The Cambodian adoption was the beginning of Jolie-Pitt’s family life and was also the focus of the star couple’s divorce.

In an interview with AP in Cambodia in early 2016, Angelina Jolie said that she had never intended to have children or become pregnant. She couldn’t imagine what she would be like when she became a mother. But now, she is a mother of six children.

The first person to mark a change in Angelina Jolie’s thinking was Maddox. Angelina Jolie told AP that she started thinking about having children in 2000, while filming Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in Cambodia. In 2002, a 7-month-old boy – Rath Vibol – at an orphanage in Battambang became the child of a Hollywood star and was renamed Maddox.

Angelina Jolie adopted Maddox in 2002.

Maddox’s presence helps Angelina Jolie gradually change herself. She abandoned her former rebellious life and signed divorce papers from Billy Bob Thornton in 2003 – three months after Maddox was adopted.

With Maddox, the star experienced the feelings for the first time: being a single mother, being a normal woman with the responsibility of taking care of and raising children. In 2003, Angelina Jolie shared with ET about Maddox: ‘That was my first child. He made me a real woman.’

In 2005, amid rumors of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie dating, the first photo confirming their relationship was taken while they were having fun on the Kenyan beach with Maddox. The presence of the Cambodian adopted son in the photo makes the family picture of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt more perfect. With that photo, Jolie-Pitt did not need to confirm it, but the whole world understood that they were dating and wanted to build happiness together.

Maddox played on the beach with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie when the pair were rumored to be dating in 2005.

The eldest son of the Jolie-Pitt family is also the one who witnessed major changes in Angelina Jolie’s life when she adopted Zahara (2005), Pax Thien (2007) and gave birth to her biological children, Shiloh (2006) and the twins Vivienne. and Knox (2008). A source told Us Weekly on October 19: ‘Maddox is very close with Angie.’

In the family, Maddox seems to be favored by Angelina Jolie when she lets her children practice running a charity fund in Cambodia and participates in film production (By the Sea and First They Killed My Father)… Turning points in Jolie’s life has Maddox’s presence, maybe because of that, the boy is more attached to his mother than Brad Pitt.

The Cambodian adopted son is also considered ‘the last straw’, causing Angelina Jolie to quickly decide to divorce Brad Pitt. According to Us Weekly, on the flight from Nice (France) to Burbank (California, USA) on September 14, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt argued, Maddox (15 years old) stood up to protect her mother and was beaten by her father. Angelina Jolie did not want Brad Pitt to have a bad influence on her children and chose to break up.

According to People and Us Weekly, nearly a month after the divorce, Brad Pitt was allowed to see his children under the supervision of a doctor. However, Brad Pitt’s visit on October 8 became incomplete when Maddox refused to meet his father. Pax Thien, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne went to meet Brad Pitt, Maddox chose to stay with Angelina Jolie.

Maddox and Brad Pitt’s relationship is said to have become tense since mid-September.

Maddox’s decision not only added to the tension of the divorce, but also showed that the boy had already made up his mind about who to follow. According to California law, Angelina Jolie’s eldest child is over 14 years old and has the right to choose to live with his mother or father.