Angelina Jolie reveals her six children speak seven languages between them

Angelina Jolie Pitt has revealed that her six children speak a combined total of seven languages between them.

The actress guest edited BBC Radio Four’s Women’s Hour on Friday morning where she told her co-hosts Jane Garvey and Jenni Murray that none of her six children wanted to take after their mother and father, Brad Pitt, and become an actor but prefer music and are all interested in improving their language skills.

“It’s been very interesting, all the kids are learning different languages,” she said. “I asked them what languages they are learning and wanted to learn and Shi’s learning Khmer, which is the Cambodian language, Pax is focusing on Vietnamese, Mad has taken on German and Russian. Z’s speaking French. Vivienne really wanted to learn Arabic and Knox is learning sign language.

“It suppose it just means you don’t know who you’re children are until they show you who you are and they’re just becoming whoever they want to be,” the 41-year-old said, adding "they are interested in other cultures".

Jolie Pitt has six children with Pitt. She has three biological children Shiloh, 10, and twins Vivienne and Knox who are seven. She also adopted Maddox, 14, from Cambodia, Pax, 12, from Vietnam, and Zahara, 11, from Ethiopia.

Jolie Pitt, who is a Special Envoy for the UN’s refugee agency, also discussed her continuing work with refugees. She is continuing to focus on the health of refugees in camps and recollected when she was pregnant with her daughter Shiloh in Namibia. The humanitarian said she was able to afford an ultrasound but she “probably wouldn’t have made it this far” if she was a refugee.

The actress also spoke about the other health issues she has faced in recent years. In 2013, Jolie Pitt revealed her decision to have a double mastectomy after learning she carried the BRCA1 cancer gene which doctors said increased her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer. She later had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.

She said she decided to be so public about her decision because of her belief in the importance to pass on any health information to fellow women and because she wished her mother, Marcheline Bertrand who died of cancer in 2007, had known about the operation.

"I thought that I had gained information that I wish my mother would have known, I wish she'd had the option, I wish she'd had the surgery, in fact, it might have given her more years with my family," she said. "I think it's really important that we all share anything we learn and we stay connected. I believe in the way women can share and support each other."