Quotes

Therapy? I don't need that. The roles that I choose are my therapy.

Because I am a bad girl, people always automatically think that I am a bad girl. Or that I carry a dark secret with me or that I'm obsessed with death. The truth is that I am probably the least morbid person one can meet. If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do.

You're young, you're drunk, you're in bed, you have knives; shit happens.

And my dad, you're a great actor but you're a better father.

[on if she ever caught her husband Billy Bob Thornton cheating] I've told Billy if I ever caught him cheating, I wouldn't kill him because I love his children and they need a dad. But I would beat him up. I know where all of his sports injuries are. And I'd beat her, too!

I'll make it real simple, I'm a 36-C. In the game, she's a double-D. In the movie [Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)], she's a D. We split the difference... [Lara] is much more athletic, and she has smaller breasts, but she's still Lara Croft, so there.

I seem to be getting a lot of things pushed my way that are strong women. It's like people see Hackers (1995) and they send me offers to play tough women with guns, the kind who wear no bra and a little tank top. I'd like to play strong women who are also very feminine.

I'd like to believe that the people that have supported me in my work or identified with me in films, the people that feel they know me, they do and they don't have misconceptions - they understand. I believe that.

[on her split from husband Billy Bob Thornton] I'm angry. I'm sad. It's a very difficult and sad time. It was a real deep connection, a deep marriage, so it's not that simple to say this or that one thing caused the problems. It's clear to me that our priorities shifted overnight. He's focused on his music and career. I'm focused on my baby. It comes down to what's important to you.

[People magazine - July 8, 1996] There's something about death that is comforting. The thought that you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate life now.

[on playing Olympias in Alexander (2004)] I felt that if I lived at that time, with the dangers she had and the threats she had and the lack of power she had as a woman, I would not have been that different from her. And I thought I also just saw her as a mother who really would push her son at a time that if he didn't get the throne, he didn't acquire a certain kind of strength and ability and greatness, he would probably just die or be killed or be exiled. So out of concern, out of love for your own, just to come from this place that seems very much like the horrible mafia father, but in fact it was for his own survival that she was focused on, which made it very easy for me to focus on thinking of my own son and what he had to do to protect himself from bad things that could hurt him.

If you don't get out of the box you've been raised in, you won't understand how much bigger the world is.

[on the superficiality of the industry] We are setting an example of what we think is beautiful and you really want to put that much make up on me?

You might never find out that you are useful for all the right reasons - and not all those stupid things that people tell you you're useful for.

[CNN International Edition - January 29, 2005] My role as goodwill ambassador has made my work as a film star relatively dull. I can't find anything that interests me enough to go back to work. I'm simply not excited about anything. I'm not excited about going to a film set.

[on what she does with the money she makes each year] Save one-third, live on one-third and give away one-third.

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I'm not frightened by anyone's perception of me.

If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do.

Love one person, take care of them until you die. You know, raise kids. Have a good life. Be a good friend. And try to be completely who you are. And figure out what you personally love. And like go after it with everything you've got no matter how much it takes.

[Regarding the possibility of marriage with her current beau and father of her child, Brad Pitt] We have both been married before so it's not marriage that necessarily kept some people together.

[2002] I'm drawn to kids that are already born. I think some people are meant to do certain things, and I believe I'm meant to find my children in the world somewhere and not necessarily have them genetically.

[interview with Ann Curry] I'm in a strange, I suppose, place in my life. I think that happens when you lose a parent, where you drop into a different kind of serious. And yet, at the same time, you want to laugh and enjoy as much as possible every day. I'm hanging on to my family really tight at this moment, and, because of that, trying to be as good a woman as I can be in my life. Dammit, you got me crying.

It's alright. It's a part of life... I lost my mom. It's a natural thing for a child to lose a parent. I lost my mom too young, but it happened. And I'm happy she's out of pain, because I love her and she's my friend.

Not many people know this about me but I'm a natural blonde. My hair went from light blonde naturally to a darker kind of blonde. My mother dyed my hair dark when I was a child as I loved the look then. So I'm basically a natural blonde.

[on making action movies] I think there's always going to be that side of me. [Harrison Ford] is doing it, and he's doing it well, (so) it looks like I've got some more time.

To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning, if I did that.

My natural color is dark blonde. But when I was four or five, my mother dyed my hair dark brown, and she decided to keep it that way. And I stuck with that.

[on Cambodia and her humanitarian work] One of the first camps I went to had 400,000 people. It was a sea of human misery. In Sierra Leone, I saw tens of thousands with their arms and legs cut off [by rebels], orphaned children. I felt completely overwhelmed. I cried constantly. I felt guilty for everything that I had. Then I realized I wasn't doing these people any favors by crying. I kept getting angry at the injustices until I couldn't think straight. I took a deep breath and focused on how I could help. I discovered that I was useful as a person. When I met suffering people, it put my life into perspective. It slammed me into a bigger picture of the world.

I was actually quite a cool kid. I was not tough. I was certainly independent and bold. I was never teased. I never had any trouble from anybody... I was never satisfied. I had trouble sleeping. I didn't really fit. I always feel that I'm searching for something deeper, something more... You want to meet other people that challenge you with ideas or with power or with passion. I wanted to live very fully. I wanted to live many lives and explore many things.

[on Brad Pitt] (He made me) a better person. I've learned so much from him, as you do when you come together with another person. You both make each other better. You both learn about the best of each other, and recognize the things where you're failing, or where you need to step up. When it's a great partnership, you really are patient with each other.

I grew up in front of everybody, really. The big years of exploration. There was a certain madness I was going through. I learned a lot about myself. People tend to sum up times in your life and simplify.

