Angelina Jolie says coming from a broken home made her the self-sufficient woman she is today.
The sexy brunette's parents, actress Marcheline Bertrand and 'Midnight Cowboy' actor Jon Voight, split when she was just three and the 29-year-old star had infrequent contact with her famous dad after the divorce.
Jolie - who has two failed marriages to actors Jonny Miller and Billy Bob Thornton - believes it made her realise she could never rely on anyone else and gave her an independent outlook on life.
She said: "I don't know if my childhood was any worse that anyone else's. But it is disturbing and sad when you see one parent figure not respecting the other. That probably had a great effect on me wanting to be self-sufficient.
"I was raised feeling that I didn't want the ground to be taken away from me, and so by the age of 14 I was already working. I didn't want to ask for help from anybody, and that extended into my own marriages."
Meanwhile, Jolie insists she is still good friends with second husband Thornton - who recently fathered a daughter with his current girlfriend, Connie Angland.
She said: "Billy and I were right to be together at the time, but we are just friends today and there is a deep bond and love between us."
(c) BANG Media International
