Jolie appeared in the media from an early age due to her famous father, Jon Voight. At the age of seven, she had a small part in Lookin' to Get Out, a movie co-written by and starring her father, and in 1986 and 1988 she attended the Academy Awards with him. However, when she started her acting career, Jolie decided not to use "Voight" as a stage name, because she wished to establish her own identity as an actress.
Jolie, who does not employ a publicist or an agent, integrated her "wild child" image into her public persona in the first years of her career. She quickly became a tabloid favorite due to her outspokenness in interviews, openly discussing her love life and her interest in BDSM, and once claiming to be "most likely to sleep with a female fan". She spoke about the time, in 1997, when she hired a hitman to kill her (he gave her a month to reconsider), and the three days, just before her marriage to Billy Bob Thornton, that she was sectioned at UCLA's psychiatric ward. After accepting an award at the 1999 Golden Globe Awards, Jolie jumped into the pool outside still wearing her hand-beaded couture gown, and during her acceptance speech at the 2000 Academy Awards, she declared, "I'm so in love with my brother right now", which, combined with her affectionate behavior towards him that night, sparked speculation in the tabloid media of an incestuous relationship with her brother James Haven. She has denied those rumors vehemently, and Jolie and Haven later explained in interviews that after their parents' divorce they relied on one another and because of that they hold on to each other as a means of emotional support. In the early to mid 2000s, Jolie created headlines with her change from "wild child" into an advocate for global humanitarian problems. As she took on the role of UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, she started to use her celebrity status to highlight humanitarian causes worldwide.
Following Jolie's much-publicized marriage to Billy Bob Thornton, her relationship with Brad Pitt, which began in 2005, became one of the most reported celebrity stories worldwide. After Jolie confirmed her pregnancy in early 2006, the unprecedented media hype surrounding them "reached the point of insanity", as described by Reuters in their story "The Brangelina fever". Trying to avoid the media attention, the couple went to Namibia for the birth of daughter Shiloh, to whom The Washington Post referred as "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ". Two years later, Jolie's second pregnancy again fueled a media frenzy. For the two weeks she spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report on the birth of twins Knox and Vivienne.
Jolie has attracted notable media attention for her physical appearance—in particular her full lips, being her most distinctive feature. She was named the "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire in 2004, and she topped the magazine's "100 Sexiest Movie Stars of All Time" list in 2007. In 2005, she was named the "Most Beautiful Woman of the Year" by the British edition of Harper's Bazaar. That same year, she topped the "100 Sexiest Women" list in the American, Philippine, and Portuguese editions of FHM; she was named runner-up in the Danish and Romanian editions in 2001, the German edition in 2002 and 2007, the American edition in 2004 and 2006, and the French, South African and Spanish editions in 2005; she was ranked No. 3 in the Romanian edition in 2004, the Australian and British editions in 2005, the German edition in 2005 and 2006, and the French edition in 2008. In 2006, she was named the world's most beautiful woman in the "100 Most Beautiful People" issue of People; she was listed for the first time in 1998 and has been featured every year since 2004. In 2007, she was voted the greatest sex symbol of all time in the British Channel 4 television program The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols. That year she also topped the "100 Sexiest Movie Stars Ever" list in Empire; she was ranked No. 3 in 2002 and No. 2 in 2004 and 2009. She was named the "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" by Vanity Fair in 2009
Jolie's numerous tattoos have been the subject of much media attention and have often been addressed by interviewers. She has stated that, while she is not opposed to film nudity, her tattoos have forced filmmakers to become more creative when planning nude or love scenes. Jolie 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", the Arabic phrase "العزيمة" (strength of will), the title of a song by The Clash, "Know Your Rights", and a twelve-inch-by-eight-inch tiger on her back. Several of Jolie's tattoos reference her loved ones, namely a Buddhist Sanskrit prayer of protection for her son Maddox, six sets of geographical coordinates on her upper left arm indicating the birthplaces of her children, a lowercase "h" for her brother, James Haven, an uppercase "M" for her late mother, Marcheline, and on her right thigh the phrase "Whiskey Bravo", which represents her partner Brad Pitt's initials in the aviation alphabet, as Jolie and Pitt are both licensed pilots. Over time, she has covered or lasered several of her tattoos, including the name of her second husband, "Billy Bob", the Chinese characters "死" (death) and "勇" (courage), and a small blue window on her lower back; she explained that she removed the window, because, while she used to spend all of her time looking out through windows wishing to be outside, she now lives there all of the time.
Today, Jolie is one of the best known celebrities around the world. 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. In a 2006 global industry survey by ACNielsen in 42 international markets, Jolie, together with Brad Pitt, was found to be the favorite celebrity endorser for brands and products worldwide. The Hollywood Reporter named Jolie the highest-paid actress of 2008, earning $15 million per film. She topped Forbes annual "Celebrity 100" list in 2009; she had previously been ranked No. 13 in 2004, No. 14 in 2007, and No. 3 in 2008. Jolie was among the "Time 100", a list of the 100 most influential people in the world as assembled by Time, in 2006 and 2008. She was named one of the "50 People Who Matter 2010" by the New Statesman.
