Wearing a vial of blood around her neck wasn’t the weirdest thing Angelina Jolie did for love
Angelina Jolie is a movie star rather than just an actor. If that sounds like a backhanded compliment, it absolutely is not intended as one.
There’s an argument to be made that Jolie has never quite got the iconic roles that her considerable talents deserve. Sure, she’s had hits. After all, Jolie is one of the most bankable movie stars of her generation. There’s Lara Croft, there’s Maleficent, there’s… Mrs Smith, I guess. Of course, there’s also her unforgettable Academy Award-winning turn as sociopathic teenager Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted, but in terms of iconic roles, nothing comes close to the character of Angelina Jolie.
She has the kind of star power that should be studied in a lab. Jolie is graced with a completely unique charisma that almost stands apart from her staggering looks. While she could dazzle a red carpet with a megawatt smile, she was just as, if not more compelling, staring at the camera, unsmiling in a tank top and ratty jeans. She, like the 1990s that she made her name in, was edgy and not afraid to shock people.
What’s more, it seemed legitimate. These weren’t cheap shock tactics cooked up in a boardroom with a fleet of PR people in tow; these seemed like genuine expressions of her out-there personality. If they were stunts cooked up by a PR team, then I’ll be the first to hold my hands up and call myself a rube. However, I don’t think any PR team in the world would recommend you start wearing a vial of your husband’s blood around your neck.
It’s one of the most notorious Hollywood stories of the era, and for a damn good reason. In 2000, Jolie met Billy Bob Thornton, an actor 20 years her senior, who was also engaged to Laura Dern at the time. Within two months, they were married, and they let the world know about it. Most infamously, via a vial of the other’s blood, which they both wore on a necklace at all times. Apparently, it was a way of feeling close to each other when away at work.
Considering that Jolie’s previous marriage to Jonny Lee Miller had fallen apart for that exact reason, there’s actually a strange logic to the act. However, it wasn’t the first time that Jolie had used her own blood to prove her devotion to someone. When getting married to each other, both Jolie and Miller had done things their own way. Miller got married entirely in black leather, while Jolie pushed the boat out even further than that.
She wore black PVC trousers and a white tank top that had Miller’s name scrawled on its back in her own blood. When asked why, she said in an interview, “It’s your husband, you’re about to marry him. You can sacrifice a little to make it really special.”
Say what you want about our Angie, at least she’s consistent. The irony of it all is that in both cases the marriage fell apart relatively quickly, but it doesn’t sound like Jolie regrets a moment of any of it.
After all, she does things her own way. Always has and always will. Let’s hope that never changes.