NEWSAngelina Jolie Reveals Her Daughters Helped the Actress Rediscover Herself: 'It’s Kind of Reminding Me What I May Have Lost'
Angelina Jolie credited her daughters with helping her rediscover herself.
June 23 2026, Published 6:02 p.m. ET
Angelina Jolie revealed that her three young adult daughters have helped her to rediscover herself in the aftermath of her divorce from Brad Pitt.
The Oscar-winning actress opened up in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment for her upcoming movie Couture.
“I’ve come around a little bit to being more of the person I used to be,” Jolie said. “I’m discovering something now that my daughters are older now and they’re talking to me as young women.”
Jolie has three daughters whom she shares with ex-husband Pitt: Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and Vivienne, 17.
Angelina Jolie explained how her daughters helped her rediscover herself.
Angelina Jolie has three daughters: Zaharah, Shiloh and Vivienne.
“I’m seeing what I want for them and I’m seeing what I don’t want them to lose and what I want them to hold on to,” the mother-of-six explained.
“It’s kind of reminding me what I may have lost,” she added. “And I think in some way they’re bringing me back to my old self and my desire for them to have all of the strength and openness and softness and faith and ferocity.”
Jolie previously told Variety that she felt she had lost her “fighting spirit” after her messy divorce and drawn-out custody battle with Pitt.
The couple got together in 2005. They married in 2014 but filed for divorce just two years later. The split took a lengthy eight years to settle.
Who Are Angelina Jolie's Children?
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have six children together.
Jolie and Pitt also share three sons: Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, and Knox, 17.
After their parents’ split, several of Jolie and Pitt’s children dropped their father’s last name.
Maddox and Shiloh both filed legal proceedings to have "Pitt" officially dropped. Vivienne and Zaharah have each dropped the name informally.
“I think they kind of want me to now not just be mom,” Jolie said of her children. “There’s a different room for me to be that woman again, that’s not just a mom.”
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Why Did Angelina Stop Acting?
Angelina Jolie said she's noticed changes since shifting into a new decade.
Jolie has noticed an unpredictable shift as she and her children enter new stages of their lives.
“Things are changing, but in a way I didn’t expect,” Jolie continued. “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 in a way that maybe life has broken me a little bit.”
Jolie largely quit acting before her divorce in 2016 to focus on directing, humanitarian work and spending time with her growing kids.
Angelina Jolie returns to screens on June 26 as she stars in the new film 'Couture.'
She soon returned to the screen after realizing it was the best way to stay close to home. Her new movie, Couture, premieres on June 26.
The movie follows Jolie’s character, who receives a b----- cancer diagnosis following her tumultuous divorce.
Jolie herself lost her mother to b------ and ovarian cancer in 2007. The actress elected to have a preventative double mastectomy in 2013.
“I think the shock, the push to move,” she said of the script. “There was something about it that just felt so realistic, even in reading it.”
