Angelina Jolie’s Message To Those Self-Isolating Amid Coronavirus Pandemic: ‘Love Each Other’

Angelina Jolie calls everyone to love each other while self-isolating due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The “Maleficent” star and UNHCR Special Envoy participated in a video discussion for TIME magazine with Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and they discussed the risks that the coronavirus poses to children. Harris said that it is important that people reach out to each other while the state calls for everyone to stay at home and Jolie agreed to this.

“I think it is so important that people hear that,” Jolie said. “To love each other, check in with each other. Be there, be a support group, keep your eyes open whether you are a teacher or a friend.”

“I really do hope people hear this, and they do reach out, and they do pay more attention, and they are not sitting in a moment when they think, ‘Well maybe, but it’s not my business.’ Because those kids aren’t going to school right now, and teachers can’t see the bruises and people aren’t identifying what is happening within some homes,” she added.

Brad Pitt’s ex-wife has been an advocate for children. In an op-ed for TIME magazine, the “Eternal” star said that isolating victims is a popular tactic of abusers. So, the forced social distancing to curb the spread of COVID-19 could “inadvertently fuel a direct rise in trauma and suffering for vulnerable children.”

Jolie said that the pandemic has cut children from their friends, regular schooling and freedom of movement. Schools served as shield and temporary protection for some who are experiencing violence and exploitation. She also noted that there are fewer adults looking after the kids due to the lockdown.

“It’s not just that children have lost support networks. Lockdown also means fewer adult eyes on their situation. In child abuse cases, child protective services are most often called by third parties such as teachers, guidance counselors, after school program coordinators and coaches,” Jolie wrote.

Meanwhile, Jolie recently interviewed Daniel Pearl’s widow Mariane. In their conversation, she asked how Mariane talks hard realities with her children. The French journalist said that she believes in taking kids seriously while still respecting their rights to be children.

Mariane shared how they were forbidden to talk about her father until she found out that he had committed suicide when she was 17. She added that “proper communication would have spared me a lot of angst.”