Angelina Jolie: twins were a shock but we like a challenge

Angelina Jolie has revealed that she and partner Brad Pitt were surprised to discover they were expecting twins.

She told Entertainment Weekly recently: “We weren’t expecting twins. So it did shock us, and we jumped to six [children] quickly. But we like a challenge.”

But they are going to draft in additional support to help look after their four existing children - six year old Maddox, four year old Pax, three year old Zahara and two year old Shiloh - when the babies arrive later this summer: “[Brad’s] mom and dad are on standby to come out and help.”

She added that she’s keen to see the children helping out with their new siblings too: “They’re old enough to feel included to change diapers themselves, to feed bottles themselves, like if I pump into a bottle. We’re trying to find ways where it can be a fun group thing.

“[But] everybody still gets special time so we can make sure we know where they’re at.”

That special time is getting more difficult as her bump gets bigger but they’ve found a way to work around it: “We’ve worked out a system where Brad just lifts [the kids] to me every time they want to come up.

“I just don’t bend down. I’ll scream, ‘Honey!’ and he’ll come running and lift them up.”