Angelina Jolie revealed that she once tried to take her own life by hiring a hitman, but one question he asked ended up saving her.
In 2001, Jolie revealed to IMDb: "This is going to sound insane but there was a time I was going to hire somebody to kill me," as cited by The Mirror.
She was just 22 years old, at the height of her rising fame, and grappling with severe mental health struggles behind the scenes.
In a 2003 interview with The Face, Jolie offered more chilling details, saying: "They’re not that hard to find in New York. As insane as it sounds, I think a lot of people consider suicide when they’re young."
She explained her reasoning for taking such a drastic route, wanting to spare her loved ones the pain of a suicide: "I was very aware that so many people around me, like my mother, would feel as though they didn’t give enough or do enough if I’d taken my own life.
"So my solution to that was if someone else had taken my life – like in a ‘robbery’ – then it would be murder and it wouldn’t be that anyone would feel they’d let me down."
She even devised a way to pay for the hit without raising suspicion: "I had planned to take out cash over a certain amount of time, so there wasn’t a big chunk in my bank account."
But then something unexpected happened.
The man she contacted - a stranger hired to end her life - became the person who helped save it.
"He was a decent enough person and asked if I could think about it and call him again in two months. Something changed in my life and I figured I’d stick it out," she said.
That moment of hesitation, prompted by a single question from someone she barely knew, marked a turning point. Jolie didn’t go through with the plan. And in the years that followed, her life changed dramatically.
Reflecting on that dark period, Jolie later spoke with 60 Minutes in 2011. Her comments, cited by Daily Mail, reveal just how far she’s come—and how close she once came to the edge.
"I went through heavier, darker times and I survived them. I didn't die young, so I’m very lucky. There are other artists and people who didn’t survive certain things. I think people can imagine that I did the most dangerous and I did the worst," she said.
"For many reasons, I shouldn’t be here. You think of those too many times where you came close to too many dangerous things, too many chances taken too far."
Motherhood ultimately became Jolie’s anchor. The Eternals star has six children—three adopted and three biological.
She adopted Maddox Chivan in 2001, Zahara Marley in 2005, and Pax Thien in 2007. She also shares Shiloh, born in 2006, and twins Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline, born in 2008, with ex-husband Brad Pitt.
Jolie told Vogue that becoming a mother at 26 completely shifted her perspective: "Having children saved me - and taught me to be in this world differently."
She added: “I think, recently, I would’ve gone under in a much darker way had I not wanted to live for them.”
Jolie has often praised her kids as the driving force behind her resilience.
"They’re better than me because you want your children to be. Of course, I’m the mother, and hopefully that safe place for them and that stability. But I’m also the one that they laugh at — and I see them taking over so many different aspects of our family," she said.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.