Angelina Jolie has opened up about battling depression in her teens, blaming her upbringing in California for her unhappiness.
She said: "I grew up in LA, where focus is very inward. I didn’t know why I was so destructive and miserable. I didn't appreciate or understand my life."
Success at a young age only made her feel guilt. "I was raised in a place where if you have fame and money and you’re decent-looking and have the ability to work in this industry, you have everything in the world.
"Then you attain those things and realise you still couldn’t be more empty. I didn’t know where to put myself."
© Photo: Getty ImagesAngelina won Entertainment/Film Innovator of the Year for By The Sea
It was only her humanitarian work that helped pull her through the feelings of emptiness.
The star was asked to serve as goodwill ambassador for UNHCR in 2001, giving her a place to "put herself". Since then, Angelina has represented the organisation admirably, making five to seven trips per year to the world's trouble spots, including Iraq and Turkey, to visit Syrian refugees.
© Photo: Getty ImagesAngelina travelled to Burma as the Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR
The actress gave an insight into her illness in an interview for WSJ Magazine. Angelina was on hand when the luxury lifestyle magazine celebrated the fifth anniversary of its The Innovator Awards at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on Wednesday.
Robert De Niro presented Angelina with the award for Entertainment/Film Innovator of the Year for By The Sea which Angelina wrote and directed. Starring alongside her husband Brad Pitt, she tells the story of a married couple trying to keep their marriage together.
Despite their troubled on-screen union, the supercouple are rock solid in real life and walked the red carpet, arms intertwined, at the ceremony.
They faced their toughest challenge in the last few years when Angelina had surgery to have her ovaries removed.
She spoke of her husband's support during the treatment to prevent her from developing cancer. "I knew through the surgeries that he was on my side and that this wasn't something where I was gonna feel less of a woman because my husband wasn't gonna let that happen,'' she told The Today Show.
© Photo: Getty ImagesBrad Pitt was there to support his wife at Wednesday's award show
Brad praised his wife's decision to go public about her double mastectomy in 2013. Brad said: "She's never been a person who hides. She’s utterly forthcoming and sincere about who she is."
The Fury star described Angelina's strength, saying: "Her drive, her absolute value in herself, is defined by the impact she can have during her time here – for her kids and for the underprivileged and those suffering injustices."
The couple, who first met on the set of 2005's Mr and Mrs Smith, spend as much time at home with their six children as possible.
Angelina told the magazine, "We wake up, we make breakfast. In our domestic life, we’re Mom and Dad. And often we’re dorky Mom and Dad, which the kids find ridiculous."
