A daughter who dresses as a boy. A son who had a party in an Iraqi refugee camp... Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are clearly not your average parents
Last week, she was in tracksuit trousers and a polo shirt. The week before, she was dressed in a hoodie. We often see her wearing both fedora and bowler hats - and sometimes even a tie.
In Los Angeles, her mother shopped for her in the boys' sections of stores. And when they were in Paris, it was a boutique for fashionable garcons that was picked for an afternoon excursion.
Indulged: Boyish Shiloh (centre) with mum Angelina Jolie and Zahara
Yes, three-year-old Shiloh Pitt, daughter of Brad and Angelina Jolie, has certainly acquired a distinctive style all of her own. And around a month ago, Shiloh's request to crop her long blonde hair was granted, and now she has - deliberately - a perfect boy's hairdo.
The indications are that Angelina herself is supporting her daughter's tomboy tendencies.
Indeed, Brad Pitt admits his daughter's boyish habits go deeper than just the clothes. For the past eight months, his little girl has apparently answered only to the name John.
She seems to have struck on the name because of her love of the story of Peter Pan - where John is Wendy's elder brother.
'We've got to call her John,' Brad told an interviewer, with delighted amusement, noting that when he started to ask, 'Shi, do you want...' she would interrupt with: "John. I'm John."' Brad continued: 'I'll say, "John, would you like some orange juice?" And she goes, "No!"'
Holiday: Brad and Angelina with Pax, Maddox and Zahara on a family trip to Florence last month
This is quite an unusual state of affairs. Some commentators in
America have even theorised that the child is being used to try to make a political point about gender.
Wendy McKenna, who holds a doctorate in psychology and is on the gender studies faculty at the State University of New York, says that this is unlikely. She contends that actually the cross-dressing phenomenon is fairly common - but that her parents' acceptance of it is not.
Ms McKenna said: 'The phenomenon of little boys wanting to dress like little girls and little girls wanting to dress like little boys is pretty common, but it's unusual for parents to go with it if it violates gender norms.'
Indeed, but let us acknowledge at the outset that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are not exactly your average parents. Shiloh, for instance, has already been promised solo lessons in flying aeroplanes by her mother, despite being only three.
A bit of a do: For his eighth birthday, Maddox was taken to visit a refugee camp in Iraq
And the couple, who have three adopted children and three natural children - Maddox, eight, Pax, six, Zahara, five, Shiloh and 20-month-old twins Knox and Vivienne - seem to be determined to break every convention when it comes to raising their rainbow tribe. It is a prime contender for the title of most unusual family on the planet.
Maddox, for instance, was only five when he secured his mother's agreement to get a tattoo. Together, mother and son actually picked out a Buddhist symbol for 'protection' - but were stopped at the 11th hour by objections from Brad Pitt - who felt he might be a bit young for body art.
Maddox, who was adopted by Angelina from
Cambodia when he was seven months old, was given some henna tattoos instead. He's being permitted to grow up fast in other areas, though. His fascination with weapons and martial arts is encouraged.
When he was six, Angelina said proudly: 'He's all into war and guns. So for Mother's Day he drew a machine gun, and Brad had it made into a [pendant for a] necklace, which is sweet. It's really cute.'
When Maddox was seven she talked about having started a collection of daggers for the boy. Angelina told W magazine: 'My mom took me to buy my first dagger when I was 11 or 12, and I've already bought Maddox some.'
She added that the two of them liked to talk about Samurai warriors and how defending someone with violence could be positive. Neither parent seems to entertain the idea that their son might be allowed to retain a childlike view of the world.
For his eighth birthday, Maddox was taken to visit a refugee camp in
Iraq. Brad Pitt has taken him to see films Avatar and Invictus, both of which are for over-13s. It's said that at home he gets to watch adult-rated movies, too.
What effect might this might have on a young child's psyche? People who have spent time with the family say that chaos reigns in whatever house the children happen to be living in.
The one routine which has been established so far is that for two months every summer they live in a French chateau, cut off from the rest of the world, and they regard it as their one real home.
Bought for almost £50million shortly before the birth of Knox and Vivienne, the sprawling property has three buildings. One is used as a house for their security team, one is for Brad and Angelina, and the other is where the six children have their rooms with their nannies.
