Angelina Jolie Is Accused Of Using Her Kids And Charity Work For Her Own Image

In the mid-2000s, Angelina Jolie did a successful image turnaround that still baffles a lot of people. She went from being the weird Oscar winner who kissed her own brother to becoming Saint Angelina. She adopted a bunch of kids, became a UN Ambassador, and became one of the most beloved celebrities on the planet.

Still, at times, chinks in her armor started to show. In January of 2007, the New York Times published an article titled “After All That Goodess, a Sudden Fall From Grace.”

“Before she set a toe on the red carpet at the Golden Globes last week, Angelina Jolie’s carefully molded image as humanitarian and mom was already showing some cracks,” wrote columnist Caryn James, adding that she had just called her daughter a “blob,” had ripped apart Madonna’s adoption, and ran into other PR problems.

Around the time she started being associated with Brad Pitt (while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston), Jolie started publicizing her work in third world countries. Some saw it as a PR tactic to take away attention from the speculation that she helped Brad Pitt commit adultery. And it worked. However, Angelina’s image as a saint has taken major cracks during her divorce with Brad Pitt.

According to Page Six, Raoul Felder, a famous divorce lawyer, has said it’s too late for Jolie to hire a new PR agent since the damage is already done.

Worst of all, he said, “The real skill would have been avoiding the PR problem to begin with … Angelina has for years used her kids, and used the UN, for her own benefit. Now, even with great PR, her image issues are not going to go away.”

Since the news of Angelina’s divorce broke last September, many believe Jolie has tried to make herself look like the innocent victim while making Pitt look like the abusive father. As the Independent noted, it certainly worked at first. The article noted how Jolie waited until after the Emmys to file for divorce so the media could give it more attention. She also helped shut down allegations that Pitt was having an affair with Allied co-star Marion Cotillard so the media could concentrate on his “abusive” behavior.

However, as TMZ reported, it certainly became clear that Pitt wasn’t the abusive father Jolie made him out to be.

“Brad Pitt has been cleared of abuse allegations by the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services, TMZ has learned, and that gives him a huge advantage in his custody war with Angelina Jolie.”

The article added that the case, which involved everybody who had anything to do with the allegations, was intensely investigated. This not only gave Pitt his reputation back, but it also meant that he now had a clear standing when it came to any custody disputes.

A couple weeks later, TMZ reported that Pitt accused Angelina of hurting their kids just so she could grab a headline.

“In Brad’s new legal docs, he says Angelina knows better… they are famous people and the kids are damaged when she airs their dirty laundry in public. He suggests Angelina going public has humiliated and embarrassed their kids and could even endanger them.”

TMZ also revealed that in the documents, Pitt’s lawyer said, “Angelina apparently has no self-regulating mechanism to preclude sensitive information from being placed in the public record, or she has other motives.”

A lot of people in the comments section agreed.

“Again, Angie reported (falsely) what happened on the plane. She then made more false abuse accusations in October when DCFS was about to close their investigation and got the investigation extended. She did it with malice aforethought in order to be able to take the kids and keep them from their father (forever if she could),” AmyH pointed out.

“In the custody debacle, ALL blame lies with Angie. It is unconscionable how she has chosen to try and perform a parentectomy on their children via false and vile accusations,” claimed Ladyinred5.

Since the report, a lot of the mainstream press has switched to team Pitt. Do you think Angelina Jolie tried to falsely smear Pitt? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

[Featured Image by Tom Stoddart/Getty Images]