‘Why? How?’: Angelina Jolie Leaves Fans Speechless With Her Surprising Backup Career Plan

Angelina Jolie has been keeping a fairly low profile since her much-publicized split from Brad Pitt. So, her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on December 5th was a welcome surprise, as she dazzled with her trademark delightful oddness.

For a start, she turned up to the interview with bare feet. “Did you forget your shoes?” Fallon asked. Jolie explained that she’d broken her toe (she didn’t say how) and had decided that bare feet would be more comfortable.

Jolie was there to promote her new film Maria, where she plays opera singer Maria Callas. But the conversation soon turned to Jolie’s kids. She has six: Maddox, Zahara, Vivienne, Pax, Knox, and Shiloh. Fallon asked if any of them had considered working in the film industry, whether in front of the camera or behind it. Jolie responded that some of them were open to working behind the scenes, but all of them also badly wanted to live private lives, especially Shiloh. “Not photographed, not on a thing. I think her most of all would like privacy,” she said.

However, if the Jolie kids want careers far away from Hollywood, Angelina herself can probably help with that. She revealed to Fallon that one long-standing rumor about her was true: she had once studied to become a funeral director.

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“Why? How?” Fallon asked, apparently baffled. But Jolie’s explanation was actually quite touching. “My grandfather died and I remembered thinking, this is not how they should be. This should be a celebration of life. And since I’m not afraid of death and I was comfortable with it, I thought, this would be a great career path for me,” she said, before joking “It’s my fallback career.”

Fallon then asked Jolie for the truth of another rumor – whether she’d considered becoming a pilot. Jolie responded that she, in fact, was a pilot. And according to a quick Google search, she actually got her pilot’s license in 2004, so she’s been flying for quite some time now. She just keeps it on the down low. However, she revealed to Fallon that her son Maddox was actually following in her footsteps there and was able to fly.

Then came the last rumor Fallon wanted to know about. Was it true that Jolie had considered a career in stand-up comedy? “That is definitely a no,” Jolie said, laughing along with the audience. “I could deal with a funeral. I could deal with, with 10,000 feet in the air, but no,” Jolie said to Fallon. “What you do terrifies.”

After that, Fallon and Jolie discussed Maria. Jolie shared that she’d been sure at first that she wasn’t going to be able to do it because she couldn’t sing – or so she thought. “Do you get nervous singing?” Fallon asked her, and Jolie replied, “I was so nervous. I had to learn how to sing because the director, the wonderful director Pablo Larrain, he sent me to singing, Italian, and many things for seven months, because you can’t fake sing opera.” She went on, “In the beginning, I thought I had this great plan. I thought, I know what I’ll do. It’ll be a fun, like, start-of-the-movie gift. I’ll just buy everyone earplugs.” The audience laughed at that – maybe Jolie should have considered that career in stand-out comedy after all.

All in all, it was a great interview. Let’s hope it doesn’t take long before Jolie is back on the late-night talk show circuit once more.