The hectic work schedule of a celebrity mother may cause some to gripe, but not Angelina Jolie.
“I’m not a single mom with two jobs trying to get by every day,” Jolie told the New York Daily News. “I have much more support than most people, most women in this world. And I have the financial means to have a home and health care and food."
The famous mother of six made the remarks in response to Chirlane McCray's comments to New York Magazine about "mom guilt." The wife of New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio discussed the challenges of motherhood for a working mom, particularly after the birth of her daughter, Chiara, in 1994.
Said McCray:
I was 40 years old. I had a life. Especially with Chiara—will we feel guilt forever more? Of course, yes. But the truth is, I could not spend every day with her. I didn’t want to do that. I looked for all kinds of reason not to do it. I love her. I have thousands of photos of her—every 1-month birthday, 2-month birthday. But I’ve been working since I was 14, and that part of me is me. It took a long time for me to get into ‘I’m taking care of kids,’ and what that means.
Jolie's and Brad Pitt's children are home-schooled and travel everywhere with the stars, whether they're on location or not. She is able to mold her career around her life, editing films while the kids are in school and making it back in time to eat family meals together.
“I actually feel that women in my position, when we have all at our disposal to help us, shouldn’t complain," she told the Daily News. "Consider all the people who really struggle and don’t have the financial means, don’t have the support, and many people are single raising children. That’s hard.”
The "Maleficent" star has been open about her parenting philosophies in the past, and has even toyed with ditching Hollywood for her family.
"We want to make sure we don't build a family so big that we don't have absolutely enough time to raise them each really well," she told Vanity Fair in 2010, adding, "Children are clearly a commitment, a bigger commitment [than marriage]. It's for life."