Warning: The article contains details about suicidal thoughts. Please proceed with caution.
Angelina Jolie once opened up about one of the darkest chapters in her life, revealing that she had hired a hitman to kill her when she was 22 years old. The Oscar-winning wactress made this shocking admission during interviews with IMDb in 2001 and The Face magazine in 2003, describing how desperate she felt during her early career.
The actress explained that her decision came from a place of wanting to protect her loved ones from guilt. She believed that if her family thought she had been murdered rather than having committed suicide, they would not blame themselves for her death. Jolie was particularly concerned about her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, and how a suicide would affect her.
Back in 2001, Jolie was going through what she described as a “rather bleak” time in her life. During this difficult period, she made the shocking decision to hire someone to kill her. “This is going to sound insane but there was a time I was going to hire somebody to kill me,” she told IMDb. The actress had already struggled with depression and had attempted suicide once before at age 19.
The question that changed everything
Jolie went into detail about her plan, explaining that she had researched how to find a contract killer in New York. She even planned the financial aspects carefully, deciding to “take out cash over a certain amount of time, so there wasn’t a big chunk in my bank account” to avoid suspicion. The actress wanted the murder to look like a robbery so her family would never suspect it was planned.
However, it was the hitman himself who ultimately saved Jolie’s life. When she contacted him about the job, he asked her a simple but powerful question. “He was a decent enough person and asked if I could think about it and call him again in two months,” Jolie revealed. This request for a waiting period gave her time to reconsider her decision.
Angelina Jolie once tried to hire a hitman to kill herself, because she felt a murder would be easier on her family than her committing suicide. The hitman talked her out of it by asking her to wait one month. pic.twitter.com/SkBc480OmO
— Khalil Underwood (@RealKhalilU) February 24, 2023
During those two months, her outlook on life changed. “Something changed in my life and I figured I’d stick it out,” she said. The actress has never specified exactly what shifted during that time, but it was enough to make her cancel her plans and choose life instead. This period occurred around the same time she was working on films like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which featured her complicated relationship with her father, Jon Voight, as a co-star.
Jolie has been open about her mental health struggles throughout her career. She has spoken about experiencing depression, self-harm, and substance abuse during her teens and twenties. In a 2011 interview with 60 Minutes, she reflected on surviving these difficult times. “I went through heavier, darker times and I survived them. I didn’t die young, so I’m very lucky,” she said. The actress also admitted that “for many reasons I shouldn’t be here” when thinking about the dangerous situations she put herself in during that period.
Angelina. Jolie. #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/v9P1R8gCxb
— Netflix (@netflix) January 6, 2025
The turning point in Jolie’s life came when she adopted her first child, Maddox, in 2002. She has credited becoming a mother with giving her purpose and stability. “I knew once I committed to Maddox, I would never be self-destructive again,” she later stated. This commitment to motherhood became central to her identity, something that would later become important during her custody battles with Brad Pitt.
Today, Jolie is a successful actress, director, and humanitarian with an estimated net worth of $120 million. She has six children and has used her platform to advocate for refugees and human rights causes around the world. The actress recently finalized her divorce from Pitt after an eight-year legal battle, marking the end of another difficult chapter in her life. Her story serves as a powerful reminder of how mental health struggles can affect anyone, regardless of fame or success, and the importance of seeking help during dark times.
