Angelina Jolie revealed she hasn’t dated anyone since her split from Brad Pitt nearly a decade ago.
The “Salt” actress made the rare comment about her love life in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment while promoting her new film, “Couture.” In the movie, Jolie plays an American filmmaker who gets diagnosed with breast cancer while working at Paris Fashion Week.
Her character, Maxine Walker, is romantically involved with a cinematographer, Anton (played by Louis Garrel). Jolie said playing Maxine, who has a daughter, made her realize you can still date while being focused on your kids.
“To be candid, I haven’t dated since I divorced a decade ago,” Jolie said. “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.”
“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 continued.
Jolie, 51, split from Pitt, 62, in September 2016 after two years of marriage, and the exes went through a tumultuous divorce that took eight years to finalize. The exes share six children together: Maddox, 24; Pax, 22; Zahara, 21; Shiloh, 20; and twins Vivienne and Knox, 17.
Now that her daughters are older, Jolie told the outlet they’re encouraging her to not just focus on being their mother.
“I think in some way they’re bringing me back to my old self,” Jolie said. “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.’”
Jolie said she doesn’t think about aging but, rather, is now getting to rediscover herself.
“I’m thinking I have to live again. Be free again,” she said. “In a way that maybe life has broken me a little bit.”
Earlier this month, Jolie told Variety her “fighting spirit” has come back, admitting she “lost it for a bit.”
“It’s coming back in large part thanks to my children, who are now older, and encouraging it,” she said.
“My kids are almost all 18, so now they want to see me traveling the world,” she added. “They know me more than anybody, and they still like me, which says a lot.”
While the “Maleficent” star is clearly close with her kids, they remained estranged from Pitt.
Three of the exes’ kids — Maddox, Zahara and Shiloh — have taken legal steps to drop “Pitt” from their last name while twins Knox and Vivienne, who are still under 18, have distanced themselves symbolically.
However, Pax remains close with the actor’s side of the family, Page Six exclusively reported earlier this month.
“Pax still has a relationship with his dad’s side of the family and continues to spend time with them,” a source told us, noting he recently attended attended a family gathering.
Still, Pax “doesn’t have much of a relationship with Brad,” a second source told us.
