Angelina Jolie once smoked two packs of cigarettes daily, but her role in Tomb Raider played a pivotal part in helping her quit. Here’s how it all happened.
Before filming Tomb Raider, Angelina Jolie was smoking two packs of cigarettes daily, but her role as Lara Croft forced her to completely overhaul her health.
On February 5, the 49-year-old actress attended the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California, where she received the Maltin Modern Master Award and participated in a conversation about her career and personal journey.
During a Q&A with film critic Leonard Maltin, Jolie reflected on her physical transformation for the 2001 film, revealing that she came to the role smoking heavily but had to make significant changes to her lifestyle.
«I was smoking two packs a day when I arrived, and I had to completely change my health and my life,» she shared.
«That experience really showed me I could do things I didn’t know I was capable of.»
Jolie explained that her intense training for the film pushed her to make healthier choices, including quitting smoking.
«For *Tomb Raider*, I trained like crazy—multiple sessions a day, morning, noon, and night,» she recalled.
«And at some point, I didn’t want anything except good food, water, and sleep.
My body was craving it, and everything changed.»
After the film, Jolie became a mother and quit smoking for good.
The mother of six—Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 18, and twins Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline, 16—whom she shares with ex-husband Brad Pitt, also joked about her occasional slip-ups.
“I never went back to it… Well, maybe once or twice,” she laughed.
