Brad Pitt Opens Up About Parenthood, Marriage

By Christine Fenno Posted May 28th 2011 02:54PM

With a daughter turning 5 this weekend (Happy birthday, Shiloh!) and just a few weeks until Father's Day, busy dad Brad Pitt is opening up in a new interview about family life with Angelina Jolie.

"The kids ask about marriage," he tells USA Today over a cup of cappuccino. "It's meaning more and more to them. So it's something we've got to look at."

The 'Tree of Life' star, 47, admits that fears about his six kids' safety "keep me up at night." Reflecting on what parenthood means to him, he explains, "Kids hold up a mirror to you....You can't make excuses. You've got to make sure they've brushed their teeth and eaten a good breakfast. You want to be present if they wake up with a bad dream."

A round-the-clock nightmare for the Pitt-Jolie brood? Paparazzi. "We're hunted," he says, "Our kids have to live behind a gate. Outside, there are people with cameras."

"But I'll take the trade-off," he adds. "I never knew I was capable of experiencing so much love."

Sharing a glimpse at how his large family manages a globe-trotting lifestyle, jetting between movie sets and premieres, the actor says the older ones are home-schooled, and he describes the Jolie-Pitt travel style:

"On the road, we're a military mobile unit.... The kids have got their stuff down to one backpack, and they're each responsible for their own bag. Mom does the packing. She's quite gifted at that; puts in just what we need, nothing extra."

"Angie and I do everything we can to carve out some semblance of normalcy for them, to re-create the kinds of moments that were special for us," he adds. "It's not unusual for the kids to be covered in paint. We have mud fights. It's chaos from morning until the lights go out, and sometimes after that."

And normalcy at home includes keeping love alive between Mom and Dad.

"There are no secrets at our house," Pitt says with a smile. "We tell the kids, 'Mom and Dad are going off to kiss.' They go, 'Eww, gross!' But we demand it."

Tags: angelina jolie, brad pitt, brangelina, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt

Comments

(123)

Saturday 28 May

By whitechicuva

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I am so happy for this couple... I hope they remake Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It was, and will be so much fun! Good luck to all of them.

By fivewaldos

Half of this country is divorced and many after infidelity. They are hardly alone on their path. This couple and their children will always be the focus of media attention. Two big stars and an international cast of children- do you really imagine they will be able to live a quiet and hidden away life? I sincerely hope they are as happy as they seem- I just don't envy them the teenage years- that will be a pile of teenagers all at the same time!

Sunday 29 May

By Soledad

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So because they are hardly alone in what they have done, that makes it o.k.?

By alschrod

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Wonderful! This fantastic couple can set a good example foe everybody-- amid typical hollywood immorality! They are role models for adoptive parents and third-world poverty contributors, but their marital status needed "improvement".

By hello kitty

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Kids are a disgusting thing, pregnancy is gross, diapers are gross and all you get is a kid that hates you.

By TryTwice

Nothing about procreation is disgusting, and if you feel that way, I hope you don't breed. My kids don't hate me, most kids don't wind up hating their care-takers. If you did, then seomthings's wrong with your past. Just stand aside and give the truly loving parents the credit they deserve for presenting to this world another generation. Brad and Angelina are doing just that. What is YOUR problem?

By Ada

Hello kitty I have never had children so I cannot speak from experience. But I have never heard anyone say such terrible things about children. I'm sorry you have had such an awful experience. You sound very hurt.

Monday 30 May

By morning Alisha

You need counseling. No, you don't have to have children to have a full life. No one should have children that doesn't want them, but to carry so much hatred means you have a big problem.

Tuesday 31 May

By carip827

Totally agree, don't get me started.. I think ugly people should not be allowed to reproduce!

By JBT

Do Brad & Angie need the advices from Kurt Russell & Goldie Hawn in advance?

By JoanneVLavender

Why should they bother? Or do they have a couple million to spare on a media extravaganza just because they can?

Of course, there's always the possibility that, with the royal wedding now past, Angelina has a great itch to see if she can outdo Prince William and his Princess? Kind of like Marie Osmond who, for the marriage she had that followed the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, made sure the train of her wedding dress worn in the Mormon temple was much longer than that of Diana's at Saint Paul's.

By joshua

sex is marrage lack of correct life is a crime shareing same worse exist like pay more
for of manner gotten wage or to know each other
witch has gotten old as sad whom talk of others more in place there own self they been
mortal marrage longer now near more 20 years,
no concern to me other then cowork no yet been taken my money home
still headspeed is an old joke for woman, still troma is no way to learn to high bar flip
i only want safe moive made , same as crime has no place they been noted longer to each other
when some fame persons hide they real first mettings well most them so do
still force labor is a crime same as harm is never been done by me,
hope best , must be greed an worse then god use,
i hope they last for on the pre flimming job show harm ,
they both hade a no same good choice in icecream
takes years to see past a few now all most old age dead if they lived this long
31 years an counting most the story's

By Mary

What?!?!?!????

By Kat

Awww!!! So sweet!! "mom and dad are going off to kiss". Brad is really happy. Love them!!

By Janet

Say what ever. These guys are still together with their 6 kids.

By Marie

Just because they are still together doesn't mean it's going well. Plenty of people stay together miserably.

By Kathleen

YES! Hope everyone will now realize that those two, and of course all their children are meant to be together. Oh to have loved like that.

By Anita Howard

What's your problem calling Jennifer Aniston a skank?! Your a dumba--. You don't even know that woman.

By gary

We all know there will be a blockbuster ending to this story.

By vondiamant

I think it would be a bigger mistake for Brad to marry her then it was to cheat on his wife with her. I hate the whole thing. ....and as for being great parents??? How would anyone know that? By all the cutsie photos float around? I'm betting those kids spend more time with paid help then they do with brad and angelina. I sure hope when they feel the need tyo adopt another child that they adopt one right here in the US. I've always wondered why these hollywood flakes feel the need to leave the US to adopt a child when there are so many needy children right here. Hmm, maybe the standards for adoption are a lot lower outside the US?

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