Where Cambodia’s war left minefields, Angelina Jolie made a home

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‘It's not a sacrifice to live a life for others. It's a great joy,’ Angelina Jolie says, reflecting on her adoption of her Cambodian son Maddox and her more than two decades of work with Cambodia

STAR. Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie poses at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

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MANILA, Philippines – Before a piece of Cambodian land scarred by the Khmer Rouge could be reborn as a home, Angelina Jolie first had to quite literally dig out the dangers of its past.

“The first few years, we were just demining the area, the place that is now my home. We actually found 48 landmines,” she said.

Much of the early work was about clearing explosives and making sure nearby schools and communities were safe and not being threatened by illegal gem mining, poaching, or deforestation operations. Eventually, it evolved into the Maddox Foundation, which now supports communities in Cambodia’s Samlout region.

All this began two and a half decades ago when Jolie came to Cambodia to make a movie.

Speaking at the ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit in Manila on Wednesday, November 11, Jolie recalled how a trip to Cambodia to film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider became the beginning of a lifelong relationship with the country.

At the time, she knew little about the country beyond its painful history of war, violence, and suffering.

What she found surprised her. Despite everything Cambodians had endured, she encountered people who were warm, generous, and extraordinarily welcoming.

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