Angelina Jolie talks honoring the ‘roots’ of her adopted children

Angelina Jolie is a mother of six, adopting her eldest three children Maddox Chivan, 18, Pax Thien, 16, and Zahara Marley, 15. In a new interview, the Oscar-winner discusses their family dynamic, including the importance of foster and adoptive parents honoring the “roots” of their children of color. “Each is a beautiful way of becoming family,” …

Angelina Jolie is a mother of six, adopting her eldest three children Maddox Chivan, 18, Pax Thien, 16, and Zahara Marley, 15. In a new interview, the Oscar-winner discusses their family dynamic, including the importance of foster and adoptive parents honoring the “roots” of their children of color.

“Each is a beautiful way of becoming family,” The actress told Vogue. “What is important is to speak with openness about all of it and to share. ‘Adoption’ and ‘orphanage’ are positive words in our home. With my adopted children, I can’t speak of pregnancy, but I speak with much detail and love about the journey to find them and what it was like to look in their eyes for the first time.”

“All adopted children come with a beautiful mystery of a world that is meeting yours,” Jolie added. “When they are from another race and foreign land, that mystery, that gift, is so full. For them, they must never lose touch with where they came from. They have roots that you do not. Honor them. Learn from them. It’s the most amazing journey to share,” she continued. “They are not entering your world — you are entering each other’s worlds.”

Eldest son Maddox is Cambodian, brother Pax is Vietnamese and sister Zahara is Ethiopian. Jolie also shares daughter Shiloh, 14, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 11, with ex-husband Brad Pitt.