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'Different is good'; Angelina Jolie delivers empowering speech on being a misfit at the Kids Choice Awards
By Stylist Team
Updated 8 years ago
In her first public appearance since undergoing preventative cancer surgery, Angelina Jolie told an audience of children to embrace difference and the feeling of not fitting in.
The actress, 39, attended the 2015 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in LA this weekend, with two of her children in tow - Shiloh, 8, and ten-year-old Zahara.
She appeared genuinely delighted when she was named winner of favorite villain for her role in Maleficent.
Angelina recently penned a powerful essay on having her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed two weeks ago, after routine tests revealed that she was at heightened risk of developing ovarian cancer; the illness her mother died from aged 56.
And her acceptance speech at the Kids Choice Awards was no less rousing - in an entirely different respect - as she opened up about her misfit youth and urged an excitable audience of under-12s to "cause a little trouble":
"When I was little, like Maleficent, I was told that I was different," Angelina told the crowd. "And I felt out of place, and too loud, too full of fire, never good at sitting still, never good at fitting in.
"And then one day I realised something, something I hope you all realise. Different is good."
To screams and whoops of elation, she continued; "So don’t fit in, don’t sit still, never try to be less than what you are, and when someone tells you that you are different, smile and hold your head up high and be proud.
"And as your villain, I would also say - cause a little trouble, it's good for you."
The humanitarian worker and film director was hailed for her frankness after she candidly wrote about all aspects of her recent surgery, which followed a mastectomy the actress underwent two years ago.
She said in her essay that it was her family of six, with husband Brad Pitt, that made her decide to have surgery. "I know my children will never have to say, 'Mom died of ovarian cancer,'" she said.
And the most touching moment at the Kids Choice Awards this weekend came when Angelina found out she had won; her kids Zahara and Shiloh could not have been more elated for their mum. Come see the sweet trio celebrate as Angelina accepts her award.
Photos: Rex Features and Getty Images
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