Angelina Jolie, 47, is taking in the joys of her oldest daughter, Zahara‘ s new college journey. The actress dropped off the 17-year-old at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA on Aug. 10 and has been feeling “bittersweet” emotions about the change. “Angelina has always had an incredibly close bond with Zahara so seeing her off to college is very bittersweet,” a source EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife. “They have been spending some extra alone time together because Angie knows how much she’s going to miss her little girl.”
“They’ve been doing all the typical mother-daughter stuff to prepare her for school,” the source continued. “Shopping for books, school supplies, plus everything she needs to make sure she’s comfortable in her dorm while living on campus. They got an extensive tour of the school before moving in and Angie is so excited to see her daughter flourish in such a beautiful environment. She thinks it’s an excellent school and is so excited to watch her baby grow up.”
Angelina spoke about almost crying and being excited at the same time, in a video Spelman’s Vice-President of Student Affairs Darryl Holloman shared to his Instagram. The doting mom and her daughter also met with school president Dr. Helene Gayle during the official campus drop-off. Zahara’s first official day of classes will be on Aug. 17 after a school orientation that started on Aug. 10.
“Angelina‘s been in Atlanta for a few days with Zahara and she’ll be staying a little longer to get her settled,” a second source EXCLUSIVELY shared. “Leaving without her daughter is not something that will be easy, but the good thing is that she has been through this before with Maddox [her oldest son]. And Zahara is at least staying in the country, it’s a pretty quick trip back and forth compared to when Maddox was in Yonsei [South Korea] so she’s taking some comfort in that. Still, it’s a very emotional, bittersweet time for her. As exciting as it all is, letting go is just very hard for her.”
Zahara’s new journey at Spelman comes just a couple of weeks after Angelina revealed her college of choice with a snapshot and caption, which can be seen above. “Zahara with her Spelman sisters!” the caption read. “Congratulations to all new students starting this year. A very special place and an honor to have a family member as a new Spelman girl.”