Thursday, 14 December 2006

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Angelina Jolie's brood crowned 'Family of the Year'

Actress receives accolade and reveals her and Brad Pitt's parenting skills

Brad and Ange are the perfect family on a trip to India

In an exclusive interview in the new issue of PEOPLE, Angelina Jolie talks about her brood with Brad Pitt, which PEOPLE named "Family of the Year."

Jolie, 31, says that she and Pitt, 43, have different parenting styles when it comes to Maddox, 5, Zahara, who turns 2 on Jan. 8, and Shiloh, 7 months: "I am the disciplinarian," she says. "Brad can be, but if Z doesn't get the bottle from me, she'll very quickly run to Daddy."

Asked which of the three kids rules the Jolie-Pitt roost, she says, "I bet if you asked Brad, he'd say Zahara. Mad is very smart, but he's got a certain sense of calm. Zahara is possibly the funniest person I've ever met in my life. So dramatic and creative and loud and charming. She's definitely the biggest personality in the house."

As parents, what makes them most proud? "Somebody said to us recently that they were happy kids, and we talked about how much that meant to us to hear. And they're good kids. God knows how we managed to do that – but they're good kids."

Jolie admits that their humanitarian and film work creates a somewhat nomadic existence for their family. "It's hard, and maybe one day we'll have to stay in one place," she says. "I'm sure (the kids are) going to be 18 and say, 'God, I just want to stay in one place.' They'll never want to leave home!"

But for now, they're not slowing down. On Wednesday, after the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced plans to indict suspects for atrocities in Darfur, Jolie released a statement urging Americans to support the effort: "The Prosecutor is offering justice."

And through the couple's work with organizations such as the Cambodian Health Committee and Global Action for Children, they're working to create in their children a sense of pride in their homelands: Cambodia for Maddox; Ethiopia for Zahara.

On a recent visit to Cambodia, where the couple are sponsoring a relief project in Maddox's name, "He recognized himself in the people," Jolie says of her son. "Which is a wonderful thing."