Angelina Jolie is opening up about one of the most difficult chapters of her life, revealing that she lost her “fighting spirit” for a time after her divorce from Brad Pitt—and that it was her six children who helped her find it again .
In a candid new interview with Variety, the Oscar-winning actress reflected on the emotional toll of her split from Pitt, which was finalized in December 2024 after nearly a decade of legal proceedings .
“I think my fighting spirit is finally back,” Jolie said. “I lost it for a bit. I got kind of taken down a little bit and it’s coming back in large part thanks to my children, who are now older, and encouraging it” .
Her children were her ‘greatest strength’
Jolie credited her six children—Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17—for helping her reconnect with herself .
“My kids are almost all 18, so now they want to see me traveling the world, they want me to get out and do things,” she explained. “They know me more than anybody, and they still like me, which says a lot” .
The actress revealed that focusing on her family gave her a reason to keep moving forward even when life felt overwhelming . “I raise my children almost by preparing them for my absence and not so much by preparing them to become a grandmother,” she added, reflecting on her perspective on motherhood .
Why she returned to acting
During the same interview, Jolie admitted that she had stepped away from acting even before her divorce, intending to focus on directing and humanitarian work .
“I had kind of quit acting before my divorce. I was focusing on directing, and I thought I’d be doing my international work,” she said .
However, she realized that those commitments often took her away from her children for long periods. “Suddenly the only way to be home more and for short periods of time being away or to make a good amount of money was to go back to acting,” she explained .
She signed on only for projects that “were short or close by” or allowed her to bring her kids along .
A new chapter
Now, with her children nearly all adults and the legal battle behind her, Jolie says she is rediscovering parts of herself she had put on hold . Her children, she said, are encouraging her to travel, work, and engage with the world again .
“I think they’re very encouraging of me kind of getting back to aspects of myself that maybe I hadn’t felt as free to do,” she added .
Jolie and Pitt first became a couple in 2005 after meeting on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, married in 2014, and separated two years later . Their divorce proceedings were among the most closely watched in Hollywood history, spanning legal battles over custody and shared properties like Château Miraval, which remains an ongoing dispute .
