Angelina Jolie Admits Disparities Black Shoppers Face ‘Never Crossed Her Mind’ Until She Shopped for Daughter

Actress Angelina Jolie is speaking out against the disparities Black people face when shopping and trying to find clothes that match their skin tone.

As Jolie, 48, prepares for the launch of her fashion brand, Atelier Jolie, she’s noting the struggles her daughter Zahara, 18, faces when shopping for clothes. The collection includes a silk slip dress that comes in various shades of nude, a touch recommended by her Ethiopian daughter.

For Jolie, disparities in shopping are something that “never crossed her mind” as a white woman. She didn’t take notice of the issue until she started shopping for Zahara.

“Obviously, as a white woman, I’ve never had this experience,” Jolie told Vogue.

“It never crossed my mind until we went shopping together and I saw that there’s so much room for improvement.”

This isn’t the first time Jolie has served as an advocate for the disparities faced by people of color. With Jolie having adopted multiple children from different racial backgrounds, she has seen the harsh reality many people of color face when simply going to the doctor.

In July, the Maleficent star penned an op-ed for the American Journal of Nursing calling out the disparities in health care that have “endangered” her children of color. Jolie noted how most medical research imagery and training centers focus on white skin, which results in medical professionals who “often miss injuries depending on race and ethnicity.”

“As the mother of children of multiple races, I have seen my children of color be misdiagnosed, at times in ways that endangered their health,” Jolie wrote.

While Jolie’s family has the benefit of “access to high-quality medical care,” she recognizes that “simple diagnoses are missed because of race and continued prioritization of white skin in medicine.”

“Reflecting personally, when my daughter Zahara, who is from Ethiopia, was hospitalized for a medical procedure, the nurse told me to call her ‘if she turns pink near her incisions,’” Jolie recalled. “I stood looking blankly at her, not sure she understood what was wrong with what she had said. When she left the room, I had a talk with my daughter, both of us knowing that we would have to look for signs of infection based on our own knowledge, not what the nurse had said, despite her undoubted good intentions.”

Jolie adopted her eldest child, Maddox, from his birth country Cambodia in 2002. She adopted Zahara in 2005, and her son Pax was born in Vietnam and she adopted him in 2007. Jolie also shares three biological children with ex-husband Brad Pitt; daughter Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne.