Angelina Jolie lived with Brad Pitt for over a decade and during that time he decorated several houses for them: the main one in Los Feliz, California, a weekend place in Santa Barbara as well as the Chateau Miraval villa in France.
But after the 42-year-old actress filed for divorce in September and moved into her own $25m mansion near Hollywood, she was on her own.
And in the September issue of Vanity Fair – on newsstands August 4 – she said needed help with getting her home together. ‘Decorating, house stuff, that was always Brad’s thing. I didn’t even know I needed throw pillows,’ the Oscar winner joked.
Jolie asked a set-decorator friend to get her new mansion, which has 11,000 square feet, to make it pretty.
The result is creamy white sofas and pillow and white candles everywhere.
She shares the Beaux-Arts mansion once owned by filmmaker Cecil B DeMille with her six kids (Maddox, 15; Pax, 13; Shiloh, 11; Zahara, 12; and twins Vivienne and Knox, nine) as well as her Rottweiler, Dusty.
It has six bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. Outside is a lush lawn and a swimming pool.
The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider star said the new house is ‘a big jump forward for us, and we’re all trying to do our best to heal as a family.’
Life after Brad is very different for the star.
Not only does she have a new home, but she is also becoming more of a stay-at-home mom.
‘I’m just wanting to make the proper breakfast and keep the house. That’s my passion. At the request of my kids, I’m taking cooking classes,’ she admitted.
‘As I go to sleep at night, I think, Did I do a great job as a mom or was that an average day?’
Now she is trying to ‘be really good at just being a homemaker and picking up dog poop and cleaning dishes and reading bedtime stories.’
Also in the interview, the siren explained why her marriage to Brad fell apart.
She said things between her and Brad got ‘bad’ last summer, however she ‘didn’t want to use that word’ and noted that ‘things became difficult’ in the summer of 2016, adding that ‘It’s just been the hardest time, and we’re just kind of coming up for air.’
Adding: ‘I think it’s very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything’s going to be all right even when you’re not sure it is.’
The Golden Globe winner recalled a conversation she had with her son Knox, where she joked that he needs to ‘pretend to be normal.’
Angelina said that Knox told her ‘”Who wants to be normal? We’re not normal. Let’s never be normal.” Thank you – yes! We’re not normal. Let’s embrace being not normal!’
The relationship strain occurred in summer 2016 while First They Killed My Father was in post-production; Angelina directed and wrote the film, which takes place in Cambodia.
The Maleficent star and Brad were together for 12 years before they announced their split in September; the divorce has not yet been finalized.
She is seeking sole custody of their children.
In September 2016, there was an alleged ‘altercation’ that involved Brad and Maddox aboard a private jet that was heading from Nice, France to Los Angeles, California; after they landed, Angelina ‘kicked him out,’ according to Vanity Fair.
Brad was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Angelina and Brad, who became known as ‘Brangelina,’ met on the set of their film Mr. And Mrs. Smith in 2004.
They married in an intimate ceremony on August 23, 2014 in Correns, France.
She told the magazine that her and her estranged husband ‘care for each other and care for our family, and we are both working towards the same goal.’
Angelina also divulged her feelings about’s Brad Pitt’s explosive GQ Style interview.
When asked if she was surprised, the star simply said ‘no.’
The actress, who is the daughter of Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, said that she doesn’t want to show too much emotion in front of the kids.
Explaining that: ‘I was worried about my mother, growing up—a lot. I do not want my children to be worried about me.’
She said her kids were ‘very brave’ – ‘in times they needed to be’ and that everyone is ‘healing from the events that led to the filing…’
However the director clarified and said ‘they’re not healing from the divorce. They’re healing from some…from life, from things in life.’
Angelina gushed about her kids, calling them ‘strong-minded, thoughtful, worldly’ and that’s she ‘very proud of them.’
In 2013, Angelina wrote a op-ed column for the New York Times, where she revealed she had undergone a preventative double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
She chose to have the surgery after finding out she had the BRCA1 gene.
That specific gene, as well as BRCA2, both greatly increase the risk of developing breast cancer.
The actress and her father Jon have had a tumultuous relationship.
But these days, the father-daughter twosome are on much better terms – for the sake of her six kids.
Angelina says of her formerly estranged dad: ‘He’s been very good at understanding they needed their grandfather at this time.’
She said he ‘knows kind of the rule – don’t make them play with you,’ adding that she wants him to just be a ‘cool grandpa who’s creative,’ hangs out, ‘tell stories and read a book in the library.’
The September Issue of Vanity Fair With Angelina Jolie hits newsstands on August 4th.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
