Angelina Jolie has admitted she has not dated anyone since splitting from Brad Pitt almost a decade ago, revealing she’s only now beginning to rediscover the woman she was before heartbreak and motherhood took over her life.
The Oscar-winning actress, 51, opened up in a rare and candid interview while promoting her new film Couture, explaining that raising her six children became her entire focus following the end of her marriage.
Jolie and Pitt share Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and 17-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.
The former couple split in 2016 following an alleged incident aboard a private plane, beginning one of Hollywood’s longest-running and most public divorces. Their divorce was finalised at the end of 2024 after years of legal disputes.
Reflecting on her personal life now, Jolie admitted dating simply hasn’t been part of the picture.
‘To be candid, I haven’t dated since I divorced a decade ago,’ she told Yahoo! Entertainment.
‘So I kind of get in my head that that aspect of me is not centered in my life if I’m focusing on my children, my family.’
However, stepping into the role of Maxine in Couture challenged that way of thinking.
She explained that her character made her realise a woman doesn’t have to choose between being devoted to her children and embracing love or companionship.
‘It took me a second to kind of say, well, she can also love her daughter and be dedicated to her daughter and also need this as a woman and receive this as a woman,’ she said.
Jolie also revealed that as her daughters have grown older, they have helped her reconnect with parts of herself she feels she lost along the way.
‘Oh, completely. Completely and maybe I’ve come around to being a little bit more the person I used to be,’ she said when asked whether the questions she asks herself have changed over the years.
‘I’m discovering something now that my daughters are older. They’re talking to me as young women, and I’m seeing what I want for them. I’m seeing what I don’t want them to lose and what I want them to hold on to. And it’s kind of reminding me what I may have lost.’
She continued: ‘I think in some way they’re bringing me back to my old self.
‘My desire for them to have all of the strength and openness and softness and faith and ferocity is reminding me.
‘I think they kind of want me now to not just be “Mom.” There’s a different room for me to be that woman again, that’s not just a mom.’
The actress spoke about how deeply the breakdown of her marriage affected her.
She said: ‘So yes, things are changing, but in a way I didn’t expect. It doesn’t feel like I’m 51 and starting to think of being older. I’m thinking I have to live again. Be free again,’ she says. ‘In a way that maybe life has broken me a little bit.’
Now, with her children entering adulthood, Jolie suggested she is beginning a new chapter, one where being a mother remains central to her life, but no longer defines all of who she is.