April 2000
Her Jamie
AS A LITTLE GIRL, ANGELINA JOLIE TOOK A TERRITORIAL STANCE when it came to her older brother. "She would tell people 'He's my Jamie,' " says her brother, James Haven, whose relationship with his Oscar-winning sister became water-cooler chitchat after she accepted her award at the March 26 ceremony and declared that she loved him very, very much. In fact, Jolie said, "I am so in love with my brother right now." That sweet -- no passionate -- somewhat out-of-the-ordinary avowal raised eyebrows and catapulted Haven, 26, an instantly likable, articulate actor-director with a keen sense of humor, into a place where there is just one pressing question: What's up, bro? "I've heard what people are saying, and it's a very weird thing," he says. "They're going into a realm where it's something that's almost ugly rather than something that can be beautiful."
OK, so let's set the record straight. What is their relationship? "We love each other," he says. "If that's unusual these days, that's sad." What of the more lurid talk, the kind that would be impolite to print? "That's sick," he says. They haven't slept together, say Haven jokingly, since he was 7 and she was 5. "I think we fell asleep in our mom's bed while we were watching television." Prior to the Oscars, about the closest they got to truly questionable behavior was back when they made watching Dynasty an event by baking cakes in Jolie's Easy-bake Oven. "Those cakes were sooo good," says Haven, who bleached his hair blond before the Oscars, about the time Jolie was adding black hair extensions. "I was shocking white, and she was jet black," he says. "It was too perfect."
"Over the years, they've been each other's best friends and biggest supporters," says their father, actor Jon Voight, 61. "She's enjoyed taking him along for the ride. And he's very much the big brother, always looking out for her."
According to Haven, the siblings' bond stems from when Voight and their mother, Marcheline Bertrand, now Jolie's co-manager, split in 1976. "Both of us were quite young, and coming from a divorced family, we got very close," says Haven. "You need a certain support, and we gave that to each other." And more, boasts their pop: "Back when Jamie was around 4 or 5, he would take the video camera, point it at her and say, 'Angie, act!' And she would. She loved entertaining him."
While he was growing up in Beverly Hills, Haven remembers, he visited his father on movie sets and knew, "ever since I was a kid, that one day I would end up in the business." Since graduating in 1995 from the University of Southern California, where he won a prestigious George Lucas Award for a student film starring his sister, Haven has concentrated on acting. "My dad's been an influence," he says. "Sadly, as far as being supportive of my acting, I've never felt it. I hope one day I can get that response from him." That day may be soon. A health frantic who starts each day with a 14-mile run on the treadmill, Haven recently appeared in a small scene in his sister's latest film, Dancing in the Dark, now shooting in Mexico. "I'd like to emulate Tom Cruise," he muses. "He's great with his wife, his fans and his work. He's the epitome of how you do it."
Maybe, just maybe, though, Haven and his sister are the new standard-bearers for siblings. Picture how they shared the moment when Jolie's name was called at the Oscars. "It was the most intense feeling I've ever felt in my life," says Haven. "I just started shaking uncontrollably. She said, 'Can you believe it, Haven?' " Then they kissed and partied, and, finally, at around 5:30 a.m., he dropped Jolie off at her hotel, where she packed and caught a plane a few hours late for Mexico. And the Oscar? "I have it," says Haven, grinning. "it's at my place, all polished up and beautiful." Now that's true love.
