Angelina Jolie Reveals the Painful Reason Why She Arrived Barefoot on Jimmy Fallon Show: "I Tried..."

Angelina Jolie stunned the audience with her barefoot entrance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday— her first late-night appearance in over a decade. The 49-year-old actress, who has been promoting her upcoming Netflix film Maria and her Tony-winning production The Outsiders: A New Musical, explained her odd choice after host Jimmy Fallon noticed her lack of footwear, as reported by the Daily Mail.

"I notice you're barefoot. Did you forget your shoes?" Fallon quipped as Jolie took her seat. Jolie revealed, "I broke my toe yesterday, and I tried to find a comfortable shoe, but I just decided not to." In response, Fallon reassured, "No, you don't have to wear shoes. Just be comfortable. We're just happy you're here."

Fans embraced the moment, flooding social media with excited reactions. "Yayy!!! A barefoot #AngelinaJolie making her first late-night appearance in over a decade is here on #FallonTonight!!! I love her!!!," one user shared on X (formerly Twitter). Another added, "If Angelina Jolie says shoes are not needed, then shoes are not needed." One particularly enthusiastic comment read, "Angelina Jolie wearing no shoes in a night show is the most iconic thing she has ever done like you're so mother now step on me and kick me. Please, I beg you...I can be the ground you step on Mother Jolie"

During her appearance, Jolie opened up about the nerves that accompanied her return to the talk show scene. "I get very nervous on talk shows. I get very uncomfortable, and I haven’t done one for like a decade...This is so not my thing," she admitted, though Fallon’s warm demeanor helped ease the tension. The conversation touched on her deeply personal insights into being an outsider, a theme central to her work on The Outsiders, according to NBC. Reflecting on her own experiences, Jolie remarked, "I think it's good to be an outsider, right? To be somebody who's comfortable with other people maybe not understanding who you are or knowing what you do...you know who you are and you're okay with that. It’s a good thing."

During the segment, Fallon also brought up a surprising chapter from Jolie’s life: her previous career aspirations. "Is it true that before acting you were studying to become a funeral director?" he asked. "Yes," Jolie confirmed, adding with a laugh, "Doesn't it make sense though? My grandfather died, and I remember thinking this is not how they should be. This should be a celebration of life. And since I'm not afraid of death and I was comfortable with it, I thought, 'This would be a great career path for me. I could, like, make this better. I could do a thing here.'"

Fallon agreed, saying, "We need more people like that." Jolie humorously called it her 'fallback career.' Jolie’s Netflix biopic Maria, directed by Pablo Larrain is set to premiere on December 11. The project sees Jolie starring alongside Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.