The UN refugee agency’s gorgeous Goodwill Ambassador has recently finished her first visit to Afghanistan. There, Angelina Jolie saw first hand the country’s difficult humanitarian circumstances and called for more international support to meet critical needs especially during the coming winter. The award-winning American actress is familiar with UNHCR’s Afghan operation, having twice visited Pakistan in recent years to see Afghan refugees there. But this 2-day visit was Angelina Jolie’s first to Afghanistan to see the reintegration challenges INSIDE the country. After visiting a number of sites, she shared,

“The courage, resilience and quiet dignity of returnee families rebuilding their lives against the kind of adversity few of us can imagine shows the human spirit at its best.”

Angelina Jolie travelled to Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan where almost 850,000, or 20 percent, of all returnees to Afghanistan have repatriated since 2002. According to the UN, more than 5 million Afghans have returned home since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001. Another 3 million registered Afghans are still in exile in Pakistan and Iran.

And aside from the celebrated director, the guests who witnessed the tribute were also surprised! They had no idea Angelina Jolie will be there. The mum of six – who recently returned from a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan – made a surprise appearance at Monday night’s Hollywood Film Festival Awards Gala, where she paid tribute to her “The Changeling” director Clint Eastwood. Angelina Jolie’s appearance was so unexpected that the A-list crowd gasped audibly when she was introduced. Nice! She told the audience,

“There are some people in this business that are icons, and we often wonder if, when we meet them, they’ll live up to what we imagine them to be. And Clint Eastwood in person is even better.”

Angelina Jolie further added, “Clint is what every great director should be. He is a great leader. And I certainly would follow him anywhere.” The director, meanwhile, praised Angie after accepting his award. Clint Eastwood said, “Working with someone like Angelina Jolie is a great privilege, because you get to look on that gorgeous beauty every day. And she’s a great talent.”

If it weren’t for “The Changeling”, our fave actress would not have done the multi-million grosser “Wanted”. Angelina Jolie shared, “I knew instinctively that I needed something before ‘Changeling’. I was depleted. I was in a state of just wanting to pull the covers over my head and cry about my mom. It was just too much. For me, there have been times when an action movie, even a ‘Tomb Raider,’ has helped me get out of myself and be physical again. It’s like therapy.”

Thus, Angelina Jolie became an assassin in an R-rated comic-book adaptation in which she gives what she wryly called “my Clint Eastwood performance” where she barely said two dozen lines. The mom of six, who says she doesn’t particularly like to watch her own work, hasn’t seen “Wanted”. The film has grossed more than $300 million worldwide, and Angelina Jolie said, “I’m glad it worked out.”

They have a rainbow family, they have been together for three years, they both have common interests — so, why aren’t Hollywood’s most visible charitable couple marrying? If we believe the tabloids, it’s coz Brad Pitt is scared that his eventual marriage with Angelina Jolie will just end in divorce like what happened with Jennifer Aniston. A source revealed,

“Brad’s divorce from Jen was painful. It was hard on his parents and he considers it a major failure in his life. His big excuse for not marrying Angelina Jolie is that he hates even the possibility of something like that happening again.”

Brangelina have six children together. Angelina Jolie recently said that if she and Brad Pitt ever do marry, it will probably be at the request of their children. She told the Italian edition of Vanity Fair magazine, “Sooner or later it will be the kids who ask us (to get married).”