Angelina Jolie talks family and personal happiness: ‘The past few years have been pretty hard’

Offering a rare window into her personal life, Angelina Jolie has addressed “the past few years” in a new interview, which she says “have been pretty hard”.

Speaking to British Vogue, the 45-year-old actor, humanitarian, and mother of six, who separated from ex-husband Brad Pitt in 2016, spoke honestly when asked if she was at a happy stage in her life.

“The past few years have been pretty hard,” she admitted. "I’ve been focusing on healing our family. It’s slowly coming back, like the ice melting and the blood returning to my body.

"But I’m not there. I’m not there yet," she continued. "But I hope to be.”

Ms Jolie also touched on feeling more at home in her body, saying, “I feel much more comfortable in my forties than I did when I was younger. Maybe because … I don’t know … maybe because my mom didn’t live very long, so there’s something about age that feels like a victory instead of a sadness for me."

The Maleficent actor also talked about moving into the former estate of director Cecil B DeMille and what a typical day looked like for her and her family.

“I was never very good at sitting still,” she admitted. “Even though I wanted to have many children and be a mom, I always imagined it kind of like Jane Goodall, travelling in the middle of the jungle somewhere. I didn’t imagine it in that true, traditional sense. I feel like I’m lacking in all the skills to be a traditional stay-at-home mom. I’m managing through it because the children are quite resilient, and they’re helping me, but I’m not good at it at all.”

"I feel like we’re such a team," she continued. “It may sound clichéd, but you love and you try, and even if you burn the eggs, that doesn’t matter in the end. But also, you’ve met our kids. They’re pretty capable.”