Angelina Jolie Confesses She Doesn’t Want Her 6 Kids To Be ‘Perfectly Behaved’ — ‘They Have To Find Themselves’

With six kids running around, Angelina Jolie has had a ton of time to master her parenting skills. And while recently appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today on Friday, Dec. 28, the actress opened up about motherhood and confessed she doesn’t expect her children to be “perfectly behaved.”

“[My kids] all have a good rebellious streak that is wonderful and curious,” she said. “I don’t want them to be perfectly behaved little people that just say what’s absolutely appropriate because I say so… they have to find themselves.”

The 43-year-old is a mom to Maddox, 17, Pax, 15, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 12, and 10-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox, with her ex-husband Brad Pitt. Though Angelina clearly loved gushing about and children during her Today sit-down, the actress also opened up about her humanitarian work and even hinted that she may run for office in the future.

When TV host Justin Webb asked the actress what made her pursue humanitarian work, Angelina explained how her kids impacted her decision. “Children can do two things,” the Maleficent star began. “They can make you grow up, and you do, and they also add a sense of wild themselves.”

But even though she’s gone from acting in Hollywood to working with NATO, Angelina said her outlook is still the same. “I was a bit of a young punk,” she said. “I loved the idea of fighting for something you believe in however hard, and being brave in your life in your choices and doing something your own way. And I don’t feel I’ve changed much at all, in fact.”

And when it comes to politics, Angelina admitted she’d run for President of the US if she felt she was “needed.” When Webb asked her, “Are you moving in the direction of politics?” Angelina replied, “If you asked me 20 years ago, I would’ve laughed… I always say I’ll go where I’m needed, I don’t know if I’m fit for politics… but then I’ve also joked that I don’t know if I have a skeleton left in my closet.”

Angelina continued to open up about her work with the UN, specifically her duties serving as a Special Envoy. “I honestly will do whatever I think can really make a change and right now I am able to work with a UN agency to do a lot of work directly with people in need,” she admitted. “I sit in a very interesting place of being able to get a lot done without a title and without it being about myself and my policies. So, for now, I’ll sit quiet.”