Angelina Jolie has been through a lot. As the daughter of two actors, Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, the Maleficent actress was exposed to the drawbacks of Hollywood even before her silver screen debut.
However what she saw as a rising star in her teens and 20s paled in comparison to the scrutiny and non-stop attention she experienced at the start of her headline-making romance with Brad Pitt back in 2005, not to mention what came with the seven-year long divorce proceedings with the fellow actor since their shocking split in 2018.
Now, just finally starting to put their countless custody disputes and legal challenges behind them, the doting mom-of-six is ready for her next chapter. That includes more time with her kids, Maddox, 21, Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 17, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 15, focusing on her latest venture, Atelier Jolie, plus, yes, less acting.
In a wide ranging new interview with WSJ. Magazine for their December/January digital cover, Angelina, 48, opened up about the necessary healing she and her family needed to do in the wake of their disbandment, and where that's left her today.
"We had to heal," she declared early in the conversation, adding: "There are things we needed to heal from," before recalling how a deterioration in her health foreshadowed her divorce from Brad.
The Oscar-winner – who is anticipating the premiere of her transformation into legendary opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín's upcoming biopic Maria – admitted she's "a little terrified to do it," the singing that is, after noticing a change to her voice register while filming Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in 2018 in the lead up to her split.
© Annemarieke Van Drimmelen for WSJ. Magazine"My body reacts very strongly to stress," she said, before revealing: "My blood sugar goes up and down. I suddenly had Bell's palsy six months before my divorce."
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Now, while she still has several film projects in the works – a third Maleficent installment, a Broadway adaptation she first discovered thanks to her daughter Vivienne, and more movies – she's eager to step away from Hollywood.
© Annemarieke Van Drimmelen for WSJ. Magazine"I wouldn't be an actress today," Angelina declared, explaining: "When I was starting out, it wasn't as much of an expectation to be as public, to share so much."
© Annemarieke Van Drimmelen for WSJ. MagazineAs she further detailed her plans to hopefully leave both Hollywood as an industry and Los Angeles as a home base, she continued: "I grew up in quite a shallow place," maintaining that: "Of all the places in the world, Hollywood is not a healthy place."
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© Getty"So you seek authenticity," she went on, noting how "it's part of what happened after my divorce. I lost the ability to live and travel as freely."
"I will move when I can," she stated, and shared her hopes of spending more time in her home in Cambodia. She first fell in love with the country while filming Lara croft: Tomb Raider in 2000, and subsequently adopted her eldest son Maddox from the country in 2002, followed by his younger brother Pax from neighboring Vietnam in 2007.
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