Angelina Jolie opened up about her shocking split from Brad Pitt for the first time since filing for divorce.
The actress and director spoke to BBC World News‘ Yalda Hakim in Cambodia in an interview that was released on Sunday. When asked about the split, Jolie revealed that it had been a “difficult” time for her family.
“I don’t want to say very much about that, except to say it was a very difficult time and… and 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.
Jolie, 41, was in Cambodia to promote her new directorial effort, the film First They Killed My Father. The mother-of-six said she was coping by maintaining a focus on her children: Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8.
“Many, many people find themselves in this situation,” she said. “My whole, my family… we’ve all being through a difficult time. My focus is my children, our children… and my focus is finding this way through. 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.”
Since her divorce filing from Pitt, 53, Jolie revealed that her children and pets have been trying to find a normal rhythm.
“It’s been a difficult few months. Right now, I’m going through a moment when just everybody’s in my room,” she said, laughing. “Two dogs, two hamsters and two children at the moment. It’s wonderful. 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.”
When asked where she saw herself in five years, Jolie couldn’t help but realize she’d have a house full of teenagers by then.
“At that stage, I hope just standing,” she said, joking about being outnumbered. “In five years’ time I would like to be traveling around the world visiting my children, hoping that they’re just happy and doing really interesting things, and I imagine in many different parts of the world, and I’ll be supporting them.”
“Everything I do I hope is that I represent something, and I represent the right things to my children, and give them the right sense of what they’re capable of, and the world as it should be seen,” Jolie added. “Not through the prism of Hollywood or through a certain kind of life, but really take them into the world, where they have a really good sense and become rounded people.”
This article originally appeared on People.com
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