Angelina Jolie Says She Separated from Brad Pitt for the ‘Well-Being’ of Her Children

Angelina Jolie is pretty much an open book when it comes to the charitable causes she supports around the world, but she&aposs typically much more tight-lipped when it comes to discussing her six children: Maddox, Pax, Shiloh, Zahara, Vivienne, and Knox. That&aposs been especially true since her very public split from Brad Pitt in 2016.

However, in a new interview with Vogue India, Jolie revealed a bit more about why she decided to divorce Pitt. “I separated for the well-being of my family," she told the magazine. “It was the right decision.”

"I continue to focus on their healing," Jolie continued. "Some have taken advantage of my silence, and the children see lies about themselves in the media, but I remind them that they know their own truth and their own minds. In fact, they are six very brave, very strong young people.”

Back in 2017, Angelina Jolie described her split from Pitt as “a very difficult time” to BBC World News. "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," she said.

"My whole family have all been through a difficult time," Jolie added at the time. "My focus is my children—our children—and my focus is finding this way through. We are and forever will be a family, and so that is how I am coping. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer. It&aposs been a difficult few months."

In the new Vogue interview, Jolie did share how she speaks to her children about the various ways they joined her family, either biologically or through adoption. “Each is a beautiful way of becoming family. What is important is to speak with openness about all of it and to share,” she said. “Adoption and orphanage are positive words in our home. With my adopted children, I can’t speak of pregnancy, but I speak with much detail and love about the journey to find them and what it was like to look in their eyes for the first time.”

“All adopted children come with a beautiful mystery of a world that is meeting yours. When they are from another race and foreign land, that mystery, that gift, is so full. For them, they must never lose touch with where they came from," she said. "They have roots that you do not. Honor them. Learn from them. It’s the most amazing journey to share. They are not entering your world; you are entering each other’s worlds.”

Originally Appeared on Glamour