Angelina Jolie’s fighting spirit has returned, nearly 10 years after her breakup with ex-husband Brad Pitt.
“I think my fighting spirit has finally returned,” the actress told Variety in an interview published Wednesday.
The 52-year-old confessed that she “lost it for a little while,” adding that she was “a little depressed.”
Jolie credits her and Pitt’s six children (Maddox, 24, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 20, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17) with helping her find herself again.
“I’m getting back on track in large part because of the encouragement from my older kids,” she said, describing her “very encouraging” offspring.
Her children in particular want Jolie to “go out and do things,” especially exploring “sides of[her]self that she might not have had the freedom to do before.”
“My kids are almost all 18, so now they want to see me traveling the world,” the “Maleficent” star added. “They know me better than anyone and they still like me, which says a lot.
“Before I got divorced, I was thinking about quitting acting,” she continued. “I was focused on directing and was looking to do some international work.”
However, “the only way to be home more, be away for short periods of time, and make enough money was to go back to acting.”
After announcing her divorce from Pitt, 62, in September 2016, Jolie began carrying around “things that are nearby, things that are close by, or things that (she) can take” for her children.
The former couple finally finalized their controversial divorce in December 2024 after more than eight years of legal proceedings.
It is heard that Pitt, who has been dating Ines de Ramon since 2022, has “virtually no contact” with his children.
In May 2024, Shiloh became the first of six people to legally retire the Pitt surname.
Maddox filed a similar request in May, calling the request “personal,” and Zahara became the third child to make a similar request in June.
That same month, Page Six reported that Knox removed Pitt’s last name from his high school diploma. This was the same thing his twin sister did when she was helping produce the 2024 Broadway play “The Outsiders.”
Pitt is reportedly “devastated” over his children’s name changes, but is said to be “not ready to give up” on them.
Earlier this month, a source exclusively told Us that Angelina “seems very happy that her years of intense and deliberate efforts to separate her children from their father were completely successful.”
However, another source claimed, “Angelina participated in years of family therapy with Brad and the kids as they all tried to heal after the events that led to her filing for divorce.”
“The children are now adults and making their own decisions and that should be respected. If they choose to distance themselves from him, it comes from that pain and harm.”
