Angelina Jolie gave a rare glimpse into her life as the mother of six children in a new piece that she penned for Time Magazine in her capacity as a contributing editor.
The 46-year-old interviewed medical student Malone Mukwende about his initiative to bridge the gap of medical knowledge when it comes to people of color as most medical books neglect to teach about ailments on black and brown skin.
During her piece, Angelina sympathized with the issue, explaining that she struggled to find medical advice for her children 'of different backgrounds' when they all came down with the same rash. She also revealed that her daughter Zahara, 16, recently underwent surgery.
Parenting: Angelina Jolie says struggled to find medical advice for her children 'of different backgrounds' and revealed that her daughter Zahara recently underwent surgery in a new piece that she penned for Time Magazine (Pictured in June)
'I have children from different backgrounds, and I know when there was a rash that everybody got, it looked drastically different depending on their skin color,' the activist said.
'But whenever I looked at medical charts, the reference point was always white skin,' she added.
Mukwende's handbook, Mind the Gap, addresses those types of issues by aggregating photos and information about various medical conditions on different, non-white skin tones.
'Recently my daughter Zahara, whom I adopted from Ethiopia, had surgery, and afterward a nurse told me to call them if her skin "turned pink," Angelina said.
'I have children from different backgrounds, and I know when there was a rash that everybody got, it looked drastically different depending on their skin color,' the activist said. 'But whenever I looked at medical charts, the reference point was always white skin,' she added.
'That’s the kind of thing I started to notice very early on. Almost the entirety of medicine is taught in that way,' Mukwende responded.
Adding: 'Like you’ve just illustrated, that’s a very problematic statement for some groups of the population because it’s just not going to happen in that way and if you’re unaware you probably won’t call the doctor.'
The actress has three biological children with her ex-husband Brad Pitt, Shiloh, 15 and 12-year-old twins Knox and Vivian, as well as three adopted children 19-year-old Maddox from Cambodia, 17-year-old Pax from Vietnam and 16-year-old Zahara from Ethopia.
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