The famous faces inside Angelina Jolie’s close circle, even though she says she doesn’t keep Hollywood pals

Angelina Jolie has long been outspoken about how she doesn’t have many friends in Hollywood.

The actress, 49, has mentioned that she prefers spending time with refugees and her six children rather than with other celebrities. She has criticized Los Angeles in the past, calling it a ‘shallow’ and ‘unhealthy place.’

Despite her negative remarks, Angelina was seen socializing with fellow actresses Salma Hayek and Kate Winslet at the Golden Globes. They appeared very close during the event.

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 parent young. Maybe it’s working. Maybe it’s being somebody who’s been betrayed a lot.

‘I don’t have a lot of those warm, close relationships as much 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’ve had a few friends over the years not be there for my family in their hour of need. I have a couple of people that I trust,’ the star added.

She also told WSJ Magazine in December 2023 that she ‘doesn’t really have a social life.’

‘My closest friends are refugees. Maybe four out of six of the women that I am close to are from war and conflict,’ she shared.

‘There’s a reason people who have been through hardship are also much more honest and much more connected, and I am more relaxed with them.

‘Why do I like spending time with people who’ve survived and are refugees? They’ve confronted so much in life that it brings forward not just strength, but humanity.’ 

She also said of her kids, ‘They are the closest people to me and my life, and they’re my close friends.’

At the time, Angelina – who finally finalized her divorce from ex Brad Pitt last month after eight years – revealed that she planned to leave Los Angeles once her legal battle ended, and branded it as ‘a shallow place.’

‘I will move when I can. I grew up in quite a shallow place. Of all the places in the world, Hollywood is not a healthy place. So you seek authenticity,’ she stated.

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

So which other Hollywood A-listers have managed to win over the anti-social star over the years? And which celebrities will be rallying around her as her divorce from Brad is finally settled?

Here are all of Angelina’s famous friends…

Salma Hayek

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

In September 2023, Salma opened up about their friendship to Entertainment Tonight, explaining, ‘She’s been very, very enriching in my life, in so many ways – as mothers. Most of all, as artists.’

At the time, Salma told the outlet that she and Angelina were getting ‘closer and closer,’ gushing, ‘It’s just natural. It’s just something that flows.’ 

Angelina went on to cast Salma in her movie Without Blood. Angelina directed the flick, which premiered in September 2024, while Salma starred in it.

Salma incessantly praised Angelina to Deadline after filming wrapped in August 2022.

‘Angelina is the best director I’ve ever worked with. I absolutely loved working with her,’ she said.

‘I enjoyed every second of it. It’s a tough piece but it was so delicious to come to work every single day. 

‘She is a genius and I think this might be her best movie yet. She did an amazing job, really.’

In September, Salma spoke about how much she liked working with Angelina on the flick once again, and described Angelina as part of her ‘family’ to People magazine.

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

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

Angelina enlisted her sons Maddox, 23, and Pax, 20, to work on the set in the assistant director department, and Salma gushed over her experience with the boys.

‘They work hard,’ she said at the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, adding that Angelina was ‘very professional with them’ on the set.

‘They were not treating me like they treat me outside of there. They were very, “You have to come,” and I go, “OK.” It was kind of fun,’ she dished. ‘They work hard. They are very serious about what they do.’

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

‘It is kind of funny, I was teasing them at the beginning, but then I had to say, “No. I have to separate and just treat them like professionals because it’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 little bit of a mother figure to her. In this movie, I felt like she was my motherly figure because she would come to the set and run it like a family,’ the actress gushed.

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

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

Gwen Stefani 

Another one of Angelina’s longtime celebrity friends is Gwen Stefani. 

Back in 2008, Angelina revealed that she and Gwen grew close after they gave birth to their kids around the same time.

‘Somehow [Gwen and I] keep ending up pregnant at the exact same time,’ she joked to the Sydney Morning Herald.

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

The actress also gave birth to her twins Vivienne and Knox one 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 were having a playdate and Gwen was trying to figure out what she was going to wear as she got more pregnant… I asked her if she had any spare clothes, and she gave me this dress,’ Angelina said.

Then, in 2011, Angelina and a few of her young kids were spotted entering the singer’s London home.

At the time, a source told Us Weekly that they had ‘run in the same social circle [for a long time].’

‘Right away [after they both gave birth] they started getting [the kids] together for play dates,’ the insider explained.

‘All of the kids are very close in age. They’ve attended each other’s birthday parties and gotten together several times at each others homes.’ 

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 Greys Anatomy alum Ellen Pompeo.

A source told Us Weekly at the time that while they had ‘known each other for years,’ they had really bonded during the [COVID-19] lockdown.’ 

‘Their kids are really close,’ the insider added. 

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

‘Their daughters are good friends. And Angelina and Ellen are friends and neighbors,’ someone close to the pair added to People magazine. 

Angelina’s daughter Vivienne is just 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 has seemed as though they have stayed close since the split.

In 2008, he told People magazine that she was still one of his ‘closest friends.’

‘She is a wonderful person and one of my closest friends,’ he said at the time.

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

‘We keep up with each other. She’s not in town a lot, so we don’t see each other much, but we talk.’ 

In addition, his son, Harry James Thornton, said in 2022 that Angelina ‘still sends him Christmas gifts’ every year.

‘To this day, she still sends me Christmas gifts every year and stuff like that,’ he dished to Entertainment Tonight.

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