Angelina Jolie has faith, her religious beliefs recently reinvigorated by her latest film Unbroken but Brad Pitt wavers in his beliefs about God.

When it comes to religion, the famous couple has their similarities and their differences. Brad Pitt “oscillates between Agnosticism and Atheism,” while Angelina Jolie found her belief in God while working with Louis Zamperini for Unbroken, a hit film in 2013.

Brad Pitt’s Struggle with God

According to an interview he did with The Hollywood Reporter, he was raised religiously. During his promotion for The Tree of Life, he opened up about his childhood, letting the world know that he was raised “being told things were God’s way, and when things didn’t work out it was called God’s plan.” Over the years, he grew uneasy, saying he was “probably 20% Atheist and 80% Agnostic. I don’t think anyone really knows. You’ll either find out or not when you get there, and until then there’s no point in thinking about it.”

However, Brad Pitt found himself changing after the 90’s, when he felt himself spiraling downward. “I was hiding out from the celebrity thing; I was smoking way too much dope; I was sitting on the couch and just turning into a doughnut.” A trip to Morocco changed everything, when he saw poverty up close, “to an extreme I had never witnessed before, and we talked about inequality and health care, and I saw just what I felt was so unnecessary.” The moment turned him into an activist, one thing he shares with Angelina Jolie.

Angelina Jolie’s Life was changed by a World War II Survivor

Angelina Jolie met Louis Zamperini, and he completely changed her life. Zamperini, who passed in July at the age of 97, was an Olympic track star and a born-again Christian. His World War II survival story is the basis for the film, Unbroken. The man survived 47 days floating in a lifeboat after a plane crash, and was discovered by the Japanese and taken prisoner. Zamperini was able to see Unbroken before he passed.

“I downloaded the movie to my laptop and showed it to him at the hospital. He was watching his life. [He was] reliving all the experiences, preparing for that long, extraordinary life to end.”

Angelina Jolie learned a lot from Zamperini, on spirituality and achieving your goals. “When there is an obstacle, you have to rise to that challenge, not be overwhelmed by it. And we’re not alone in the world. I don’t know if there’s a name for that – religion or faith – just that there’s something greater than all of us, and it’s uniting and beautiful.”

It was no secret that Jolie was “inspired by Louie’s life.” In earlier interviews, she said that she “had this fever to be a part of it.” Zamperini gifted her with a golden pendant in the form of a running shoe, a special prize from his earlier running days. She wore the pendant during the filming for good luck.

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