As Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's youngest children turn 18, Angelina has begun to put into motion a plan she started years ago – leaving Hollywood for Cambodia.
But the Oscar winner has now revealed the heartbreaking truth of living in the southwestern Asian country, sharing she was forced to evacuate her home when fighting broke out on the border with Thailand, "a painful reminder of just how quickly conflict can return".
© AFP via Getty ImagesThe Maddox Foundation is headquartered at the home Angelina purchased in Samlout in 2002, according to pictures on the foundation's website. Samlout sits along the border with Thailand.
The staff headcount for the foundation is unknown.
© Mon GuerlainCambodia and Thailand have fought over the border for more than a century, and fighting broke out again in July 2025. After an almost six-month ceasefire, fighting resumed for three weeks in December with airstrikes and shelling.
Angelina took to social media to share that, a year after the evacuation, the foundation has resumed "work protecting the land and supporting the community’s health and livelihoods."
However, nearly 30,000 people remain displaced, according to Angelina.
"I love this country and its resilient, warm people. While we’re grateful to have resumed our work protecting the land and supporting the community’s health and livelihoods, my heart is with everyone still waiting to come home," she shared.
© AFP via Getty ImagesThe star, 50, adopted Maddox, born on August 5, 2001 and the oldest of her six children, from an orphanage in Cambodia. Although Maddox is more private than his mom, the connection he has with his home runs deep, and is one his mother often references in her work.
The Lara Croft actress runs the foundation, named in honor of her son.
Its aim is to support "communities in the Samlout region of Cambodia as they lead efforts to strengthen sustainable conservation, agriculture, health, and education infrastructure."
Angelina purchased the traditional home in rural Cambodia the year after the adoption, and reportedly later added more than 148,000 acres of land surrounding the home, intending to turn the traditional rainforest area into a wildlife preserve.
The building is a wooden longhouse with a thatched straw roof. It appeared in a campaign for French luxury brand Mon Guerlain Intense perfume in 2019.
© Mon GuerlainThe building boasts incredible capacity for natural light through its open structure, while the inside was decorated with rattan furniture, earth tones, and more minimalistic art and handicrafts from local artisans.
In 2025, at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, when asked what place she considered "home," she confirmed: "In my heart, Cambodia."
