Angelina Jolie, actress, humanitarian, and mother of six, opens up about the moment when she didn’t “recognize” herself anymore.
“I think it happened at the end of my relationship with Brad, and then at the beginning of our separation,” Jolie told French magazine Madame Figaro.
The Academy Award winner added that she felt “small” and “insignificant.”
“I felt a deep and real sadness, I was hurt,” Jolie said. “On the other hand, it was interesting to reconnect with this humility and even the insignificance I felt.”
Despite the hardship that she went through, she has learned some lessons along the way and plans on passing them on to her children.
“In addition to all this, I had some health concerns. All these things settle in you and remind you of how lucky you are to be alive. This is yet another lesson to pass on to my children: the idea of renewal, and above all, a possible return to the joy of living. I have to rediscover the joy,” Jolie said.
In September, Pitt told The New York Times about his father while he was promoting “Ad Astra”—a film that tells the story of an astronaut, played by Pitt, who seeks to uncover the mystery of his father who’s missing in space.
He talked about how grateful he was for the old-fashioned masculine values that his father passed on to him, but lacked one thing in particular.
“I grew up with that be-capable, be-strong, don’t-show-weakness thing,” he said. “I’m grateful that there was such an emphasis on being capable and doing things on your own with humility, but what’s lacking about that is taking inventory of yourself.”
“It’s almost a denial of this other part of you that is weak and goes through self-doubts, even though those are human things we all experience. Certainly, it’s my belief that you can’t really know yourself until you identify and accept those things.”
Pitt added that his marriage with Jolie came to an end after they fought on a private plane about his drinking problem.
The New York Times reported that Pitt’s career, relationships, and self-image came with a mix of emotions, and he could no longer tell whether those feelings were his own or outside of himself.
His drinking and marijuana habits were developed to handle those feelings, he said.
“I can’t remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn’t boozing or had a spliff or something … and I’m running from feelings,” he told GQ.
“I’m really, really happy to be done with all of that.”