children.

I think that like most families, we have had this bigger thing happening with the pandemic. But of course you also have these life markers. We went into it having just gotten out of the hospital with Zahara [who underwent surgery early last year], and we were so happy she was OK that we entered lockdown in a different state of mind. But, you know, there are also these other markers of life: Pax going into his senior year, but not being able to enjoy all that it is to be a senior; Zahara finally getting her driving licence, but she’s taking the test with the driver wrapped in the full outfit with the masks. It’s not how you imagine these moments. But birthdays go on, and I think that for many people, it’s made us all feel very human together. There’s something beautiful about that.

#AngelinaJolie wears her own dress worn as a top with earrings by @MariaTash & @JacquieAiche and bracelet and ring by @AnitaKoJewelry. Zahara wears a @Vince top and choker by @Adinas.Jewels, Vivienne wears a @Numero74_official dress and Knox wears a @Molo T-shirt. 

There definitely is. We had the great pleasure of photographing you at your home, which also happens to be the former estate of Cecil B DeMille. How wonderful…

I wanted it to be close to their dad, who is only five minutes away. I felt a little pressure moving in. Like I had snuck into where DeMille and Chaplin would hang out. I love most that there is no entertainment room, but lots of pathways and places to walk and think. I feel very fortunate we have that at this time.

Can you describe a typical day for your family?

Well, I was never very good at sitting still. Even though I wanted to have many children and be a mom, I always imagined it kind of like Jane Goodall, travelling in the middle of the jungle somewhere. I didn’t imagine it in that true, traditional sense. I feel like I’m lacking in all the skills to be a traditional stay-at-home mom. I’m managing through it because the children are quite resilient, and they’re helping me, but I’m not good at it at all.

Oh, I don’t believe that!

Well, I love them. I feel like we’re such a team. It may sound clichéd, but you love and you try, and even if you burn the eggs, that doesn’t matter in the end. But also, you’ve met our kids. They’re pretty capable.

That’s a testament to you. You should be proud.

Thank you [laughs].

So, we had a wonderful time over two days shooting this story. I knew how important it was for us to reflect through the photography where you are now as a woman. Where do I find you in your life and your outlook?

I’m feeling that I’ve come through a few things. I’m trying to be hopeful. I think this is something we’ve all discovered through the pandemic.

One of the things I respect about you is the way you never lose sight of your passions. You’ll soon be publishing a book for children and young adults with Geraldine Van Bueren QC and Amnesty International – can you tell me a little about it?

It’s called Know Your Rights (And Claim Them). We want to help young people to identify who or what is blocking them from accessing their human rights, and how to try to overcome that. The message to young people is, no one has the right to harm you, to silence you.

Fantastic.

Young people are engaged and ready to fight. But there is a level of misinformation we never faced growing up. We want the book to help give them the tools to strengthen their fight and empower them in a very practical way.

Important work.

Maybe it’s just the young punk in me, but I like the spirit of the youth. I believe they can see right and wrong with more clarity. I see a lot of older people making excuses for certain behaviours, and it tends to be the younger person who is quicker to say, “But this is simply wrong, and we stand against it.” I’ve wanted to remain that person.

Vintage @BrunelloCucinelli_Brand kaftan, Angelina's own, Velvet thong sandals @TomFord, Gold and diammond necklace @JacquieAiche. Gold and diamond ring @AnitaKoJewelry.  Thin gold band, Angelina's own.  photographed by @CraigMcDeanStudio

You’re the special envoy for the UN Refugee Agency. You’ve been with them for 20 years, I think?

Twenty years this year.

Wow.

I started in my early twenties, putting on my boots and backpack, and going out to try and figure out what the hell was going on in the world. I tried to give myself a broader education than I’d had at school. I grew up in a very empty place, in many ways, so had to go to find a wider understanding.

Have you changed through it?

I went through a phase of being so shocked and angry about a system that tolerates millions of people being displaced by war, genocide and persecution. I’m still just as angry about injustice, but whereas my younger self wanted to tear down the system, I’ve learnt I have to fight to try to change it from within.

How do you feel when you look back on your work with the UN?

I have a love-hate relationship with the UN. I love when I see practical solutions and protection for those in most need. I love to see people from around the world risking their lives for that. What I hate is how little focus governments have on actually solving the reasons people flee. I hate it when we don’t speak out and defend the rights of all people equally. And I hate when I feel the focus isn’t encouraging people and countries to be independent, but seems to benefit from them being broken.

Do you feel the discourse around refugees has evolved at all during the past two decades?

I think if anything it has worsened. We speak as if refugees are a burden. But they’ve had to adapt. They have a different skill set, a different look in their eye. They’ve confronted their own humanity in such a profound way. They’ve stood up to oppression. We should honour their fight. Honour the people who’ve fled bombs and protected their kids.

You’ve directed films and documentary films, and you’re about to go back behind the camera for the biopic of war photographer Don McCullin. Don is one of my favourite photojournalists – what made you want to adapt his autobiography for the big screen?

I’m still very nervous. Even the other day, I thought to email him to ask him some questions, and I was composing my email to get it just right. He’s incredible. The story is about Don, but it’s also equally about the conflicts he has been witness to, and the lives of the people within the now-famous photographs, who they were, and the often darker truth of those conflicts.

