Angelina Jolie’s Brother James Haven, 53, Comes Out as Gay After Splitting from Wife

Angelina Jolie’s brother, James Haven, has come out as gay after splitting from his wife, “The Real L Word” star Romi Imbelli.

via: EW

Angelina Jolie‘s brother spoke candidly about his sexuality on Breathe Mija, the Substack from his ex-wife Romi Imbelli, on Thursday. “I’m gay. I’m a lot of things,” Haven said in the middle of a 35-minute livestream shared on Imbelli’s page.

Haven also shared a written statement reflecting on his sexuality on Breathe Mija. 

“When I was a little boy, I was absolutely obsessed with the Disney princesses,” he wrote. “I would sneak glitter onto my cheeks, swipe mascara onto my lashes, and for those moments, I felt like magic. I didn’t have the language back then to explain why I just knew it made me feel more like me. It was never about pretending to be someone else. It was about letting a part of myself shine that had always been there.”

Haven explained that he began to deemphasize aspects of his personality to fit in. “As I got older, I started wondering if that sparkle was something I had to hide to be accepted by the ‘normal’ boys around me,” he wrote. “Like so many gay kids, I learned to question parts of myself long before I learned to celebrate them. I spent years dimming my light because I thought that was the price of belonging.”

Haven continued, “Today, that little boy is standing in front of the people he loves most and the world, finally ready to tell the truth about who he is. Not because he’s changed, but because he’s tired of hiding. Coming out isn’t about becoming someone new, it’s about allowing everyone else to meet the person who has been here all along.”

He urged his family, which includes his parents Jon Voight and late actress Marcheline Bertrand, to have compassion.

“I hope my family and others can choose love over fear, understanding over judgment, and connection over the beliefs that may have kept us apart,” he wrote. “I hope they can look beyond the labels and simply see me with the same heart, the same laugh, the same soul they’ve always known. The only difference is that I’m no longer hiding. Today, I am genuinely happy. I am proud of the person I’ve become, and I’m so grateful that I no longer feel the need to apologize for the parts of me that make me who I am.”

Haven has worked as an actor, appearing alongside Jolie in projects like Gia, Original Sin, and Hell’s Kitchen. He also acted in small parts in Monster’s Ball (which costarred Jolie’s then-husband Billy Bob Thornton) and a 2004 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Haven and Imbelli met 24 years ago, and married in August 2024. Imbelli filed to have the marriage annulled two weeks later.

Imbelli shared her perspective on her ex-husband’s sexuality during the livestream. “I didn’t wanna see it. I didn’t wanna believe it. I knew it, and I wanted to support you and love you and then I didn’t wanna believe it, because then it would mean losing you in that capacity, which I couldn’t,” she said. “And so there was a battle between: how do you love and support somebody knowing their truth, but also how do you break the lie that you want to believe so badly is yours? And then somewhere along it, grieving the idea of what we were supposed to be in the world, and then accepting now, you are my life partner, we will do life together. You are not my close friend, you are my love. And you happen to be gay.”

Haven is perhaps best known for accompanying Jolie to the 2000 Academy Awards, where she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Girl, Interrupted — and celebrated her victory by kissing her brother on the lips. (They also kissed at the Golden Globes, pictured above.)

In her Oscar speech, Jolie said, “I’m in shock and I’m so in love with my brother right now. He just held me and said he loved me and I know he’s so happy for me. And thank you for that.”

The Oscars smooch caused a stir in the media, but Haven later denied that there was anything untoward at play. “I did not give Angie a French kiss, it was something simple and lovely,” he told Daily Mail in 2007. “She was about to go off to Mexico to finish filming Original Sin with Antonio Banderas. I congratulated her on the Oscar win and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. It was snapped and became a big thing round the world.”