Angelina Jolie Opens Up in Elle magazine

Whether she’s tackling films, family, or philanthropy, Angelina Jolie has never been one for small measures. As she prepares to terrify children worldwide as Disney’s deliciously evil Maleficent (the film opens on May 30th), the actress and director works with Saint Laurent creative director Hedi Slimane on a shoot that spotlights her stripped down, very real self for ELLE’s June cover—as well as a 16-page portfolio that will be featured in more than 20 editions of ELLE around the world.

Jolie spoke candidly with ELLE deputy editor Maggie Bullock about life with her fast-growing children (Shiloh’s got a half-pipe!), doing only the work that really matters (including the biggest passion project of her career), and why she and Brad are still passionate and “more interested in each other” than ever.

In this exclusive preview, Jolie reflects on the perception of her early years in the spotlight:

The tumult of her twenties, was “misinterpreted as [me] wanting to be rebellious,” Jolie says. “And in fact it wasn’t a need to be destructive or rebellious—it’s that need to find a full voice, to push open the walls around you. You want to be free. And as you start to feel that you are being corralled into a certain life, you kind of push against it. It may come out very strange, it may be interpreted wrong, but you’re trying to find out who you are.”

What she hit upon was a deep and abiding fear “of a life half-lived,” she says. “I realized that very young—that a life where you don’t live to your full potential, or you don’t experiment, or you’re afraid, or you hesitate, or there are things you know you should do but you just don’t get around to them, is a life that I’d be miserable living, and the only way to feel that I’m on the right path is just to be true to myself, whatever that may be, and that tends to come with stepping out of something that’s maybe safe or traditional.”

On what she used to think her life would be like…

Read more.