All the stars in Angelina Jolie’s elite inner circle… despite her claims to have no Hollywood friends

Angelina Jolie has long been open about the fact that she doesn’t have many friends in Hollywood.

The 49-year-old actress has said she would rather spend time with “refugees” and her six children than with her co-stars, and once branded Los Angeles as a “shallow” and “not healthy place.”

Despite her negative comments, Angelina was noticed hanging out with fellow actresses Salma Hayek and Kate Winslet at the Golden Globes on Sunday night, and they seemed as close as could be.

When asked who her ‘close friends’ were by the Hollywood reporter Last August, Angelina admitted, “I don’t really have those kinds of relationships.

‘Maybe it’s losing your parents at a young age. Maybe it works. Maybe it’s someone who has been betrayed a lot.

‘I don’t have many of those warm, close relationships that I lean on. But I have a few, and a few is enough.”

At the time, she listed Loung Ung, the Cambodian-American human rights activist, as her only friend.

‘My mother was very close to me. I lost her. I have had a few friends over the years who were not there for my family in their hour of need. I have a few people I trust,” the star added.

She told me too WSJ Magazine in December 2023 that she “doesn’t really have a social life.”

‘My best friends are refugees. Maybe four out of the six women I’m close to come from war and conflict,” she said.

“There’s a reason why people who have experienced hardship are also much more honest and connected, and I’m more relaxed with them.

‘Why do I like spending time with people who have survived and are refugees? They have been through so much in their lives that it not only brings out strength, but also humanity.’

She also said of her children, “They are the people closest to me and my life, and they are my good friends.”

At the time, Angelina – who finally finalized her divorce from ex Brad Pitt last month after eight years – revealed she planned to leave Los Angeles once her legal battle was over, labeling it “a superficial place.”

‘I’ll move as soon as I can. I grew up in a pretty shallow place. Of all the places in the world, Hollywood is not a healthy place. So you look for authenticity,” she said.

But her recent outing with Kate and Salma shows that there are a few stars who have worked their way into Angelina’s elite circle.

So which other Hollywood A-listers have managed to win over the sociopathic star over the years? And which celebrities will rally around her now that her divorce from Brad is finally finalized?

Here are all of Angelina’s famous friends…

Salma Hayek

Angelina and Salma, 58, first bonded when they starred together in the 2021 film The Eternals.

In September 2023, Salma talked about their friendship Entertainment tonightand explained: ‘She has been very enriching in my life, in so many ways – as a mother. And especially as artists.’

Salma told the newspaper at the time that she and Angelina were “getting closer,” saying, “It’s just normal. It’s just something that flows.’

Angelina then cast Salma in her film Without Blood. Angelina directed the film, which premiered in September 2024, while Salma starred in it.

Salma praised Angelina incessantly Term after filming, wrapped in August 2022.

‘Angelina is the best director I have ever worked with. “I absolutely loved working with her,” she said.

‘I enjoyed every second of it. It’s a tough stretch, but it was so wonderful to come to work every day.

‘She’s a genius and I think this might be her best film yet. She really did a fantastic job.’

In September, Salma talked about how much she enjoyed working with Angelina again on the film, describing Angelina as part of her “family.” People magazine.

When asked about their friendship, she said, “What do you mean by friendship? We do things together as a family.

“It’s nice to have a friend where you can laugh and cry… and where you always feel safe.”

Angelina enlisted her sons Maddox, 23, and Pax, 20, to work on set in the assistant director department, and Salma opened up about her experiences with the boys.

“They work hard,” she said at the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, adding that Angelina “interacted very professionally” on set.

“They didn’t treat me like they treated me out there. They were very much like, ‘You have to come,’ and I said, ‘Okay.’ It was kind of fun,” she said. ‘They work hard. They are very serious about what they do.’

Salma admitted that she had to adjust the way she interacted with the boys on set.

“It’s kind of funny, I teased them at first, but then I had to say, ‘No. “I need to break up and just treat them like professionals because that’s disrespectful,” she continued.

The actress added that there was a bit of a role reversal with Angelina during the making of the film.

‘In [Eternals]I was a bit of a mother figure to her. In this film, I felt like she was my mother figure because she would come to the set and run it like a family,” the actress shared.

“She was a very efficient mother, but she was also there emotionally every step of the way.”

The old friends seemed excited to catch up at the Golden Globes on Sunday when photographers caught them chatting in the audience.

Gwen Stefani

Another famous friend of Angelina is Gwen Stefani.

In 2008, Angelina revealed that she and Gwen became close after having their children around the same time.

‘Somehow [Gwen and I] always getting pregnant at the exact same time,” she joked to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Angelina’s daughter Shiloh and Gwen’s son Kingston were born one day apart in 2006.

The actress also gave birth to her twins Vivienne and Knox a month before Gwen welcomed her son Zuma in 2008.

While speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Angelina revealed that she and Gwen had swapped maternity clothes while they were both expecting.

“We had a playdate and Gwen was trying to figure out what she was going to wear as she got pregnant… I asked her if she had any spare clothes, and she gave me this dress,” Angelina said.

Then, in 2011, Angelina and some of her young children were spotted entering the singer’s London home.

A source said this at the time We weekly that they were ‘in the same social circle’ [for a long time].’

‘Immediately [after they both gave birth] they started to get it [the kids] together for play dates,” the insider explained.

‘All the children are very close in age. They’ve been to each other’s birthday parties and been to each other’s houses several times.”

After news broke that Angelina and Brad had split in 2016, Hollywood life reported that Gwen, who split from her own husband Gavin Rossdale in August 2015, was “one of the first people to offer her support.”

Ellen Pompeo

In 2021, it was reported that Angelina had become “close” with Grays Anatomy alumnus Ellen Pompeo.

A source said We weekly at a time when, although they had known each other for years, they had built a real bond during the period [COVID-19] lockdown.’

“Their kids are very close,” the insider added.

The two stars were spotted having dinner in Beverly Hills in March of that year.

‘Their daughters are good friends. And Angelina and Ellen are friends and neighbors,” someone close to them added People magazine.

Angelina’s daughter Vivienne is only a few months older than Ellen’s daughter Stella.

Billy Bob Thornton

Long before she started dating Brad, Angelina married her Pushing Tin costar Billy Bob Thornton.

They were together from 2000 to 2003, but it seemed like they have remained close since the split.

In 2008, he told People magazine that she was still one of his “best friends.”

“She is an amazing person and one of my best friends,” he said at the time.

He also revealed in 2019 to We weekly‘We’ve been friends for years and years and years.

‘We keep a close eye on each other. She’s not in town much, so we don’t see each other much, but we do talk.”

Additionally, his son, Harry James Thornton, said in 2022 that Angelina “still sends him Christmas presents every year.”

“To this day, she still sends me Christmas presents and stuff like that every year,” he told Entertainment Tonight.

“I don’t talk to her on the phone every day, but every now and then we talk.”