Angelina Jolie has accrued an Oscar, several Golden Globes, a Global Humanitarian Action Award, a Freedom Award and a seat on the Council on Foreign Relations. She has managed all this while building herself into one of the few viable female Hollywood stars who can carry a film single-handedly and squelching all competition for the title of World’s Yummiest Mummy.
Those distinctions are nice, but now comes the big one: Ms. Jolie has qualified as a biographical subject for Andrew Morton in his new book, “Angelina: An Unauthorized Biography,” set to be released on Aug. 3. And Mr. Morton does not usually write his page-turners about garden-variety celebrities. (Ignore his “Posh and Becks.” This book’s “also by Andrew Morton” list has.) He picks people — Diana, Princess of Wales; Tom Cruise; Madonna; Monica Lewinsky — who not only became uber-famous but also found ways to rock the world.
What exactly qualifies Ms. Jolie to be in this company? Here’s the short version: Hollywood lineage, drop-dead gorgeous, Goth phase, tattoos, blood in vials, Billy Bob, heroin, S&M, bisexuality, big wet kiss for brother, magical makeover, six kids, genius for image control. And home wrecker. That too.
Andrew David Morton (born 1953 in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire) is a former British Fleet Street tabloid journalist, and a biographer. Before moving into a career in journalism, he attended grammar school, then studied history at the University of Sussex. Andrew Morton wrote a biography of Princess Diana called Diana: Her True Story. Following Diana’s death in 1997, Morton issued an edition entitled Diana: Her True Story, Commemorative Edition.