In an emotional night, Angelina Jolie became the youngest ever winner of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award on Saturday.
Also taking home honorary Oscars at the fifth annual Governors Awards were Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin (who choked up during his acceptance speech), and Italian costume designer Piero Tosi, who was unable to attend.
“My family, my love, your love and support make everything possible,” said a clearly emotional Jolie, 38, who attended the event with fiancé Brad Pitt and eldest son Maddox. “Mad, and your brothers and sisters, there is no greater honor than being your mom.”
Marcheline Bertrand, who died of ovarian cancer in 2007, was never far from Jolie’s mind on a night that honored the actress’s humanitarian efforts with the UN Refugee Agency, Doctors Without Borders and Global Action for Children.
“My mom loved art,” said the actress, who flew in from directing Unbroken in Australia. “She wanted for [brother James Haven] and I to have the life of an artist.”
Jolie added, “She believed nothing would mean anything if you didn’t lead a life that was of use to others.”
Read more. Beautiful speech. Brad attended together with their oldest son Maddox.
I first met Brad Pitt in 2011 when he was in Cancun at the annual Summer of Sony event. He came out of the elevator and I looked at my colleague who had just complained about the lack of handsome men in journalism thinking – well he was cute. It took a couple of seconds before we realized it was Brad… Anyway, he stayed for a few days at the same hotel and he brought four of his kids with him. He also brought his brother, who looks exactly like him, just a bit tanner skin and a few more pounds around the waistline (Brad is really skinny in real life). One day I had a lunch at the restaurant outside the hotel next to the family while Brad himself was busy giving interviews.
The actor – who has kids Maddox, 11, Pax, nine, Zahara, eight, Shiloh, six, and four-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne with fiancee Angelina Jolie – tried to prevent cast and crew on the set of the zombie apocalypse movie from swearing in front of the youngsters who played his on screen daughters.
Mireille Enos – who plays Brad’s wife in the movie – told People magazine: “He started a swearing jar. If anybody swore around the kids, they had to put a pound in the jar. Those kids went home rich.”
Pitt, 49, also worked hard to keep the girls entertained on set, even performing magic tricks for them.
Enos added: “He’s as normal as any guy you can meet and he’s such a natural at being a dad. He would bring games, tell funny stories and do magic tricks for the girls who played our daughters.”
Pitt’s adopted son Maddox had a small cameo in ‘World War Z’ as a zombie and the youngster loved being in an action film.
Pitt said: “Maddox has got a small piece in it. He’s a zombie who then gets shot. I don’t know what that says about my parenting! (My kids) love these kinds of things and that’s the thing that first drew me to it.”
Just hours before a Tuesday afternoon interview with USA TODAY, his partner Angelina Jolie revealed in a New York Times op-ed that she has undergone a double mastectomy and reconstruction after learning she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation, which doctors estimated gave her an 87% chance of developing breast cancer.
How is Pitt feeling? “I’m quite emotional about it, of course,” said the World War Z star. “She could have stayed absolutely private about it and I don’t think anyone would have been none the wiser with such good results. But it was really important to her to share the story and that others would understand it doesn’t have to be a scary thing. In fact, it can be an empowering thing, and something that makes you stronger and us stronger.”
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