Visit to a refugee camp 'changed everything,' says Jolie

Jun 21, 2006, 23:16 GMT

New York - In Angelina Jolie's first US interview since giving birth to a baby girl in Namibia, the Hollywood celebrity chose to fill the airwaves with the issues of Africa and the plight of refugees.

Describing her first visit ever to an African refugee camp in Sierra Leone sometime in the past, Jolie said that 'it just changed everything.'

'By the time I got on the plane and on the way home ... I knew that I would somehow commit to doing something with these people in my life,' she told US broadcast network CNN, in an interview broadcast Tuesday night.

'I knew I was changing as a person. I was learning so much about life,' says Jolie, also a UN goodwill ambassador. 'In some ways, it was the best moment of my life, because it ... changed me for the better.'

Jolie has long been one of Hollywood's highest profile crusaders for African causes, crisscrossing the continent and even donating one-third of her income to projects in the region.

'I make a stupid amount of money for what I do,' says the 31-year -old actress.

Last month, with father Brad Pitt at her bedside, Jolie gave birth to her first biological child, Shioloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. Shiloh will join the couple's adopted children, four-year old Maddox and one-year old Zahara, in the family household.

But Jolie says she does not plan to stop there, as she is already planning to adopt another baby.

'Yeah, next we'll adopt,' she said, adding that the rest of the details have yet to be worked out. 'Another boy, another girl, which country, which race would fit best with the kids.'

Jolie also discussed the birth of her baby which, as much as she had set her mind on discussing the plight of others, she acknowledged was also the kind of life-changing experience every mother feels.

'Because you're there for the birth, which I wasn't for my first two kids, you're just suddenly terrified that they're not going to take a first breath,' Jolie said.

'She's healthy. And it was amazing.'