Angelina Jolie's drug video: 3 reasons why it isn't a big deal

In an old video leaked recently by Angelina Jolie’s former drug dealer, Franklin Meyer, we see the actress talking on the phone as she paces around an untidy apartment. When the video was made, Jolie was in her early twenties. Meyer told the media that the video was shot with her permission soon after she had scored from him. Though the video has sparked quite a bit of frenzy in social media, here’s why we think that the video doesn’t deserve so much attention. [caption id=“attachment_1613233” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A screengrab from youtube[/caption] 1. It’s all in the past: The video was recorded in 1999. Angelina Jolie was 24-years-old then and had starred in films like Girl, Interrupted and The Bone Collector that year. However, it’s been fifteen years since then and Angelina Jolie is a completely different person now, at least in public gaze. From someone who used to regularly feed the Hollywood gossip industry with her reckless life, drug problems and difficult relationships, Jolie hardly ever makes a wrong move in public now. She is now known for being the mother of six children, a humanitarian who fights against sexual violence in war zones, a serious filmmaker and a bona fide Hollywood star. One should not hold a drug problem in the past against her, surely. 2. No skeletons to hide: Angelina Jolie has never been the person who tried to cover up a not-so-glorious past.  The actress has often spoken at length about her drug-addiction in interviews. In an interview to 60 Minutes, the actress, while talking about her drug problem has said, “I didn’t die young, so I’m very lucky. There are other artists and people who didn’t survive certain things.” Not only that, reportedly, the actress will also address the issue of how her relationship with beau Brad Pitt affected his marriage with Jennifer Aniston in a tell-all book.  The fact that we know about her troubled teenage, battle with depression and inability to cope with her mother’s death is because Jolie herself has spoken about it at length on various platforms. So the video shouldn’t really shake her fans. 3. Too skinny? Who cares?: Ever since the video has surfaced people have been talking about how thin Jolie looks in it.  Daily Mail went with the headline, “Bloodshot hollow eyes, emaciated arms and rambling on the phone: Haunting video of Angelina Jolie the heroin addict” and Mirror UK titled their piece on the leaked video as, “Angelina Jolie video shows shockingly thin actress pacing around messy flat after ‘scoring drugs’”. Now, while it is every bit true that the actress does look exceptionally thin in the video, if you run a quick search of Angelina Jolie on Google images, you would see that fifteen years have not added any weight to the actress either. Her collar bones continue being as defined and her jawline remains as it was in 1999 - when the video was shot. The only difference that must have thrown the tabloids off is the fact that she is not wearing make-up in the video - something that usually conceals many such flaws in leading actresses. Actually, if Daily Mail’s headline is re-read it sounds like a lot of us, after we have woken up on a Monday morning - groggy and hardly picture-perfect. However, since it’s Jolie, the tabloids apply their exacting standards of physical appearance to deride her. Watch the video here: