Angelina Jolie Says Son Pax Is "Strong"
Angelina Jolie says that her newly adopted son Pax is adjusting to his new life.
"You can imagine what courage it takes to be in all new surroundings with new people and a new language. He is very strong," Jolie says in the new issue of Hello magazine, on stands Thursday. "He is a very serious, very sweet little boy."
The magazine met with Jolie as she arrived in Vietnam to pick up her adopted son, Pax Thien, last week. A photo spread in the issue features Pax playing and napping with his new siblings.
Jolie and her newly adopted 3-year-old son left Vietnam in a private jet on Wednesday, en route to the boy's new home. The family has been nesting in New Orleans since the beginning of the year.Photos: Angelina Jolie Viet Mom
The superstar adopted Pax in Ho Chi Minh City last week, but they later came to the capital city of Hanoi to pick up a visa allowing him to enter the United States.
Jolie left a pack of disappointed paparazzi in her wake, fleeing from them before boarding the awaiting Gulfstream jet at Noi Bai Airport.
On the few occasions they came out to do adoption paperwork, they traveled in cars with darkened windows and only emerged after parking in basement garages that were sealed off from the media horde.
Jolie and her partner, Brad Pitt, made a surprise trip to Vietnam last November, when they visited the Tam Binh orphanage on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. Pax had been living at the orphanage since he was abandoned as an infant.
Jolie filed adoption papers as a single parent because she and Pitt are not married.
"A lot of people are saying that she got special treatment that she got fast tracked, lots of things that just are not true," Heidi Gonzalez, the program coordinator for Adoptions From The Heart agency, told "Access Hollywood" in an interview that aired on Tuesday.
Gonzalez worked directly with Jolie on her adoption and says that Jolie committed the same time to the process as anyone else.
"She's very happy that they're bonding and that they kind of just can't wait to get home to introduce him to the rest of the family," Gonzalez said.
Jolie and Pitt have three other children: 5-year-old Maddox, adopted from Cambodia, 2-year-old Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia, and another daughter, Shiloh, born to the couple last year.
While Maddox and Zahara went with their mother to Vietnam to greet Pax, Pitt and Shiloh stayed in the U.S.
"Shiloh's 10 months old, so pretty young to travel," People magazine Assistant Managing Editor and The Early Show entertainment contributor Jess Cagle said on The Early Show Wednesday. "Brad Pitt is in the middle of shooting a movie, which would have caused tremendous production problems if he left for any period of time … But she's made it very clear, she told us that this adoption is not going to feel complete until we are all back as a family together."