Jolie denies banning personal questions

Angelina Jolie says her representatives were trying to protect her when they sought to make media outlets sign an agreement not to ask personal questions during interviews.

“I didn’t put it out there,” Jolie said on US TV.

“It was from my representatives trying to be protective of me, but it was excessive and I wouldn’t have put it out there. But it’s all right and nobody was forced to do it.”

The star of the new film A Mighty Heart, about the widow of slain reporter Daniel Pearl and freedom of the press, spoke candidly about her family at the film’s Manhattan premiere on Wednesday.

But media outlets seeking one-on-one interviews were asked to sign a legal document banning certain questions and mandating that any story from the interview must be about the movie.

Requests to sign such documents are rare, but on the rise with the increase of tabloid celebrity coverage.

“I didn’t know about the document, and my lawyers apologised to me to say that it was heavy-handed,” Jolie said.

“But they did it with good intention” because of the serious subject matter and tone of the movie, she added.

Jolie gamely answered another question about her family, saying she and boyfriend Brad Pitt have an equal hand in disciplining their children.

Jolie’s lawyer, Robert Offer, told The New York Times that he blamed himself - a “bone-headed, overzealous lawyer” for the contract and that Jolie was unaware of the action.

The document “was drafted overly broadly,” he said. “It was well intended, but I understand how it was received.”

Jolie’s manager, Geyer Kosinski, and a spokeswoman for the Paramount movie studio did not immediately respond to email messages seeking comment.