James Haven, Angelina Jolie’s brother, has opened up about his role in her split from Brad Pitt in a rare interview.
“That’s where it all started,” Haven said, referring to a new phase of his relationship with his sister.
“It started with the protection of her and then of her children, my nieces and nephews,” he told the 90who10 podcast in a recent interview.
“You’re a big part of your nieces and nephews lives, I’m sure they’re like your kids in some way,” host Jessica Entner said.
“Those are massively formative years, they’re becoming young adults in their early 20s,” he replied. “That’s so crazy thinking that but yeah, I think it’s just very natural [to feel protective] and I just want to be there. Very much like my mom. I want to be there for them – or for [Angelina] – whatever she’s going though. We have very mutual interests, especially if it’s focuses on how to help kids or stuff like that.”
James Haven and Angelina Jolie in 2003.Getty Images
James Haven during his recent interview.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in 2014 with their kids, Pax Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt and Knox Jolie-Pitt.GC Images
Haven, 52, is the son of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, and he’s four years older than Jolie, 48.
Haven is also an actor, having appeared in Jolie’s movie “Gia,” the 2001 movie “Monster’s Ball,” starring his sister’s then-husband, Billy Bob Thornton, and a 2004 episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” but his last role was the short “Easy Silence” in 2013.
He’s more famous – or infamous – for shockingly sharing a kiss on the lips with Jolie, then 24, while they attended the 2000 Oscars.
Angelina Jolie and James Haven infamously kissed on the lips.WireImage
James Haven defended his kiss with Angelina Jolie as “simple and lovely.”WireImage
Angelina Jolie and her brother James famously kissed at the Oscars.Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image
Jolie, then a relative newcomer, won an Oscar that night for her role in “Girl, Interrupted,” but she raised eyebrows at the Vanity Fair after-party when she shared an intimate looking smooch with Haven.
“It was a moment that people hadn’t seen at the Oscars — a blatantly 𝑠e𝑥ual moment,” Melissa Rivers, who co-hosted “E! Live From the Red Carpet” that night, told Bustle in 2020.
“Here are these two beautiful people who literally looked completely different than anyone in the sea of glam and beauty. [They were] glam and beauty in a completely dark, very 𝑠e𝑥ual way.”
Haven defended the incident and denied giving his sister a “French kiss. It was something simple and lovely,” he told the Daily Mail in 2007.
“She was about to go off to Mexico to finish filming ‘Original Sin’ with Antonio Banderas. I congratulated her on the Oscar win and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. It was snapped and became a big thing.”
James Haven said his kiss with Angelina Jolie “became a big thing.”Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
James Haven with a friend.FilmMagic
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie with their children Knox, Vivienne and Pax in 2013.REUTERS
Angelina and Brad’s children are Maddox, 22; Pax, 20; Zahara, 18; Shiloh, 17; and twins Knox and Vivienne, 15.
Jolie was married to Pitt from 2014 to 2019, and their split became bitter, with a long custody battle, allegations that Pitt engaged in “abusive behavior,” and sour grapes over a French vineyard that the former couple shared. Pitt was cleared of child abuse allegations in 2016.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s split became bitter.UK Press via Getty Images
Angelina Jolie and her children Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt, Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt and Knox Leon Jolie-Pitt.AFP via Getty Images
Angelina Jolie, daughter Zahara, Brad Pitt and son Maddox in 2006.AFP via Getty Images
Haven has stayed out of the spotlight in recent years – his most recent picture in public was a photo with his father in October 2022.
He said that whenever he is “blessed” to spend time with Jolie’s kids, he makes sure that he turns his phone off.
‘[It’s] a quality I got from my mom, even though cell phones were not as prevalent as they are now, but back to that idea of her always being like, ‘You are the focus,’” he noted.
