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Angelina Jolie: Hooked on Kids?
Too many kids too quickly can be sign of depression, experts warn
By Mary Papenfuss
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Posted Feb 28, 08 10:16 AM CST
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(Newser)
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As actress Angelina Jolie nurtures her latest pregnancy that will boost the number in her brood to 5—all under the age of 7—people are beginning to wonder if it's a bit much. In fact some mental health experts believe the former wild child's rapidly expanding family could be a sign of depression. A compulsion to have children "is a way of self-medicating," a psychologist told ABC News. It can be "a distraction from feelings of emptiness."
Jolie is hardly the first actress who has collected kids. Mia Farrow, 62, had three husbands and 15 children—four biological and the rest adopted. One of her lovers, Woody Allen, married one of her kids. Parenting lots of kids "keeps you busy, wins attention from other people, and helps you define your own role," pointed out the author of a book on motherhood and depression. "All those things manage depression."