Angelina Jolie has opened up about her divorce from Brad Pitt in her first major interview since news of their split broke last year.
Speaking to the BBC before the premiere of her new film First They Killed My Father, an account of the Khmer Rouge genocide told from the perspective of a Cambodian child, the actress and activist appeared on the verge of tears as she answered questions about the divorce.
‘I don’t want to say very much about that, except to say it was a very difficult time and we are a family, and we will always be a family,’ she said, reiterating ‘It was very difficult. Many people find themselves in this situation. My whole family have all been through a difficult time.’
Angelina went on to add that she will always think of Brad as part of her family, stating that ‘my focus is my children, our children. We are and forever will be a family and so that is how I am coping. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer.’
The actress filed for divorce from Pitt in September 2016, after two years of marriage. The couple had been together since 2003, when they met filming Mr and Mrs Smith.
Disagreement over the custody of their six children, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox, broke out in the ensuing months, though the couple have since reached a temporary agreement. In January, they revealed that they will handle the divorce privately going forward, meaning that any related documents will be sealed and kept out of the public eye.
The actress made her first public appearance since the divorce on the same day, accompanied by all six of her children to the press conference for First They Killed My Father.
Angelina told the BBC that she hoped the film would help Cambodians speak openly about this traumatic period in their national history, when around two million people died.
‘I came to this country and I fell in love with its people and learned its history, and in doing so learned how little I actually knew about the world,’ she said, alluding to when she first visited Cambodia in 2001 while filming Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. The actress went on to adopt Maddox, now 15, from the country.
‘This country, for me, was my awakening. I’ll always be very grateful to this country. I don’t think I ever could give back as much as this country has given me,’ she added.
First They Killed My Father will arrive on Netflix later this year.
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