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By Dotson Rader, PARADE
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"My life has been about big changes," says actor Brad Pitt. "It's always been that way. When I go down a path, I take it to the end. Then I take another one. I took the path of not having kids—now it's time for family." He tells me this during a long afternoon at his home in L.A.
"Children are a dominant value in my life now, and they weren't before," Pitt continues. "They were always something I thought I'd get around to having when the time was right. It wasn't what I was really seeking. In a way, I think I had to go and exhaust me before I could be good at being a parent."
Pitt was a big star before he met actress Angelina Jolie on the set of 2005's "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." But as a couple, they are an international phenomenon—photographed, admired, besieged. Their daughter Shiloh was born in 2006. Last year they had twins, Vivienne Marcheline and Knox. They also have three adopted children: Maddox, 8, Pax, 5, and Zahara, 4.
"I don't think I was all that late in becoming a father," Pitt says. He is 45, Jolie is 34. "My oldest boy is 8. Man, you just have to stay alert in case one of them has a problem, and then you need to find things to calm you down. I've discovered that classical music works as a great pacifier." He laughs. "This family is full of life! There are laughs, aggravations, irritations, but at the end of the day, it's fun. When life is really good, it's messy."
Pitt is delightful company—relaxed, thoughtful, and unpretentious. What is most disarming about him, however, is his eager hopefulness, his Midwestern good-guy optimism.
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