I would say there's a way of being bold when you're young that seems very brave... What's perceived as tough is a very funny thing. I think to be a parent is one of the scariest, boldest things to do, as opposed to, um, getting a tattoo... Much more than jumping into a pool when you're 20.

There's certainly a side of me that isn't completely... sane. Or completely 'even' all the time. We all have our dark sides.

When I first read the script for Changeling (2008), I couldn't put it down but then I said 'no' immediately. I didn't want to go into this project because it was too upsetting. But then afterwards I couldn't stop talking about her. I found myself sitting with people wanting them to know about this extraordinary woman and you wouldn't believe what happened to her, and what these people did to her in this time in our history. In the end, it became a story about democracy in action, about justice... even suffering a great loss and fighting through it and making a change for the future for other people, and questioning the government and the police. So, I found it very inspiring and really wanted people to know about her and felt like it was an extra piece of justice for her.

[on her friendship with Gwen Stefani and their children spending time together] All of the kids are very close in age. They've attended each other's birthday parties and gotten together several times at each other's homes. Somehow Gwen and I keep ending up pregnant at the exact same time.

It was nice for me to play with other girls; I don't really have girlfriends in movies, if you've noticed. Well, I have a few girlfriends, I just... I stay at home a lot. I'm just not very social. I don't do a lot with them, and I'm very homebound. I'll talk to my family, I talk to Brad... But I don't know, I don't have a lot of friends I talk to. He is really the only person I talk to.

[2012] I think I'm going to have to give up the acting as the kids hit the teenage years, anyway, too much to manage at home. I have enjoyed being an actress. I am so grateful to the job and I have had great experiences and I have even be able to tell stories and be a part of stories that mattered and I have done things for fun, but... I will do some films and I am so fortunate to have the job, it's a really lucky profession to be a part of and I enjoy it. But if it went away tomorrow I would be very happy to be home with the children. I wake up in the morning as a mum and I turn on the news like everybody else and I see what's happening and I want to be part of the world in a positive way.

The strong preying upon the weak and the weak, upon achieving strength, extracting retribution: this is the nature of so many of the world's conflicts. The role of aggressor and victim may alternate over time, the tools of destruction may become more sophisticated, but little else changes.

[on her double mastectomy, 2013] I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.

[on accepting the title role in Maleficent (2014)] The artist in me felt that it was time to do something I wasn't comfortable with. I was actually a bit nervous to take her on. I don't have a big theatre voice. I don't do things that are kind of comedic, and I'm a fairy. But it's great to jump into things you're not sure of.

[on the unplanned casting of her five-year-old daughter Vivienne as the young Princess Aurora] The first day was the scene where the princess had to catch the butterfly. So I was actually holding the ball [with the butterfly] on the end! bouncing up and down and dancing, trying to make her laugh. And Daddy was on the edge of the digital cliff she had to jump off, making faces while her brothers and sisters were egging her on. I was actually shocked that she was doing so well.

We never wanted our kids to be actors. But we also wanted them to be around film and part of Mommy and Daddy's life and not be kept from it either. If and when they decide to be actors when they are older, I would ask that acting not be the center of their lives, because I don't think it is healthy.

It may sound cliché, but when you feel beautiful and strong on the inside, it shows on the outside.

I don't want to be that person in the spotlight. I'm much more at home sitting with the sound guys and the grips, in my boots, working.

I think I connect to people who could be written off as wild or dark, or who are just full of fire and looking for a place to put that fire. It's an important lesson to learn, and it's something I did learn: you live on behalf of others and you're happier and you have purpose. And you have a great excuse to have all that fire.

Oh God, I struggle with low self-esteem all the time! I think everyone does. I have so much wrong with me, it's unbelievable!

[on Johnny Depp] He's so funny and so fun to hang out with. He's just that friend you're so happy to come to work and do scenes with. Plus, he's such a brilliant actor. He's often thought of so much for his deep character work, but it really comes from an artist who is willing to try things. He's not just somebody who's doing these fun [movies]; he's a real experimental deeply-feeling artist, who gives a lot and is very gracious on set to everybody and to his fellow actors. He's just a pleasure.

I want to say when I was little, like Maleficent (2014), I was told I was different. And I felt out of place, too loud, too full of fire, never good at sitting still, never good at fitting in and then one day I realized something. Something I hope you all realize. Different is good! So, don't fit in. Don't sit still. Don't ever try to do less than you are. When somebody tells you you're different, smile and hold your head up high and be proud. And as your villain, I would also say - cause a little trouble. It's good for you.

[on Amy Pascal's remarks on her] Someone told me. There are certain things that bother me and certain things that don't. Personal attacks on me? I think I'm just so used to it. Honestly, my first instinct was that I was worried about Amy. I had someone call her and ask if she was O.K. Not because I'm a saint, but because I think we have to look at the bigger picture. She's got kids. I knew it was going to unravel for her.

[on By the Sea (2015)] I wrote it before I ever had anything I'd written become a film, and I wrote with a great freedom of believing nobody would ever see it. I wanted to understand grief; and I think because of my mother's passing and certain aspects of her life where she was very unfulfilled as an artist and as a woman - I wanted to meditate on that, and have the freedom to work thinking of film, not thinking of the audience, not thinking of what would be commercial, not thinking of how to answer everything but just to be in a place with these people. And so I picked three different couples that represented a different time: one who had yet to experience it, one couple who were sitting right in the middle of it and then the two older men who have come out the other end of it and understand it and so I just drove one couple up to a hotel and then wrote from the beginning to the end.

[on In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)] It was something I didn't trust out of my hands. So by default I ended up putting myself in as director.