In early April 2024, a photograph went viral on social media, showing actress Angelina Jolie posing with dozens of live bees on her face and body.  In a number of cases, the captions accompanying the photo claimed that she “did not bathe for 7 days because bees are sensitive to smells and will not sting when the smell is too strong.”

The caption, copy-pasted by multiple social media users, read:

For this National Geographic photo shoot, Angelina Jolie did not bathe for 7 days because bees are sensitive to smells and will not sting when the smell is too strong.

Thousands of bees were flying around the actor during the photo shoot.

The session was held in honor of World Bee Day, with Angelina Jolie posing with bees for 18 minutes… a noble and risky gesture to honor the insects that play a fundamental role in our nature.

The photograph and caption also went viral on X (Twitter), with one post reaching over 440,000 views. “Where did you get this information?” a comment under the post asked. The claim also spread on TikTok and Instagram. The oldest posts of this kind we found were Spanish-language and published in early March 2024.

The photograph is genuine, but the specific claim that Jolie did not bathe for seven days beforehand is not entirely true. She stated in the interview that accompanied the photo in a National Geographic feature that she skipped showering for three days before the photo shoot. Therefore, we have rated the claim as a Mixture of true and false information.

Here is an excerpt from that interview (emphasis ours):

 IL: Dan Winters tracked down the same pheromone to attract the bees to you that was used by Richard Avedon in his famous portrait of a beekeeper 40 years ago.

AJ: It was so funny to be in hair and makeup and wiping yourself with pheromone. We couldn’t shower for three days before. Because they told me, “If you have all these different scents, shampoos and perfumes and things, the bee doesn’t know what you are.” [They] don’t want [bees] to confuse you for a flower, I suppose.

IL: And try to pollinate you. [Laughter]

AJ: I’m not really sure, but it was interesting. Then you put a few things up your nose and in your ears so you don’t give them as many holes to climb in.

Jolie participated in the photoshoot to raise awareness about bee conservation on United Nations’ World Bee Day in May 2021. The National Geographic article reported that Jolie, “as Special Envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, has seen firsthand the link between environmental destruction, food insecurity and human displacement around the world.” The photo was captured by photographer and beekeeper Dan Winters.

Additionally, in an effort to show the beauty and importance of bees in our environment, National Geographic photographer and beekeeper Dan Winters captured an exclusive selection of remarkable images of Jolie, dressed in a Gabriela Hearst sustainable dress and covered in a swarm of bees. Winters, who is available for interviews, was inspired by the iconic 1981 Richard Avedon portrait of “The Beekeeper.” Using the same pheromone the photographer and entomologist formulated for Avedon’s portrait exactly 40 years earlier, Winters carefully photographed Jolie at one with bees in California, with the aim to honor both Avedon and his photography while bringing attention to bees and beekeepers everywhere.

Winters posted a video from the photo shoot on his Instagram account.

In the caption, Winters wrote that as a longtime beekeeper, when he was given the assignment, his main concern was safety and that “everyone on set, except Angelina, had to be in a bee suit for protection.”

Shooting during the pandemic, with Angelina, a full crew and live bees made the execution complex. I knew the only way to insure we achieved the desired effect for the photo was to use the same technique that Avedon used 40 years ago to create his iconic portrait “The Beekeeper”. I hired my friend Konrad Bouffard, a master beekeeper, to help execute the idea. Konrad contacted the entomologist who formulated the specific pheromone (known as queen mandibular pheromone or QMP) for Avedon and worked with him to capture the unparalleled image of beekeeper Ronald Fischer that appeared in his book The American West. The entomologist offered to let us use some of the pheromone from the Avedon shoot. We used calm Italian bees. Everyone on set, except Angelina, had to be in a bee suit for protection.

He added that he applied pheromone to the places on Jolie where he wanted bees to congregate and that she was “covered in bees for 18 minutes without a sting.”

I applied the pheromone by hand in the places on her where I wanted bees to congregate. The bees are attracted to the pheromone, but it also encourages them not to swarm. Angelina stood perfectly still, covered in bees for 18 minutes without a sting. Being around bees is always an experience that leaves me in awe. I feel like our offering for World Bee Day has its own roots in photographic history. Creating this portrait exactly 40 years later, not only honors bees and beekeepers everywhere today, but also honors Richard Avedon, his iconic image and the technique by which it was achieved. Happy World Bee Day!

We reached out to Winters for comment and will update this article if/when we receive a response.

National Geographic also published a behind-the-scenes video with the title “Nat Geo Celebrates ‘World Bee Day’ with Angelina Jolie”:

 

We have investigated several claims relating Jolie in the past. For instance, in February 2024, we debunked a false rumor that Jolie once said, “Arabs and Muslims are not terrorists. The world should unite against Israel.” In October 2016, we fact-checked the claim that after breaking up with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie decided to return her adopted children to orphanages in order to focus on her career.