Any parents who have gone through a split with their partner know how painful that could be. And when it happens publicly, that pain is even bigger. Angelina Jolie's split from Brad Pitt has played out fairly publicly. But she has chosen to focus more on caring for her children than making any major public statements. Now, she's opening up a bit about what the past few years have looked like for her as she put her life back together.
Jolie is the cover star of the December/January issue of Harper's Bazaar. While much of the interview focuses on her activism and philanthropy, she does talk about rebuilding herself after her and Pitt's divorce.
"My children know my true self, and they have helped me to find it again and to embrace it," she explains. She and Pitt share six children: Maddox, Zahara, Pax, Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox. Jolie and Pitt co-parent their children, but it has been documented that things haven't always been great between them. Regarding the friction her kids may have felt during the last few years, she praises her them. "They have been through a lot. I learn from their strength," she says.
She makes it clear that the divorce has brought them all closer. "As parents, we encourage our kids to embrace all that they are, and all that they know in their hearts to be right, and they look back at us and want the same for us."
Raising children isn't easy, as we all know. And given that now all of her kids are tweens and teens, there is a whole new level of what she's dealing with. Today's kids are navigating the world so differently. And this is especially true of her children, who are also growing up in the public eye. Giving her kids the space to figure out who they are and what they believe in is clearly important to Jolie. But she also understands the boundaries parents have around us.
"We can’t prevent them from experiencing pain, heartache, physical pain, and loss. But we can teach them to live better through it," she explains.
Much like any other parent, she wants her children to experience as much as they can while they can. She thankfully has the financial means to do so, but her dedication to providing her kids with those opportunities is admirable.
She understands she has "the ability to encourage my children to explore the world, including the world of ideas and expression, without there being limits to what they are allowed to study or know or imagine themselves doing in the future. I think we all know boldness when we see it."