Angelina Jolie and her brother James Haven were once famous for
their incredibly close sibling bond. But what has Haven been up to over the years,
and where is he now? Here's what really happened to Angelina Jolie's brother.
There was a time when Angelina Jolie's brother, James Haven, nearly always came
up in conversations about the star. In fact, Haven is one of the few people on the planet who can say
they really know Jolie — or at least, he was. In 2007, Haven used an interview with the Daily Mail
as an opportunity to explain why he believes his sister decided to pursue humanitarian projects
around the world, and why she has adopted children from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Ethiopia.
Haven told the publication that he believes witnessing the way the pair's father
treated their mother is at the core of Jolie's care for others. Haven explained:
"I think one of the reasons Angelina and I care so much for other people
is his treatment of our mother. Angelina and I were very protective of her for that reason."
Haven also told the Mail that the close bond he and his sister had
might have contributed to the fact that he was single at the time. As he put it:
"Maybe I haven't found the right woman because my sister is too picky for me.
Any woman has to go through two filters, me and then my sister."
The close bond that James Haven describes having had with sister Angelina Jolie
isn't for everyone. The pair's kisses on the evening of the Oscars in 2000
definitely confused many: both the quick smooch they shared when she was announced as the winner
and a kiss they shared later. It seems that fans just weren't sure how to process what happened.
"Now, see, that's what people are talking about.
Kissing your own brother like that, it's a little weird."
Even journalists were curious,
with one unnamed source asking Jolie about the relationship she and Haven shared
after the Oscars ended. Jolie was asked to explain what her relationship with her brother was like.
She first chalked up their closeness to coming from a divorced family, saying:
"Oh, God, well, I don't know if it's divorced families or what it is,
but he and I were each other's everything, always, and we've been best friends."
Angelina Jolie and James Haven were estranged from their father, Jon Voight,
for several years. The trouble began when Jolie was only 2 and her parents divorced;
it seems that Voight wasn't faithful to Jolie and Haven's mother. That, in turn,
caused a period of estrangement that lasted until Jolie was 11 years old,
when the children and their mother moved from New York to Los Angeles, where Voight lived. The pair
had a further period of disagreement while Jolie was married to Billy Bob Thornton, as Voight
reportedly didn't like the public displays of affection for which Jolie and Thornton were known.
However, in 2009, Haven reportedly became a born-again Christian and even moved into
ministry. It was during this time that he and Jolie's then-husband Brad Pitt tried
to reunite Jolie and Voight. A source told E! that Jolie even invited her father on a
family trip to Italy, that he accepted, and that the family seemed to have a great time.
The source also said that the invitation was a huge step in the right direction, explaining:
"The visit actually went really well, and Angie's thrilled he got on really
well with all her kids. She's grown up a lot, and forgiving Jon is a huge step."
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were together for 12 years
and married for five, before their divorce was finalized in 2019.
"It was a very difficult time, and… and we are a family. And we will always be a family."
It's not a surprise that such a lengthy relationship had an impact on them both, and
James Haven has been outspoken about the ways in which Jolie's marriage to Pitt changed his sister.
Haven spoke to Grazia early in Jolie and Pitt's relationship — all the way back in 2007, in fact.
At the time, Jolie and Haven were still quite close, and it sounds like he knew
a lot about what his sister and Pitt shared at the time. He told the publication that
Pitt was even the reason why Jolie felt comfortable adopting more kids, explaining:
"She says she couldn't have adopted more children after Maddox without him. He has changed so much.
He's completely involved — he loves the children and is terrific with them."
Haven also defended his sister against reports that she was
aggressive or controlling in her relationship. He said:
"I have never seen any sign of tension between them. They
make all their decisions together. It's rubbish that she tries to control him."
For reasons that have not been publicly disclosed, Angelina Jolie and her brother,
James Haven, appear to have grown apart. It's certainly true that the two haven't
been spotted together in years, though what's less clear is why that might be.
In January 2021, a source told the Daily Mail that the problem might simply be a case of two people
simply separating. The source said that it'd been some time since the two were close, explaining:
"Angelina and James are widely believed to have drifted apart some years ago."
They added that the sibling fallout seemed to happen suddenly, saying:
"But all of a sudden and with no real explanation their communication seemed
to just stop out of nowhere. He does his thing, she does hers and while they may
be cordial from a distance you certainly don't see or hear of them being together."
Whatever is or isn't going on between Angelina Jolie and her brother, it seems that Haven is
making the best of it. In January 2021, Haven was spotted tooling around Malibu,
California, with an unidentified friend. The pair appeared to be enjoying a pretty laid back day,
stopping by a juice bar and spending time at the beach before parting ways.
This was the first time Haven had been spotted in public in about a year. A source told the Daily
Mail that Haven seemed pretty concerned about how he looked prior to his friend's arrival, noting:
"Before they met up, James spent a while checking
himself out in store windows and playing with his hair."
While Haven was in a relationship with Ashley Reign for around 10 years,
it's unclear if the two are still together. For now,
it seems that Haven's life is — and will continue to be — something of a mystery.
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