Entertainment

Maleficent star Angelina Jolie praises her kids for helping drag her through dark times after split from Brad Pitt


WHEN Angelina Jolie last appeared on the big screen as Maleficent five years ago her married life appeared perfect.

Yet since then the striking Hollywood actress has endured a shock split from husband Brad Pitt.

 Angelina Jolie has praised her children for helping drag her through the darkest times after split from Brad Pitt
Angelina Jolie has praised her children for helping drag her through the darkest times after split from Brad Pitt

Now Angelina, 44, is back in the role of evil Disney stepmum Maleficent and it has helped her get through her painful divorce from Brad, 55.

She says: “The last few years have not been the easiest. I have had my ups and downs. I haven’t felt very strong.

“So, there’s something when you are not feeling very strong where you push yourself and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to play these kind of characters that pull out every bit of strength and remind me that I can be strong. I guess I am a little bit stronger.”

Angelina also praised their six children for helping drag her through the darkest times.

 Angelia Jolie with four of her children at Maleficent's premiere in London
Angelia Jolie with four of her children at Maleficent’s premiere in LondonCredit: Alamy Live News

On her kids, she said: “We’ve all been a bit in lockdown. We all have our difficult times. Very ­similar to my character in the film, my strength is from my children.

‘I didn’t work, the kids needed me at home’

“Anyone who is a parent knows there is a strength within you that grows when you just have to survive anything to be strong enough for them and you have to pull them through anything.”

Today we can reveal how NONE of Angelina’s kids want to follow their mum and dad’s footsteps into films, how they all think she’s cool for getting a damehood from the Queen and how she cried when packing off eldest Maddox to college.

 The couple split after a 12-year relationship
The couple split after a 12-year relationshipCredit: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Angelina, who had a double mastectomy in 2013, plays a vengeful fairy in Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil — released this week. It is her first major role since By The Sea in 2015, which also starred Brad.

But they stunned the world in 2016 when they ended their two-year marriage and 12-year relationship.

It came amid reports that Brad had confronted their son Maddox — then 16 — in a drunken rage on a flight. The incident prompted an FBI investigation which was later dropped.

A £300million divorce battle followed, with “irreconcilable differences” stated as the reason behind their split.

 Angelina says her role in Maleficent has helped her get through her painful divorce
Angelina says her role in Maleficent has helped her get through her painful divorceCredit: Alamy

Evil time in make-up

ANGELINA spent up to two hours in the make-up chair every day to be transformed into her movie alter ego.

Her prosthetic chiseled cheekbones, pale skin, arched brows, horns and scarlet lips were ­created by an expert team.

She said: “It’s the construction of getting the hair wrapped in the horns, and the cheekbones on.”

It’s a far cry from Mr And Mrs Smith, pictured, where her natural beauty shone through . . .  and captivated her now ex Brad Pitt.

The paperwork, filed in Los Angeles, also showed that Angelina put through a summons to discuss the custody of the children and that she was seeking full custody with ­visitation rights for Brad.

But in April last year it emerged she had given Brad the right to see Maddox, 18, Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13, and Vivienne and Knox, 11.

The wrangle over the estate is still said to be rumbling on.

Angelina insists her main focus is their children.

 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie split due to 'irreconcilable differences'
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie split due to ‘irreconcilable differences’Credit: Getty – Contributor

She said: “I do find myself wondering just how resilient I have to be.

“As a mother you also have a responsibility, first and foremost, towards the kids.

“They are going through their ­formative years and everything else comes second to that. I didn’t work for more than a year because they needed me home.”

Angelina, who made her Hollywood breakthrough in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001, says she is proud of how ­normal her children are, despite them having two of the world’s most famous people for parents.

 Angelina is proud of how normal her children are
Angelina is proud of how normal her children areCredit: AFP or licensors

She said: “The good thing is I have wanted them to be exposed to it all, so they don’t feel like it is ­something they are not involved in, that it is not a part of their life.

“But fame is not important to them and the centre to their lives in a way that is unhealthy. It is all fun.”

When Angelina appeared as Maleficent in the first film — which took £450million at the box office — her daughter Vivienne appeared next to her on screen as a young princess Aurora, aged just four.

But Angelina said Vivienne will not be repeating the experience any time soon. In fact, she says none of her kids want to work in movies.

 Her children think it's really cool that she got an honorary damehood from the Queen
Her children think it’s really cool that she got an honorary damehood from the QueenCredit: Reuters

She said: “Viv is still slightly upset with me that I put her as a Princess.

“She said its going to take a while to live that one down. My kids do not want to be actors.”

But they were all there with Angelina at the premiere of the new Maleficent movie this month in London.

She said of taking them on the red carpet: “It is so fun — it would get quite lonely if I was doing it by myself.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil trailer for Disney sequel with Angelina Jolie

“It is never fun to focus on yourself anyway, so when you are all taking care of each other and making a game out of it and just being silly, it is nice for me as a mum.”

When she talks about her oldest son Maddox, who has just started college, Angelina is filled with joy.

She said: “I am so happy for him that he has grown up into such a good man.

“And I say that because he is smart and doing his work, but he is also wild, so he is balanced in his teenage years but it’s fun . . . and he got tattooed.”

 Her daughter Vivienne appeared with Angelina in her first Maleficent movie
Her daughter Vivienne appeared with Angelina in her first Maleficent movieCredit: Disney

Angelina, whose ­character in the movie goes through the heartbreak of letting her daughter Aurora go, said she sees similarities in it with her real life with her eldest. She said: “Like Maleficent letting go of Aurora, I have had to let go of Maddox.

“You have to trust in the person they have become and you have to know they have to make their own mistakes and you have to get out of their way.

“In the end you discover that you have this friend and this person in your life that’s going to do more than you ever imagined, and that can teach you so much. It is very exciting.

“I am so proud of him and he was so ready. I couldn’t be more excited.

 After Brad and Angelina's split, a £300million divorce battle followed
After Brad and Angelina’s split, a £300million divorce battle followedCredit: New Regency Film

“Our house is six hours away from him though, so I’ve been crying.

“I feel like my world expands as their world expands. I learn so much from them. I love this stage. But I think it is going to be ­different for different kids. Maddox was so ready.”

One thing that has really earned Angelina “mum points” with her brood was getting an honorary damehood from the Queen in 2014 for her ­charity work.

She said: “I was really proud of that because it was for work in foreign service and my kids know about that and they think that is cool.”

 Angelina is also known for her humanitarian work
Angelina is also known for her humanitarian workCredit: Getty – Contributor

Now with two decades of Hollywood experience under her belt and a host of hit movies, Angelina looks back on her career so far with great pride.

She said: “You have moments as actors where you stop and go, ‘Look at us. Look at what we are doing, look at our jobs’.

“Things have changed since I started doing this job and I am thrilled to see so many more opportunities for women and, of course, there is still very far to go.”

So when asked what her message to the 24-year-old Angelina would be, she said: “I think you have to make all the mistakes, you have to go through everything, because ­everything somehow leads to ­something else.

“So I would just say, ‘Hang on, you’re going to love being a mum’.”

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil trailer for Disney sequel with Angelina Jolie

 





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