And you’ll be playing a big-screen comic-book creation later this year in Marvel’s ‘Eternals’, with Richard Madden and Salma Hayek. I hear that there might be a gold bodysuit involved?

I love this cast, and that we all came together. I signed up to support Chloé [Zhao]’s vision and Marvel’s commitment to expand the way we see “superheroes”. Running around in a gold bodysuit was not how I imagined my forties. But it’s good crazy, I think.

Do you feel as if you’re at a happy stage in your life?

I don’t know. The past few years have been pretty hard. I’ve been focusing on healing our family. It’s slowly coming back, like the ice melting and the blood returning to my body.

It’s a journey…

But I’m not there. I’m not there yet. But I hope to be. I’m planning on it. I do like being older. I feel much more comfortable in my forties than I did when I was younger. Maybe because… I don’t know… maybe because my mom didn’t live very long, so there’s something about age that feels like a victory instead of a sadness for me.

Absolutely.

So I like it. I’m looking forward to my fifties – I feel that I’m gonna hit my stride in my fifties. Though we were on the trampoline the other day, and the children said, “No, Mom, don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself.” And I thought, “God, isn’t that funny?” There was a day I was an action star, and now the kids are telling me to get off the trampoline because I’ll hurt myself.

I love that. Kids will always tell you how it is.

Even at their young age they know that what matters is to feel safe and loved and stable. To not see those you love harmed. To know your own mind and truth and not to live a lie.

Angelina gives her eldest son, Maddox, an impromptu haircut at home in LA. 

Maddox wears jeans and jewelry, his own.

© Craig McDean

You’ve made a concerted effort to raise them to be global citizens. Why is it so important to parent them in this way?

They are from across the globe. When I see Mad in Cambodia, it’s his home. He is a Cambodian man, and at the same time, he is also an American citizen and a global citizen. But it’s not just important for him to go there, it’s important for his siblings to go there, too. We’ve been very blessed to have a family of different cultures and races. We are all learning from each other.

You’ve built a family out of individuals.

Aw, well I feel like it’s a big deal if they accept me, you know? I mean, that’s the thing for a lot of mothers, and for a lot of parents regardless. But I think even more so if you have adopted children. They have to choose you, too. It’s not the parents’ family and they’re in it. It’s our family.

#AngelinaJolie wears a @Dior trench coat and watch and jewellery by @AnaKhouri @AnitaKoJewelry and Elaine Neustadter Collection, photographed with her dogs, Dusty and Sophia by @CraigMcDeanStudio

What advice would you give to parents on inspiring their children to be socially and environmentally conscious?

Well, I know this may sound strange, but don’t make it a duty for them to do good or have to give back. If we can help children feel that it’s not about duty or service or charity, but the joy of an interconnected life with people you respect, then it feels very different.

It was wonderful to see on the shoot, the kids were all having so much fun with clothes. They all seem to have such distinct styles.

I couldn’t force anything on anybody, which is part of the fun. They are all very different.

They’re very cool, aren’t they?

They are [both laugh].

How have you found the changing shape of motherhood, as the children have grown up, say, from the beginning to now?

I was best friends with my mom. I loved having babies, but I love sitting up at night and talking to my kids. I like the teenage years. I like the older years. I love hanging out with them.

Do they challenge your opinions, sometimes?

[Laughs] Oh, yeah… They think that I’m a bit ridiculous, as they should. And they all know me in different ways. You know, they’ve all crossed into that moment when they realise that there’s nothing special about me. I’m just older. I don’t have all the secrets. I just mean well.

You’re Mum.

I’m Mom.

You’ve always been very considered in your fashion choices.

I invest in quality pieces, and then just wear them to death. Boots, a favourite coat, a favourite purse, I don’t change things often, you know? That’s one of my things.

Is there a sustainability element to that, too?

We’re all trying to figure out what the best way is, but I imagine there’ll be more and more regulations, and I think that’s the best thing that can happen. Because even a thoughtful consumer can be conned by a good promotion of something that is not in fact good, right?

Indeed.

Enjoying your vintage pieces, if you have them, and rediscovering some vintage shops seems like part of the way forward. And with beauty, Guerlain is really a favourite of mine. Z [Zahara] and I share the perfume products, such as the lotion and the body wash. I love that she and I will remember each other by a smell. Especially as my first memory of Guerlain was the scent of my mother’s powder.

You mention Guerlain. Could you tell us about your project with them and women beekeepers?

The goal is to help train women in different countries to work as beekeepers. In fact, one of the first women coming into the programme will be from the area where we work in Cambodia.

That’s fantastic. So tell me something people don’t know about you that might surprise them?

Oh my God. I’ve always heard people asked that question and I think in the back of my head, “I wonder what I’d say if anybody ever asked me?” But I’ve never prepared the answer. Hmmm. Somebody said the surprise about me is that I’m a closet foreign policy wonk. I’m a bit more boring than people would think… I’m a bit of a geek.

Lastly, as someone else who doesn’t tend to switch off a lot, I would love to know what you do to try and unwind, so I can take some lessons.

Ha! If somebody could tell me how to unwind, I would like to know. I have never learnt how, and I have decided, at 45, I’m never going to.

Agreed [both laugh].

I’m gonna go further, I’m gonna get more wound.

Love that.

I’m just gonna do it.

The March issue of British Vogue is on newsstands on 5 February.