Maddox - On March 10, 2002, Jolie adopted her first child, Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt.

He was born on August 5, 2001 as Rath Vibol in Cambodia. He was being housed in a Cambodian orphanage when Jolie saw him for the first time there in a production break for the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. After her divorce from her second husband, Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie received sole custody of Maddox.

Maddox's name is Celtic in origin, usually tranlsated as "beneficent". Jolie developed many nicknames for him; normally she calls him "Mad", but also "Madness", "Khmer", "My Love" and even "Psycho." He could gel his own Mohawk, which she gave him because "he had this crazy hair that stuck straight up. I had to do something with it." Maddox has also become a fashion icon; whatever he wears flies off shelves.

In the autumn of 2004, it was reported that Jolie had started proceedings to adopt another child, a 7-month-old boy named Gleb from Russia. However, no adoption ever took place and Jolie stated that she never intended to adopt a Russian orphan boy. Jolie expressed a deep sadness at the media's exploitation of the child. She said that she was on business through the United Nations and not looking for a child to adopt. She also mentioned that her son wanted an "African brother or sister" because of his love of Africa and the work he knows she does in that region.

In March 2005, Lauryn Galindo, the Hawaii-based adoption facilitator whose services Jolie had used to adopt Maddox, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to visa fraud and money laundering charges. She had been falsifying records of children to be adopted in visa applications to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and several of the children she placed had not been abandoned at all but were enticed away or bought from their birth families. There is no evidence that Maddox was among them, although the investigation is continuing. Maddox was naturalized as a United States citizen some time ago, and there is no indication that that will be rescinded. Back to top

Zahara was born on January 8, 2005. A woman in London has been claiming she is Zahara's birth mother since August 2005. Jolie had a lawyer in London to look into the matter, which proved to be false.

On September 28, 2005 while making an appearance to discuss America's financial involvement in fighting AIDS globally on CNN's "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer, Jolie stated that her daughter is an "AIDS orphan." By that she means her birth mother died from the disease but her daughter does not have the disease. The birth father of Zahara is not known. Her statement made it clear that the birth mother is indeed dead. In late October 2005, an Ethiopian judge ruled that there is no evidence to suggest that Ms. Jolie would have to file for re-adoption of her daughter Zahara Marley Jolie. The judge ruled that the woman claiming to be her mother is not the birth mother. Earlier in the summer, another woman had come forward claiming to be the grandmother of Zahara. That claim also proved to be false.

American magazine US Weekly indicated erroneously that Jolie and Brad Pitt had adopted Zahara together. When the magazine realised its error, the presses were stopped and an apology issued to Jolie and Pitt; printing of the issue resumed with the correction made, though a number of copies with the error were still released to the public. Reportedly Pitt was present when Jolie signed the adoption papers, though the agency later denied that he was present when Jolie picked up her daughter. However, in a CNN interview in 2006 Jolie indicated that she and Pitt made the decision to adopt Zahara together.

Zahara's name means "flower" in Swahili; the second name "Marley" comes from late Jamaican reggae superstar Bob Marley. Zahara's nickname is "Z". Right after she came to the United States, she became so ill with salmonella that she had to spend time in a hospital. Jolie stated that "she was six months and not nine pounds. Her skin—you could squeeze it and it would stick together." Since then, however, Zahara has gained weight well, and the family now calls her "Chubby".

In December 2005 however, it was confirmed that Pitt was seeking to legally adopt Jolie's two children. In support of this bid (and as part of legal requirements), Jolie took out classified advertisements in the Los Angeles paper Daily Commerce announcing the name change request, and on January 19, 2006, a judge in California approved this request. The children's legal surnames were formally changed to Jolie-Pitt. Back to top

Shiloh was born by a scheduled caesarean section, due to breech presentation, and Pitt was there to cut her umbilical cord. The couple's Los Angeles obstetrician was assisted by local staff. Shiloh, according to a longstanding translation from the Bible, has come to mean "the peaceful one."

"Angie and baby are fantastic," a source close to the couple told People on May 28. "Brad was at her side during the birth." People was also told by Namibia's Environment and Tourism Deputy Minister, Leon Jooste, that "Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt will, according to Namibian law, be allowed to obtain Namibian citizenship, if the parents should choose to do so." On June 7 Pitt confirmed that their newly-born daughter will have a Namibian passport while speaking to local journalists: "Shiloh will receive a Namibian passport, so we shall return" Jolie decided to offer the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images herself, rather than allowing paparazzi photographers to make these extremely valuable snapshots. People paid more than $4.1 million for the North American rights, while British magazine Hello! obtained the international rights for roughly $3.5 million; the total rights sale earned up to $10 million worldwide — the most expensive celebrity image of all time. All profits were donated to an undisclosed charity by Jolie and Pitt. On July 26 Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it is the first infant re-created in wax by Madame Tussauds.

In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper that originally aired on June 20, 2006, Jolie revealed that she and Pitt are planning to adopt another child in the foreseeable future.

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