Angelina Jolie may be an Oscar-winning actor, a human rights activist, and a fashion icon. But, above any other title on her crowded mantle, she's most proud of being a mom.
Speaking with with Good Morning America's Michael Strahan, Jolie talked about what her kids means to her, comparing her passion for motherhood to Maria Callas's passion for singing. (Jolie plays the late prima donna in Pablo Larraín's forthcoming biopic, Maria.)
"It's my happiness," Jolie said. "You can take everything else away from me. Nothing else matters."
Jolie is a mom to six kids -- Maddox, 23, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, Knox, 16, and Vivienne, 16 -- whom she shares with her ex-husband, Brad Pitt.
Jolie told Strahan that her two eldest sons, Maddox and Pax, worked on Maria with her, which helped make the experience "amazing." Still, her kids don't have a desire to follow in her footsteps any time soon.
"None of my children want to be in front of the camera at this time," she explained. "They're quite private. Shiloh's extremely private. They weren't born with privacy, right? So I hope they can have that as they grow."
Jolie underwent vocal training for her performance as Callas in Maria -- a process that her kids were apparently witnesses to. "All of my children suffered through my early opera singing in the house before I got kinda good," she recalled, adding jokingly, "which was a nightmare."
She previously opened up about her parenting approach during an interview for Harper's Bazaar's December 2019/January 2020 cover story. "Knowing our true self is a very important question for all of us. Especially a child," she said at the time. "I think kids need to be able to say, 'Here's who I am, and what I believe.' We can't prevent them from experiencing pain, heartache, physical pain, and loss. But we can teach them to live better through it."