Angelina Jolie gets chicken pox and cancels 'Unbroken' promotion

Actress Angelina Jolie at the London premiere of Unbroken on Nov 25. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Actress Angelina Jolie at the London premiere of Unbroken on Nov 25. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - Film-maker and actress Angelina Jolie said on Friday she has chicken pox and will not be able to attend events for World War II drama Unbroken, her second film as director.

"I just want to be clear and honest why I will be missing the 'Unbroken' events in the next few days, which is that I found out last night that I have chicken pox," Jolie said in a video released by Universal Pictures on YouTube.

Unbroken, the harrowing survival story of prisoner of war and Olympic runner Louis Zamperini, will have its US premiere in Los Angeles on Monday.

It opens in theatres on Dec 25.

On Thursday, the film failed to pick up any nominations for Golden Globe awards, one of the biggest events in the film awards season that ends with the Academy Awards in February.

"So I will be home, itching and missing everyone and I can't believe it because this film means so much to me. I just can't believe it, but such is life," said the 39-year-old mother of six and wife of Brad Pitt.

At the end of the 39-second video, she throws up her hands and then waves goodbye.

On Wednesday, Jolie attended Hollywood Reporter's annual Women in Entertainment breakfast honouring the 100 most powerful women in the business.

Among those she greeted wasMs Amy Pascal, the beleaguered co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, whose e-mails have been leaked by hackers behind the massive cyberattack on the studio, a unit of Sony Corp.

In an e-mail exchange between Pascal and producer Scott Rudin that was reported by Gawker on Tuesday, Rudin called Jolie a "minimally talented spoiled brat" because of her demands during a remake of Cleopatra.

Jolie has not responded publicly to the remarks since the email exchange was disclosed.

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