Angelina Jolie reflects on how shooting a film in Cambodia led to finding a home in the country
Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie has opened up about the start of her love story with Cambodia over 20 years ago.
As the featured speaker at the second ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit on Wednesday, Nov. 11, Jolie talked about how she was initially apprehensive about being in the Southeast Asian country.
"I did a film, and we were the first film back [in Cambodia] after the war," Jolie said, apparently referring to the Cambodian-Vietnamese war that began in the late 1970s and which ended the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.
According to data from the United Nations, approximately 1.7 to 2 million Cambodians were executed by the Khmer Rouge.
"I didn't know much about it, and I, of course, had heard about the conflict and the war, the refugees, and the crisis," she continued, sharing that she was in the country around 25 years ago.
What surprised Jolie the most was finding such resilient, friendly people.
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"I anticipated meeting people who would not be as welcoming, maybe [with] darker energy because of all they had gone through. And I found this place and these people to be so warm and open, and I couldn't believe their spirits were so strong after all they had suffered," she continued. "And so just being among them was already a huge life lesson for me."
It was among these people that she would unexpectedly find her home and start her family.
'My son is here'
Two years after filming in Cambodia, Jolie returned to volunteer at a school, saying she had an epiphany.
"I had this thought as clear as day that my son is here and I have to find him," Jolie said. "And then I met Maddox." Per PEOPLE, Jolie adopted Maddox, now 25, from an orphanage when he was seven months old.
The actress then bought "a little part of the country, a tiny, very land-mined part of the country up on the border; the first and last stronghold of the Khmer regime," she said.
"And I said, 'I'll clean it up; I'll make it nice," Jolie continued, adding it was "very much a jungle" when she first acquired the property, which initially had no road leading to it.
Three years of clean-up turned the rough piece of land into Jolie and Maddox's home, which also doubled as the site of the foundation she built, named after her eldest son. Eventually, they added a bee farm to the mix.
"I didn't assume I would be welcomed to being a mother in their country. I didn't assume I would be welcomed in the country. I didn't assume a family would be accepted," Jolie said. "I humbly hoped because I value these cultures so much, and it's such an honor to be allowed to work in Cambodia, to show their history, their talents, their culture."
Atelier Jolie
Jolie also spoke about Atelier Jolie, a creative space and physical store she opened in New York in 2023. The concept reflected the actor and philanthropist's desire to help refugees, inspired by her humanitarian work as a former UNHCR special envoy.
"As I would travel, I would see the different ways aid was being done, or programs, or different investments in different businesses, or what was happening," she said.
The actress spoke at length about nations that treat certain countries as poor when the opposite is true—offering aid "as if they have nothing."
"Those countries often have so much that you realize if they had been given the support and they could trade fairly and they could produce fairly, they wouldn't need that much at all if they had been treated fairly from the start," Jolie said.
With "rich cultures" and "strong people with resources, nature, capacity," the countries, Jolie said, are being "kept in this state of dependence."
"So I thought, 'If I could find a way to understand good business, good opportunity, what can I give them?'" she continued.
Jolie built a framework and started with the "house" in New York, which she called "Atelier Jolie." The space gives displaced people a platform to share their music, books, art, and products while connecting with a local community. Currently, an artist from Rwanda is serving a residency there.
Jolie plans to build Atelier Jolie in Cambodia, too. At the same time, she is working with her friend and neighbor, Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh, on putting up a cultural program, which will enable them to restore old buildings and boost efforts in conserving local livelihoods and traditional practices.
Asked how she envisioned her life in 10 years, Jolie said she saw a peaceful and simple life for herself, one where she's there for her six children.
She added that she wanted to be "peaceful and be of service. It's not a sacrifice to live a life for others."
Jolie, an Academy Award-winning actress and filmmaker, is known for roles in Girl, Interrupted; Maleficent; and Maria. She has spent over 20 years on the front lines of global advocacy, previously serving as a Special Envoy and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She also founded the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation in Cambodia.
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