Angelina Jolie Turns to ‘Calm and Sensible’ Son Maddox for Help Amid Ongoing Family Issues

Angelina Jolie will never forget the moment she first set her eyes on her son Maddox at an orphanage in Cambodia when he was 3 months old.

“Mad was the last kid I saw,” she said during an appearance on Inside the Actors Studio in 2005. He was sound asleep when they put him in Angelina’s arms. “Then he opened his eyes and just stared at me for the longest time. I just stared at him, and I started crying, and he smiled.”

The actress said she wasn’t sure she had what it takes to be a mom until then. “The fact that this little kid seemed at ease gave me the courage to feel like I could make him happy,” she said. “And so we became a family right then.”

More than 20 years later, Angelina and her oldest still share a close and unique bond. (The Eternals star is also mom to Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, and 16-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox with ex-husband Brad Pitt.)

In March, she told the New York Times that Maddox — who studied biochemistry at South Korea’s Yonsei University — is now living in Manhattan in the apartment she lived in during her 20s.

Now, a source tells Star that the 50-year-old is begging “Mad” to return home as his sibs Pax and Shiloh have started to act out. (Pax was spotted looking inebriated while partying in Hollywood with friends on May 31, while Star previously reported that Shiloh has been staying out late with her dancer pals.)

“Angie always depended on Maddox to keep the younger kids in line,” says the source. “It really sucks for her that he’s not around. Pax is going off the rails and Shiloh could really use Maddox’s steady hand.”

Support System

Angelina was open about how hard it was for her to say goodbye when Maddox left for college in 2019. “Oh my god, [I did] an ‘embarrass your children’ ugly cry,” she told Entertainment Tonight at the time, adding that she “turned around six times” before the mother-son duo even got to the airport. “Angelina and Maddox have always been exceptionally tight,” says the source.

After all, Maddox, who was 3 when Angelina adopted Zahara from Ethiopia, was around long before she got together with Brad and the rest of the kids joined the family. Says the insider, “Angelina rescued Maddox as a newborn and immediately made him the center of her personal universe.”

His status as the eldest, and his mom’s right hand, made him a peacemaker at home. “The more Maddox matured, the more he wanted to help his mother,” reveals the source, noting that he became the man of the house following Angelina and Brad’s 2016 split.

“He’s grown up into such a good man,” she told ET in 2019. Adds the source, “Maddox was always grounded and non-confrontational.”

While happy her son is finding his own way in the world, Angelina feels his absence intensely — especially his influence on Pax.

In addition to his recent outing, Pax has been in two dangerous e-bike accidents and was hospitalized last July. “Pax is a real handful,” says the source.

“He’s got that adrenaline-junkie nature and thrives off life in the fast lane.” Maddox “was a very calm and sensible influence on his brother when he lived at home,” the source explains, noting that Maddox is the only one Angelina trusts with personal family matters.

Karma Calling

She’s no stranger to risky behavior herself. Angelina told The Times in 2003 she tried “just about every drug possible” during her younger years, later joking to Anderson Cooper that her only response when her kids bring up her past behavior is to say, “Yes, I did.”

She’s torn between longing for Maddox’s presence at home and wanting him to spread his wings. Says the insider, “She misses him but at the same time she’s proud of him for furthering himself and living his own life.”