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Daily Inspiration Quote by Angelina Jolie

"If I didn't have my films as an outlet for all the different sides of me, I would probably be locked up"

About this Quote

There is a calculated chill in the phrase "locked up": Jolie borrows the language of punishment and containment to describe what, in Hollywood interviews, is usually dressed up as "self-expression". The line works because it refuses the tidy mythology of the actor as a naturally charismatic vessel. Instead, she frames art as harm reduction. Not a hobby, not a brand extension, but a pressure valve.

The subtext is about multiplicity and manageability. "All the different sides of me" hints at volatility, contradiction, even a flirtation with the taboo: anger, desire, grief, control, chaos. Jolie has spent decades as a public symbol people want to flatten into one legible story (sex symbol turned humanitarian, rebel turned mother, celebrity turned stateswoman). This sentence pushes back against that flattening. It suggests the self isn’t a single identity to "find" but a swarm of impulses to negotiate.

Context matters: Jolie’s early fame was built on a kind of glamorous extremity, followed by a very visible pivot into activism and institutional legitimacy. The quote bridges those eras by arguing that performance is not escapism but containment-with-purpose. Films become a socially sanctioned space to embody what real life cannot safely hold. It’s also a subtle defense of acting itself: if the culture treats performers as frivolous, she reframes the work as psychological infrastructure - the thing that keeps the person functioning when the persona is under constant surveillance.

Quote Details

TopicMovie
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Jolie, Angelina. (2026, January 17). If I didn't have my films as an outlet for all the different sides of me, I would probably be locked up. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-i-didnt-have-my-films-as-an-outlet-for-all-the-28647/

Chicago Style
Jolie, Angelina. "If I didn't have my films as an outlet for all the different sides of me, I would probably be locked up." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-i-didnt-have-my-films-as-an-outlet-for-all-the-28647/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If I didn't have my films as an outlet for all the different sides of me, I would probably be locked up." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-i-didnt-have-my-films-as-an-outlet-for-all-the-28647/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.

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Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie (born June 4, 1975) is a Actress from USA.

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