RENEWED - by Veronica Parker

At 42, Hollywood’s highest priced heartthrob enjoys not only paternity but also helping the needy by Angelina Jolie’s side.

Without a doubt paternity has revolutionised the life of who was considered the world’s sexiest man, thanks to his children (natural and adopted) he is now more engaged in helping the ones who have less and even takes advantage of being a celebrity.

Dad and citizen of the world.

Brad Pitt affirms he is no longer the same man he used to be, that is, before becoming part of the evolving entourage of Angelina Jolie. The 42-year-old actor is full of enthusiasm about the challenges of broadening his panorama by joining Jolie in her engagement with global issues. It is not a naÔve or fleeting interest on Pitt’s side, for many years he felt he wanted to get involved.

“I am just realizing how much you can do to influence people and draw attention to important causes”, states Pitt. “I enjoy this period of my life because I see that I can do now more than what I ever imagined. It’s all a matter of adjusting your world, getting more involved and not limiting yourself”.

Pitt’s romance to Jolie has been beneficial for his ideas, and becoming a father of the actresses adopted children, as well as the couple’s natural child, has had a deep influence on his way of thinking.

“Children change everything in your life”, he adds. “It’s no longer about yourself. Being a parent imposes a bigger sense of responsibility and you find out that you take it very seriously. Nevertheless, you don’t see it as imposition. You see it as something very enriching. You want to see them grow and learn things and be part of that experience. It’s a wonderful experience!”

Pitt was in excellent shape and good homor on his three-day long adventure in Toronto during the International Film Festival in Toronto, where he promoted his new movie, Babel.

Directed by the Mexican Alejandro Gonz·lez IÒ·rritu (21 Grams, Amores Perros) it covers three continents portraying a series of tragic events that happen to American, Moroccan, Mexican and Japanese families.

Pitt and Cate Blanchett play an American couple that is unable to leave Morocco when Blanchett’s character gets shot by a peasant child playing with an old rifle in the desert.

“This is really a very profound film that says a lot about families and love”, states Pitt. “It also gives you the sensation that we are all a lot more closer that before, that different cultures are getting closer. Nowadays I consider myself a citizen of the world! … This is the life I want!”

Good humor and good heart

Although Blanchett could not attend the festival because she was shooting four hours away down highway 401 in Montreal, Pitt compensated for her absence posing playfully for the photographers, chatting flirtatiously with the fans while he walked the red carpet and having fun in general.

“This is entertaining,” the actor says. “I am enjoying my time in Toronto and, even though my life is sometimes strange, I don’t let that affect me being able to attend this kind of events and to support the work of a director like Alejandro.”

“He is truly an international director and I feel more and more interested in films that reflect the human spirit and try to say something about our times. In my own way I want to contribute to make this world a better place for people who have to struggle to survive”.

While In Toronto, Pitt took time to attend the “OneXOne” fundraiser hosted by Matt Damon, with whom he costarred in Ocean’s Eleven. Pitt and Damon have been working on Ocean’s Thirteen, the last installment in the series about a great heist, led by George Clooney and being shot in Los Angeles and surroundings.

“I am pleased to be here to support Matt and the children that this project is helping. The good thing about being a celebrity is that you can raise awareness and do something positive with your time”.

Ever since Pitt and Jolie became the world’s most famous celebrity couple. Pitt has started devoting himself to the kind of global charity work that Jolie has been doing as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN.

Pitt has also been enjoying the pleasures of being father to Jolie’s adopted children and his first natural daughter.

“My life is more complete and gratifying since I got involved with projects that help people enormously and in very concrete ways,” states Pitt. “It gives you so much satisfaction to be part of that process that helps you being less cynical about your own life”.

… And the wedding?

In spite of rumors of an imminent wedding, Pitt has recently stated that he won’t even consider marriage until everyone is “free” to do so. This statement shouldn’t surprise anyone, considering what Pitt said last year about marriage.

“The idea that marriage has to last forever, that I don’t understand”, stated Pitt after his marriage at Jennifer Aniston collapsed. “They talk about my marriage as if it had failed, I suppose because it wasn’t perfect. In my case, I embrace the chaos of life. As a matter of fact, I find it very beautiful”.

Resigned with the paparazzi

That is perhaps the kind of spirit that makes the passionate Jolie and Pitt’s free spirit be the ideal couple. The deeply love their children, both are committed to work for international causes like the welfare of children and the fight against poverty and they both feel that their charity work, in some way, liberates them of the celebrity frenzy that follows them wherever they go.

I’ve lived with photographers chasing me for 14 years, so that anything I can do to shift the focus from me and channel it to causes like the fight against poverty in Africa is very important to me.”

“I cannot get out of the media. These people cannot get on the press …but, we have the potential to end poverty (in Africa) in our lifetime”.

“Well, I say, what is there more exciting than this? The potential is there. We need to try it.”

Pitt definitely seemed good humored during his stay in Toronto, despite the hordes of photographers that followed his every move. He never stopped smiling, although he generally didn’t seem to be aware of the frenzy around him.

Nevertheless, with the passing of time, Pitt’s attitude to the media’s frantic obsession with his life has made him turn indifferent about his stardom.

“Let me speak out of experience, you know, I’ve been in those tabloids for 14 years. And at a certain point, you simply become a Zen master of all of it.”