Angelina Jolie says split from Brad Pitt was the right decision and she did it for her kids' wellbeing
Angelina Jolie has opened up about her split from Brad Pitt and the effect of their divorce on their children. The 45-year-old actress shares six children with Pitt. The two separated in 2016 after a 12-year relationship, including two years of marriage.
Jolie recently spoke to Vogue ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20. During the interview, when the actress was asked how she continued to have a healthy environment for her kids after separating from their father, she said: “I separated for the wellbeing of my family. It was the right decision. I continue to focus on their healing. Some have taken advantage of my silence, and the children see lies about themselves in the media, but I remind them that they know their own truth and their own minds. In fact, they are six very brave, very strong young people.”
Jolie adopted Maddox (18), Zahara (15), and Pax (16) in 2002, 2005, and 2007, respectively. While the eldest Maddox is reportedly from Cambodia, Zahara and Pax are from Ethiopia and Vietnam respectively. She gave birth to her three biological children — Shiloh, 13, Knox, 11, and Vivienne, 11 — after adopting the other three. The ‘Maleficent’ star called both methods “a beautiful way of becoming a family,” as she continued: “What is important is to speak with openness about all of it and to share. ‘Adoption’ and ‘orphanage’ are positive words in our home. With my adopted children, I can’t speak of pregnancy, but I speak with much detail and love about the journey to find them and what it was like to look in their eyes for the first time.”
The actress went on to explain how “adopted children come with a beautiful mystery of a world”. “When they are from another race and foreign land, that mystery, that gift, is so full. For them, they must never lose touch with where they came from. They have roots that you do not. Honor them. Learn from them. It’s the most amazing journey to share. They are not entering your world, you are entering each other’s worlds,” Jolie said.
Jolie also admitted having a second thought about adopting the eldest sons — Maddox and Pax — since the countries where they come from were once at war with each other. “It’s true, I did think about that. I did originally think not to adopt from Vietnam because Mad was Cambodian and the two countries have a complex history. Then I was reading a book on human rights and found myself staring at an image of a Vietnamese fighter held captive by Americans. I thought of my own country and our involvement in south-east Asia. I thought of focusing on a future where we were all family. I am very blessed to have been allowed to be their mom. I am grateful every day,” she added.
This comes after another report claimed that Jolie cried in the shower after her marriage with Pitt ended in 2016. In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2017, the actress said she wanted to cry but not in front of the children, so she let out her emotions while taking a shower. “I think it’s very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything’s going to be all right even when you’re not sure it is,” Jolie said at the time.