A new project about family and loss has led Angelina Jolie to talk about her own.
The actress spoke with the BBC about her new movie, “First They Killed My Father,” which she directed and produced.
The Netflix original film tells the story of the Cambodian genocide through the eyes of a child.
It’s a project that is near and dear to Jolie’s heart. She adopted her first child, son Maddox, from Cambodia after visiting and falling in love with the country 17 years ago, Jolie said.
“I’ll always be very grateful to this country,” Jolie told the BBC. “I don’t think I ever could give back as much as this country has given me.”
Brad Pitt spoke with law enforcement over family incident Maddox, 15, was at the center of a reported incident on a flight with his father, Brad Pitt.
Pitt and Jolie split in September. The couple had been together for more than a decade when they married in 2014. They are the parents of six children. In the BBC interview, Jolie declined to give specifics about what occurred on the plane.
“I don’t want to say very much about that except it was a very difficult time,” she said. “We are a family and we will always be a family and we will get through this time and hopefully be a stronger family for it.”
Pitt was cleared of any claims of child abuse. Jolie said her situation is not unusual and that many families have weathered divorce.
She’s coping by helping her children, she said. “My focus is my children, our children … and my focus is finding this way through,” she said. “As I said, we are and forever will be a family. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer.”
“First They Killed My Father” premiered worldwide this weekend in Cambodia. The Jolie-Pitt children, Maddox; Pax, 13; Zahara, 11; Shiloh, 10; and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8, appeared at the premiere with their mother. Maddox was reportedly involved in the production.
Jolie told the BBC the family is settling into a routine at home. “Right now, I’m going through a moment when just everybody’s in my room,” she said. “Two dogs, two hamsters and two children at the moment.” The actress is trying to keep it all flowing.
“It’s wonderful,” Jolie said. “But, usually, I just wake up trying to figure out who’s going to get [the] dog out, who’s going to start the pancakes and did anybody brush their teeth.”
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