Angelina Jolie’s children have ‘been through a lot’

Angelina Jolie says her children have “been through a lot”.

The ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ star has Maddox, 18, Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shilo, 13, and 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne with her ex-husband Brad Pitt, and has admitted that whilst she has been “hurt” over the years, she has also seen her brood endure hardships too.

She said: “Life takes many turns. Sometimes you get hurt, you see those you love in pain, and you can’t be as free and open as your spirit desires. It’s not new or old, but I do feel the blood returning to my body.

“The part of us that is free, wild, open, curious can get shut down by life. By pain or by harm. My children know my true self, and they have helped me to find it again and to embrace it. They have been through a lot. I learn from their strength. 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.”

And the actress, 44, says she’s teaching her children to be bold, and wants them to “live better” through their “pain, heartache, physical pain, and loss”.

She added: “Knowing our true self is a very important question for all of us. Especially a child. I think kids need to be able to say, ‘Here’s who I am, and what I believe.’ We can’t prevent them from experiencing pain, heartache, physical pain, and loss. But we can teach them to live better through it.”

Angelina also spoke about the “beauty” she sees in others, which she says comes from seeing them be “their true selves”.

Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar magazine, she said: “I see so much beauty in other people. Not when they are pretending to be something other than their true selves. Not when they are harming others. Not when they lie. But the wild ones. The emotional, open, searching ones, longing to be free. The honest ones. Because anything else is a cage impossible to live in.”