Rhona Mercer - Angelina Jolie--The Biography: The Story of the Worlds Most Seductive Star

I always live for the moment. Dont like to build plans for the future. Tomorrow evening everything may change my life, my image, people around me, my occupation Otherwise, it would be boring to live. Angelina Jolie

A ngelina Jolie has grabbed headlines since bursting on to the Hollywood scene over ten years ago and the stunningly beautiful actress remains a constant source of fascination to her millions of fans across the globe. Over the years, weve watched a rebellious, depressed and self-destructive teenager mature into a contented, settled and sophisticated mother of three, and her personal journey has been absorbing to watch. As one of the most open and honest stars of her generation, its no surprise that Jolies controversial personal life has garnered far more interest than any film shes ever made, and love her or loathe her you could certainly never accuse the actress of being bland.

Born in Los Angeles, California, on 4 June 1975, to actor parents, Angelina Jolie Voights life was unconventional from the start. Jon Voight married little-known French -Canadian actress Marcheline Bertrand in 1971, and their first child, son James Haven, was born in 1973. But, by the time Bertrand was pregnant with Angelina, their second child, their marriage was already in crisis. Its thought Bertrand rapidly grew tired of Voights womanising ways and, sure enough, he soon fell in love with the actress Stacey Pickren, whom he met on the set of the film Coming Home (which won him a Best Actor Oscar), and he left his family for her. By the time Angelina was one, her parents had separated.

For the first few years after the split, Marcheline and the children remained in LA and Voight saw his kids regularly, but in 1982 Bertrand moved Angelina and her brother to Snedens Landing, which was an hour away from Manhattan, because the smog in LA was affecting her health.

Although Angelina has said, I never remember a time when I needed my father and he wasnt there, and that she was never angry with him for leaving, the pair would go on to have an extremely strained, complex and volatile relationship.

For his part, Voight once observed, She was a baby when we were divorced, so it surprised me when she said it affected her as severely as it did.

According to one of Angelinas kindergarten teachers, who doesnt want to be named, Voight was very much a hands-on dad: Her father was always picking up her and her brother. He was always around. I dont know if they had a good relationship, all I know is that he did the fatherly thing. And Jons parenting skills didnt just extend to the school run. According to the same source, He came to sports day. He came to the school. They lived in Palisades, where all the big stars like Al Pacino lived. Angelina was just a little kid, cute, you know. She was always pretty.

Although the pair havent spoken since their very public falling out in 2003 when Voight told the press that his daughter had serious emotional problems its clear that, as a child, Angelina was very much a daddys girl. According to Voight, When Marcheline and I broke up, I sat Angie down and asked her what kind of girl she thought her father should be with. She thought about it for a while and then said, Well, Daddy, maybe me, because I love you more than anything in the world.

Voight was no less smitten with his daughter and, in an interview they did together in 2002, Voight described to Angelina the moment she was born: You dont remember it, but, when you emerged from your mothers womb, I picked you up, held you in my hand and looked at your face. You had your finger by the side of your cheek, and you looked very, very wise, like my old best friend. I started to tell you how your mom and I were so happy to have you here, and that we were going to take great care of you and watch for all those signs of who you were and how we could help you achieve all that wonderful potential God gave you. I made that pledge and everyone in the room started crying. But we werent crying; we were rapt in each others gaze.

After his ex-wife and children had relocated to New York, he confessed that he missed them very much: Angie is a real comedienne and Jamie is so grown up, he revealed at the time. Keen to involve the children in his life even though he no longer lived with them, Voight gave his daughter her first acting role in 1982, casting her as Tosh in Lookin to Get Out, a film about two New York gamblers that he co-wrote and starred in. Keeping it in the family, Voight also gave his ex-wife Marcheline the part of girl in jeep and the role of Rusty went to his then girlfriend, Stacey Pickren.

Keen for his children to see what had been keeping their father busy, Voight often took them to screenings of his latest films including The Champ, in which he played an ex-boxer who tries to raise his son single-handedly. It was a little hard for them, Voight observed shortly afterwards, in 1979. They both started weeping. The last scene was very unsettling. I had to take them in my arms and explain that Daddy was just acting that he wasnt dead, that he was still here with them. You see, it is not my intention to walk away from my responsibilities. But Im also realistic. I know that Marcheline may get married again and that another man will come into their lives.

Similarly, when their father took them to see Table for Five in 1983, James and Angelina found it difficult to separate fiction from reality. The film was a study of children living through a divorce and, according to Voight, They found it deeply moving and knew that in some ways the film represents me and my deep feelings about needing to be close to them.

Voight himself had enjoyed a very close-knit family unit while growing up in Yonkers, New York, with his parents Elmer and Barbara and brothers Barry and James Wesley. (James would later go on to change his name to Chip Taylor and become a legendary songwriter, penning such classics as Wild Thing and Angel Of The Morning.) In many ways, he was keen to be the perfect family man himself, but something kept stopping him. In an interview a year after divorcing Marcheline, he admitted, I loved the idea of kids running into their parents room and jumping into bed with them. But Ive never been too sure of myself in terms of words like husband.

Chip Taylor admitted in a 2004 interview that Jon had never really recovered from the decision to leave his family: Jon was married to a lovely lady [Marcheline]. I dont know why it didnt work, but he fell in love with another girl and ran off with her. That didnt work either and he probably looks back and feels immensely guilty about what he did. He tried his hardest to be a good father, but I dont think he was comfortable in his own skin being a father.

Angelina has in the past defended this attitude, saying, My father is the perfect example of an artist who couldnt be married. He had the perfect family, but theres something about that thats very scary for him. As her own relationships would go on to prove, the apple clearly hadnt fallen far from the tree.

When Jon left his wife, his career was at an all-time high. He had shot to fame in 1969 playing Joe Buck, a male prostitute in Midnight Cowboy, and went on to win an Oscar for his portrayal of Luke Martin, the wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran in Coming Home in 1978. Although Angelina would later go on to benefit from her fathers Hollywood connections and knowledge of acting, the attention he received from fans was unwelcome as far as she was concerned. Voight admitted in an interview that his kids were growing up in the shadow of my mythology and they need special care because of that. I was having dinner with the kids recently and a man began approaching us. He was apologising from 15 yards away, saying, Oh, Im so sorry to bother you but you look so like Are you? My daughter Angie, who wasnt feeling well that night, looked up and said, Oh, God, not this again. And of course the man just about fell to pieces.