Angelina Jolie's important job

Angelina Jolie doesn't believe being an artist "means very much" if she doesn't use her fame to raise awareness of wider issues.

The 'Maleficent' star - who has Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10, Vivienne and Knox, both eight, with her estranged husband Brad Pitt - says it is a "joy to be an artist" but feels she should use her fame to "contribute to others".

Asked how she balances her career, she said: "This has been my life for many years; one role feeds the other.

"It is a joy to be an artist, but it doesn't mean very much unless that work is somehow useful in some way and contributes to others."

The 41-year-old actress recently teamed up with perfume, cosmetics and skincare company Guerlain and felt it was the right one as it because it was one of her late mother's favourites.

She added to the new issue of Marie Claire magazine: "She was a very natural woman who never spoiled herself, never wore makeup, and wore modest jewellery, but she always had a few special items for when she wanted to feel like a lady. One of those - and I remember it because it seemed so elegant -was her Guerlain powder. I think all women have those few special things that make them feel feminine.

"It was a brand my mother loved, so I knew it from my childhood. It spoke to her, as it does to me, of beauty, history, and quality; one of the oldest perfume houses in the world, from France, a country I love and feel connected to."

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