The actor and director credited her six children for encouraging her to reclaim aspects of her life which she ‘hadn’t felt as free to do’
Angelina Jolie has gotten her fighting spirit back.
The Eternals actor has given an insight into her creative process in a new interview with Variety ahead of her latest film Couture, with the 51-year-old revealing there was a period in her life when she came close to stopping acting.
“I had kind of quit acting before my divorce,” she revealed, referencing her 2016 split from Brad Pitt, which was finalised in December 2024.
“I was focusing on directing, and I thought I’d be doing my international work.”
The former couple’s separation took a total of eight years to finalise due to various legal battles – including allegations of abuse against Pitt, which he denied – and the custody of their six children.
Jolie praised her children while promoting her new film Couture (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Vertical)
Explaining what led her to go back to acting, Jolie continued: ” But then suddenly, the only way to be home more and for short periods of time being away or to make a good amount of money, was to go back to acting. I was only taking things that were short or close by, or I could take [my children].”
Jolie went on to credit her children – Maddox, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and 17-year-old twins, Vivienne and Knox – for encouraging her to put herself back out there, saying: “I think my fighting spirit is finally back. I lost it for a bit. I got kind of taken down a little bit, and it’s coming back in large part thanks to my children.”
Revealing that her brood have been ‘encouraging’, she continued: “They know me more than anybody, and they still like me, which says a lot. I think they’re very encouraging of me kind of getting back to aspects of myself that maybe I hadn’t felt as free to do.”
Jolie’s comments follow the news that her youngest son had decided to drop his father’s last name during his high school graduation, instead being referred to as ‘Knox Jolie’.
The actor worked with eldest son Maddox on the film (TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
The move is in line with the majority of his siblings, with Shiloh and Zahara both dropping ‘Pitt’ from their name, while twin sister Vivienne was previously referred to as ‘Jolie’ while working on a play with her mother.
Eldest son Maddox has also dropped his father’s surname, filing paperwork to change his name to ‘Maddox Chivan Jolie’ earlier this year.
Jolie worked with her eldest son Maddox on Couture, with the 24-year-old serving as an assistant director on the film, which sees Jolie play a filmmaker who discovers that she’s been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“It was beautiful,” Jolie told Entertainment Tonight of working on set with her son. “It’s a rare thing when you have a child working on a film with you and [you’re] doing different things. They watch you do things,” she continued, explaining that her character’s breast cancer diagnosis was particularly heavy.
“You’re sitting in a hospital room getting this news, and you step out, and there’s your son, and of course you’re thinking in the back of your mind that there will be a real day like this.”