Jolie, who does not employ a publicist or an agent, integrated her "wild child" image into her public persona in the first years of her career. She quickly became a tabloid favorite due to her outspokenness in interviews, openly discussing her love life and her interest in BDSM, and once claiming to be "most likely to sleep with a female fan". She spoke about the time, in 1997, when she hired a hitman to kill her (he gave her a month to reconsider), and the three days, just before her marriage to Billy Bob Thornton, that she was sectioned at UCLA's psychiatric ward. After accepting an award at the 1999 Golden Globe Awards, Jolie jumped into the pool outside still wearing her hand-beaded couture gown, and during her acceptance speech at the 2000 Academy Awards, she declared, "I'm so in love with my brother right now", which, combined with her affectionate behavior towards him that night, sparked speculation in the tabloid media of an incestuous relationship with her brother James Haven. She has denied those rumors vehemently, and Jolie and Haven later explained in interviews that after their parents' divorce they relied on one another and because of that they hold on to each other as a means of emotional support. In the early to mid 2000s, Jolie created headlines with her change from "wild child" into an advocate for global humanitarian problems. As she took on the role of UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, she started to use her celebrity status to highlight humanitarian causes worldwide.
Following Jolie's much-publicized marriage to Billy Bob Thornton, her relationship with Brad Pitt, which began in 2005, became one of the most reported celebrity stories worldwide. After Jolie confirmed her pregnancy in early 2006, the unprecedented media hype surrounding them "reached the point of insanity", as described by Reuters in their story "The Brangelina fever". Trying to avoid the media attention, the couple went to Namibia for the birth of daughter Shiloh, to whom The Washington Post referred as "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ". Two years later, Jolie's second pregnancy again fueled a media frenzy. For the two weeks she spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report on the birth of twins Knox and Vivienne.
Jolie has attracted notable media attention for her physical appearance—in particular her full lips, being her most distinctive feature. She was named the "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire in 2004, and she topped the magazine's "100 Sexiest Movie Stars of All Time" list in 2007. In 2005, she was named the "Most Beautiful Woman of the Year" by the British edition of Harper's Bazaar. That same year, she topped the "100 Sexiest Women" list in the American, Philippine, and Portuguese editions of FHM; she was named runner-up in the Danish and Romanian editions in 2001, the German edition in 2002 and 2007, the American edition in 2004 and 2006, and the French, South African and Spanish editions in 2005; she was ranked No. 3 in the Romanian edition in 2004, the Australian and British editions in 2005, the German edition in 2005 and 2006, and the French edition in 2008. In 2006, she was named the world's most beautiful woman in the "100 Most Beautiful People" issue of People; she was listed for the first time in 1998 and has been featured every year since 2004. In 2007, she was voted the greatest sex symbol of all time in the British Channel 4 television program The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols. That year she also topped the "100 Sexiest Movie Stars Ever" list in Empire; she was ranked No. 3 in 2002 and No. 2 in 2004 and 2009. She was named the "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" by Vanity Fair in 2009
Jolie's numerous tattoos have been the subject of much media attention and have often been addressed by interviewers. She has stated that, while she is not opposed to film nudity, her tattoos have forced filmmakers to become more creative when planning nude or love scenes. Jolie 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", the Arabic phrase "العزيمة" (strength of will), the title of a song by The Clash, "Know Your Rights", and a twelve-inch-by-eight-inch tiger on her back. Several of Jolie's tattoos reference her loved ones, namely a Buddhist Sanskrit prayer of protection for her son Maddox, six sets of geographical coordinates on her upper left arm indicating the birthplaces of her children, a lowercase "h" for her brother, James Haven, an uppercase "M" for her late mother, Marcheline, and on her right thigh the phrase "Whiskey Bravo", which represents her partner Brad Pitt's initials in the aviation alphabet, as Jolie and Pitt are both licensed pilots. Over time, she has covered or lasered several of her tattoos, including the name of her second husband, "Billy Bob", the Chinese characters "死" (death) and "勇" (courage), and a small blue window on her lower back; she explained that she removed the window, because, while she used to spend all of her time looking out through windows wishing to be outside, she now lives there all of the time.
Today, Jolie is one of the best known celebrities around the world. 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. In a 2006 global industry survey by ACNielsen in 42 international markets, Jolie, together with Brad Pitt, was found to be the favorite celebrity endorser for brands and products worldwide. The Hollywood Reporter named Jolie the highest-paid actress of 2008, earning $15 million per film. She topped Forbes annual "Celebrity 100" list in 2009; she had previously been ranked No. 13 in 2004, No. 14 in 2007, and No. 3 in 2008. Jolie was among the "Time 100", a list of the 100 most influential people in the world as assembled by Time, in 2006 and 2008. She was named one of the "50 People Who Matter 2010" by the New Statesman.
