Angelina Jolie, who split from Brad Pitt last year, finally opened up about their widely talked-about divorce and how she’s coping with it. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the Changeling actress talked about her kids, dealing with the fallout of her 12-year-old relationship under media scrutiny and her health. Angelina filed for a divorce from Brad in September 2016, while working on her upcoming film First They Killed My Father, when things got bad. “I didn’t want to use that word,” she clarified, “Things became difficult.”
“(Our lifestyle) was not in any way a negative. That was not the problem. That is and will remain one of the wonderful opportunities we are able to give our children,” she said, denying the claims that Brad was “craving a more stable, normal life for the whole family.”
Earlier this year, Brad had admitted in an interview that he had a drinking problem and how he was healing after the split. “For me, this period has really been about looking at my weaknesses and failures and owning my side of the street,” he had said. Angelina said that the interview didn’t surprise her.
“We care for each other and care about our family,” she said of her relationship with Brad, post-split, “We are both working towards the same goal.”
The couple has six children, three adopted and three biological. Angelina has the physical custody of the kids, with Brad being granted visitation rights to them. “I was very worried about my mother, growing up- a lot. I do not want my children to be worried about me,” she admitted, when asked about how her children are dealing with it, “I think it’s very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything’s going to be all right even when you’re not sure it is.” The couple has decided to keep the developments of the case sealed out of press.
She also, for the first time, discussed her Bell’s palsy diagnosis last year, a result of damage to facial nerves that caused one side of her face to droop. “Sometimes women in families put themselves last until it manifests itself in their own health,” she said, “I can’t tell if it’s menopause or if it’s just been the year I’ve had.”
