Angelina Jolie Opens Up About Leaving Acting Before Her Split From Brad Pitt.
Being back on screen makes Angelina Jolie happy. The Oscar winner clarified that, prior to filing for divorce from her ex-husband Brad Pitt in 2016, she had essentially given up acting.
“I had kind of quit acting before my divorce,” Jolie stated in a June 17 interview with Variety. “I was focusing on directing, and I thought I’d be doing my international work.”
The 51-year-old discovered that her new job forced her to spend even more time away from her children, Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17, when she withdrew from her responsibilities in front of the camera.
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“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 went on, but she pointed out, “I was only taking things that were short or close by or I could take [my children].”
Jolie mentioned the emotional toll that her divorce from Pitt, which took over ten years to settle, had on her life in addition to taking a break from acting. But she added, "My fighting spirit is finally back," thanks to her children.
“I lost it for a bit,” she continued. “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.”
The Salt celebrity's family now serves as a source of inspiration for her work.
“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 clarified. “They know me more than anybody, and they still like me, which says a lot. 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.”