Bonding with dad: Brad Pitt with Shiloh, who likes to be called 'John'
Apart from this small example of routine behaviour, the family has spent the past five years crisscrossing the globe.
They have settled in
New Orleans, and in
France, and called a myriad of hotels a temporary home. Angelina and Brad are periodically absent on film sets or, like this week, on goodwill missions for the United Nations.
They also like to take time out from the family to be alone. Brad has, as is well-documented, struggled with the attention their relationship attracts and will sometimes like to 'kick back' with friends like
Quentin Tarantino. He's been known to take off on overnight motorbiking trips when the pressure of being in the spotlight gets to him.
For the truth is that they are without doubt, the most scrutinised celebrity family in the world - so much so that when Maddox turned four, Brad and Angelina organised a decoy birthday party, complete with balloons and 'guests', so they could attempt to celebrate the occasion away from the paparazzi.
Brad has been seen drinking heavily, and has said more than once that he is still drunk from the previous night. Tarantino has alluded to Brad's cannabis-smoking habit, which his wife disapproves of.
Angelina, meanwhile, has seemed very frail, particularly since the birth of their twins, Knox and Viv, 20 months ago. She has suffered from depression, and her brother says that at times she has felt too low to eat.
Despite these strains, Angelina continues to go on various charitable missions with the children - taking Zahara and Shiloh to
Ethiopia and a trip with Maddox to Iraq last year - and is driven to these good deeds by the shallow nature of the movie business.
'You're just making entertainment and it doesn't feel very good at the end of the day to go to sleep... and feel that this is all you are,' she explained.
Since February, the family has been staying at the magnificent Palazzo Moncenigo in
Venice while Angelina films The Tourist with
Johnny Depp, accompanied by their usual retinue of six nannies, three security guards and a chef.
Despite the large staff, it seems there are no house rules, except the children aren't encouraged to make any friends outside of the family circle.
Good at preparing Cheerios cereal: Angelina with twins Knox and Vivienne in Venice in March
Maddox likes to speak French, even though the rest of the family, with the exception of his mother, struggle with the language. One former nanny, who quit in despair, says the children will insist on breakfasting on pizza or chocolate.
It's said that all six children have been 'acting out' during the various crises in the Jolie-Pitt relationship. A family friend said: 'They have never done night feeds or any of the daily work of getting the kids into routines. Because of the travelling, it's almost impossible to get children settled when they have jet lag.
'The nannies sit up watching cartoons with the children at all hours of the night, while Brad and Angie sleep in another room.'
The friend adds: 'Brad might suddenly decide to eat pizza with them or he'll take them out for the day. For example they took the twins out in the middle of the night in Jordan last year and fed them ice cream. Because they've built this family so quickly and have taken the short-cut of using nannies, they have never done the potty training stage or the teething stage.'
The six children are home schooled by their nannies - Angelina and Brad have boasted that Maddox in particular is 'beyond smart' - saying his IQ is off the charts.
Maddox takes piano lessons and is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Khmer. He's also said to be a gifted football player. However, the other younger children's lessons seem to consist of some drawing and reading and watching DVDs.
On arrival at a new rented residence, the nannies unpack and the kids tear up and down the hallways and call room service to order whatever they want. Neither Brad nor Angelina can cook. The one thing Angelina can apparently prepare is Cheerios cereal.
Despite this, Angelina's great ambition is to add further to her family - believing 13 children would be a lucky number. It's no surprise, then, to say that Angelina is a woman of extremes. Her own father said, not long ago: 'She has never been normal.' By her own account, she has tried every drug going, has a history of self-harm, and a long fascination with knives.
She has two previous marriages - with actors
Jonny Lee Miller and
Billy Bob Thornton - both of which seem to have been entered and then left virtually on a whim, and there is even a suggestion that, as a teenager, her behaviour was bordering on 'anti-social psychopathy'.
But her chief passion is children - indeed there is even speculation that she is pregnant again, and she will readily confirm that they are in the fairly advanced stages of planning a further adoption.
She told an interviewer recently that six children is not enough. 'Oh no,' she said. 'I mean, I know we seem crazy, just bringing them in one after the other, but we do plan.
'We make sure one is absorbed completely into the family before we add another. There are moments when we look at everyone around the dinner table, and it's just crazy, but our family is the greatest thing we've done in our lives.'
One can only wonder which child will next be welcomed into this most peculiar rainbow family.
