That is not Angelina’s boyfriend

Angelina Jolie was seen heading for lunch with son Pax in New York yesterday before attending a screening for Maria at the DGA in New York last night. Said it before and I’ll say it again – it’s great to see that Pax has recovered well enough after his e-bike accident to be able to join her as she promotes her film. This must be such a relief for their entire family. 

As we have discussed, Angelina is in the Oscar Best Actress conversation. There’s really only eight weeks left this year to campaign. The Golden Globe nominations will be announced on December 9, Critics Choice is three days after that. The New York Film Critics and the National Board of Review, and other critics associations, usually announce in late November. So we can’t say “it’s early” anymore in terms of award season. Yes, there are still a couple of contenders, like Steve McQueen’s Blitz, that have yet to screen, and A Complete Unknown with Timothée Chalamet, which Sarah just wrote about, but just like they do in figure skating, there’s room on the board that’s been left open for them alongside the candidates who’ve already emerged. Over the next couple of months, everyone will be making their case from New York to Los Angeles and even in London because the BAFTAs can have an impact on the Oscars too. 

Still, Angelina’s time in New York hasn’t just been about Maria and Oscar. Atelier Jolie is based in New York, and she’s used her time there to showcase how the space is being used – not just as a creative place for fashion designers, but all artists including writers and musicians. On the weekend she was there for an event celebrating Mickalene Thomas (you can see Angelina on the fourth slide)… 

…followed by an event that she moderated featuring Mustafa the Poet who is from Toronto. 

Angelina and Zahara were seen at one of Mustafa’s performances in LA a couple of years ago (that was when I theorised about how she knew The Weeknd) so that connection has continued. As you can see in that carousel above, Zoë Kravitz was also there. But the tabloids are talking about another guest who appears in one of the slides: Akala. 

Angelina and Akala have been seen hanging out publicly since at least 2023 and now the Daily Mail, wrong and strong as usual, is saying that this is them going “Instagram official” since Akala was also at the NYC premiere of Maria a few nights ago. Well pump the brakes because you know who was also there? Akala’s actual partner, Chanelle Newman (in the braids and brown blazer).

Given how warmly Angelina’s kids are reacting to Akala and Chanelle, clearly Angelina is close with both of them. Nothing to see but friendship. And community engagement. What Angelina is imagining with Atelier Jolie is an intimate but also accessible gathering place for artists to share their work – and this is where I’m about to get petty… because the whole “artists enclave/salon” thing is what Brad Pitt said he was trying to do with Chateau Miraval, only the vibe there is super exclusive, for the wealthy and privileged. And now here’s Angelina, actually bringing together creatives to express their artistic vision, their ideas, but as a collective, not privately behind gates and whole ass vineyards, but in the city and with some famous people but mostly not all famous people. People who criticise Angelina often bring up the fact that she’s not trustworthy because she doesn’t have friends. Does she really not have friends or does she spend time with friends who don’t need to perform friendship publicly, on the cover of a magazine, conveniently “best friends” when they have to sell a movie but not all that close in the years in between?