Angelina Jolie reveals 'the past few years have been pretty hard'

Angelina Jolie is just like the rest of us, as she still finds herself dealing with the normal struggles all moms face.

The 45-year-old Oscar winner graces the cover of the March edition of British Vogue, and inside the magazine, she opens up about how she and her six children with ex Brad Pitt — Maddox, 19, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14, and 12-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox — are coping as they quarantine together in their Los Angeles home.

“Well, I was never very good at sitting still,” said the normally globe-trotting actor and activist. “Even though I wanted to have many children and be a mom, I always imagined it kind of like Jane Goodall, travelling in the middle of the jungle somewhere. I didn’t imagine it in that true, traditional sense.

Angelina Jolie "The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind" Special Screening, Hosted by Angelina Jolie — Angelina Jolie with children Knox Leon Jolie-Pitt, Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt and Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt attend “The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind” Special Screening at Crosby Street Hotel on February 25, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Netflix)

“I feel like I’m lacking in all the skills to be a traditional stay-at-home mom,” she continued. “I’m managing through it because the children are quite resilient, and they’re helping me, but I’m not good at it at all.”

The actress said the love she and her kids share keeps the house running smoothly. “I feel like we’re such a team. It may sound clichéd, but you love and you try, and even if you burn the eggs, that doesn’t matter in the end. But also, you’ve met our kids. They’re pretty capable,” she explained.

The family has settled, for now, in LA so the children could be close to Pitt, who “is only five minutes away.” Since the former couple’s acrimonious split in 2016, Jolie has focused on making sure her kids are OK.

Angelina Jolie for British Vogue — Craig McDean / Vogue

“The past few years have been pretty hard. I’ve been focusing on healing our family. It’s slowly coming back, like the ice melting and the blood returning to my body,” she said, adding, “But I’m not there.”

Jolie’s relationship with her kids is changing as they get older. Their nighttime chats now remind her of the bond she shared with her late mom, Marcheline Bertrand.

“I was best friends with my mom. I loved having babies, but I love sitting up at night and talking to my kids. I like the teenage years. I like the older years. I love hanging out with them.”

Jolie is also embracing getting older. Age, she said, has allowed her to feel “much more comfortable” with herself.

“I’m looking forward to my fifties — I feel that I’m gonna hit my stride in my fifties. Though we were on the trampoline the other day, and the children said, ‘No, Mom, don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself.’

“And I thought, ‘God, isn’t that funny?’ There was a day I was an action star, and now the kids are telling me to get off the trampoline because I’ll hurt myself.”

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