During the first decade of her career, Jolie—who does not employ a publicist or an agent[172]—maintained a "wild child" persona in her communication with the media. She openly discussed her love life, including her bisexuality and her interest in BDSM.[19] After she kissed her brother during the Academy Awards in 2000, their close relationship became the subject of tabloid media speculation, which she dismissed.[173] She spoke about her experiences with drugs and depression, and recalled a time in 1997 when she almost hired a hitman to kill her, as well as the three days, just before her marriage to Billy Bob Thornton, that she was admitted to UCLA's psychiatric ward.[17] By the mid-2000s, her involvement with the UNHCR and the adoption of her son Maddox had transformed her public image from Hollywood eccentric into humanitarian and devoted mother.[136][172]
Jolie has attracted notable media attention for her physical appearance—particularly her full lips and her many tattoos. She has been named the world's "most beautiful" or "sexiest" woman by various media outlets, including Vogue in 2002,[5] Esquire in 2004,[174] American FHM and British Harper's Bazaar in 2005,[6][175] People and Hello! in 2006,[7][176] Empire in 2007,[177] Vanity Fair and Who in 2009,[8][178] and Allure in 2011.[179] Vanity Fair stated that 58 percent of their voters named Jolie "Most Beautiful Woman in the World", and that the competition including other celebrity women "wasn't even close."[8] Who reported that "[o]ut of all international stars, Angelina Jolie was overwhelmingly voted the world's most beautiful female."[178] Allure stated, "Angelina Jolie was named the most beautiful face around. On the surface, it's not a surprising choice: Jolie is a obviously gorgeous. But what does it say about how our views of beauty have changed?" The magazine credited society with having "branched out beyond the Barbie-doll ideal and embraced something quite different."[179] People named Jolie one of 2012's Most Beautiful at Every Age.[180]
Jolie's extensive collection of tattoos has often been addressed by interviewers. She has fourteen known tattoos, among which the Latin proverb "quod me nutrit me destruit" (what nourishes me destroys me), the Tennessee Williams quote "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages," two sak yant designs featuring a prayer of protection and a twelve-inch-by-eight-inch tiger, and seven sets of geographical coordinates indicating the birthplaces of her children and her partner Brad Pitt.[181][182] Over time, she has covered or lasered several of her tattoos, including the name of her second husband, "Billy Bob", and the Chinese characters "死" (death) and "勇" (courage).[181]
Jolie's recognizability, influence and wealth are extensively documented. According to the Q Score, in 2000, subsequent to her Oscar win, 31% of respondents in the United States said Jolie was familiar to them; by 2006, she was familiar to 81% of Americans.[81] In a 2006 global industry survey by ACNielsen in 42 international markets, Jolie, together with Pitt, was found to be the favorite celebrity endorser for brands and products worldwide.[183] She was the face of St. John and Shiseido from 2006–08, and in 2011 had an endorsement deal with Louis Vuitton reportedly worth $10 million—a record for a single advertising campaign.[184] She was among the Time 100, a list of the most influential people in the world as assembled by Time, in 2006 and 2008.[185][186] Forbes named her Hollywood's highest-paid actress in 2009, 2011, and 2013, with estimated annual earnings of $27 million,[2] $30 million,[3] and $33 million respectively,[4] and she topped the magazine's Celebrity 100, a ranking of the world's most powerful celebrities, in 2009.[187]
An unauthorized biography on Jolie by Andrew Morton was published in 2010.[188] Janet Maslin highlights the lack of sources noted in the book in a review in The New York Times, saying "the people most eager to tell him about Ms. Jolie are people who don’t know her, so that the book is shrink-wrapped in glib insights from dubious psychiatric talents".[189] Allen Barra describes it as "the worst book in the 21st century so far" in a Salon review which summarizes the book as "ill-informed, moralistic and just plain mean".[190]
Filmography