Angelina Jolie Admits the Last Few Years 'Haven't Been the Easiest,' But She Keeps Pushing

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She plays some of the fiercest characters to hit movie screens. But, in a new interview, Angelina Jolie admits she is not feeling “strong” following the last few difficult years. Just days after dropping son Maddox Jolie-Pitt off at college, the actress and mother-of-six got vulnerable about the toll recent life events have taken on her — and how she’s getting through it.

Jolie spoke with several outlets on Saturday at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, where she was on hand to promote her Maleficent sequel and Marvel’s The Eternals. “I’m like everybody and… especially these last few years haven’t been the easiest, and I haven’t felt very strong,” Jolie told E! News. “There’s something when you’re not feeling very strong, where you push yourself. And I’m so grateful that I have the opportunity to play these kinds of characters, that pull out every bit of strength I have and that remind me that I can be strong.”

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While Jolie doesn’t specifically allude to her high-profile split with Brad Pitt, it has undoubtedly added to Jolie’s stress in recent years. Her present difficulty, though, seems to be saying goodbye to Maddox. Of leaving him at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, Jolie told E!, “I’m gonna be one of those moms. It’s only been a few days, give me a few weeks and I might be back on a plane.”

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight at D23, Jolie elaborated on the moment she dropped her 18-year-old son off and got a little teary-eyed in the process. “What was very beautiful is the way everybody said goodbye. When it was time to take him to the airport — some [of Jolie-Pitt’s kids] jumped into the car to take him — and everybody was, it was…,” she said, trailing off with emotion. “When you know that your kids love each other and you see the way they all — without any kind of prompting or pushing — give each other notes, hug each other, take each other, support each other, then you feel like they’re going to be okay and they’re always going to have each other.”

And while Jolie knows she’s gotta “pull it back up” eventually, she’s not there just yet. When asked if she’d been able to stop crying since leaving Maddox, she confessed with a laugh, “No.”

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