Despite Hollywood royalty Angelina Jolie respectfully remaining very quiet about her children’s relationship with their father, Brad Pitt.

In a recent interview with Variety, the 51-year-old star of Maleficent revealed that she is glad her children “still like” and want to be around her, suggesting that they do not feel the same way about their double Oscar-winning dad.

Brangelina, as they were known once the couple got together during filming Mr and Mrs Smith in 2004, share six children, Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17.

Jolie spends much more time with her children than Pitt

Speaking about her close relationship with her children, Jolie told the glamorous magazine: "They know me more than anybody, and they still like me, which says a lot.

"I think they're very encouraging of me, kind of getting back to aspects of myself that maybe I hadn't felt as free to do."

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt met in 2004. Credit: MJ Kim/Getty

Implying that she bore the brunt of childcare since her 2016 divorce from Pitt, Jolie explained that she has not been able to live away from Los Angeles as she has had to look after the children.

She told The Hollywood Reporter, "I am here because I have to be here from a divorce, but as soon as [Vivienne and Knox are] 18, I'll be able to leave."

Jolie added, "I have a house now to raise my children, but sometimes this place can be…that humanity that I found across the world is not what I grew up with here."

While the family has been rather private about their estrangement from Pitt, most of the six children have made their distance from their father clear by dropping his name.

Most of Pitt's children no longer use his name

In May 2024, when Shiloh, the former couple’s eldest biological child, turned 18, she filed paperwork to legally drop Pitt from her double-barreled surname, making her just Shiloh Jolie.

Her name change was made official a few months later, eight years after Angelina filed for divorce from Brad.

Since then, some of her five siblings have followed suit.

Angelina with her children: Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, Zahara Jolie-Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, Maddox Jolie-Pitt and Knox Jolie-Pitt .Credit: Karwai Tang/Getty

Brangelina’s eldest child, 24-year-old Maddox, adopted from Cambodia by Jolie before she met Pitt, has also ditched his dad’s name.

In the credits of Couture, Angelina’s 2025 movie that he worked on as an assistant director, he is named as Maddox Jolie.

In another blow to the absent father, one of the former couple’s youngest children, 17-year-old Vivienne, also uses just her mom’s last name as she follows her parents and siblings into the industry.

She was listed as Vivienne Jolie in the playbill of The Outsiders as a production assistant in the Broadway musical.

Featured image credit: Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Angelina Jolie has become increasingly aware of her mistakes as a mother while raising her six children.

The doting mom spoke candidly about the missteps and mistakes she found herself making as a parent whilst being featured in People's 2021 Kindness Issue.

The star shares six children; Maddox, 20, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 15, and 13-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox, with ex-husband Brad Pitt.

Jolie and Pitt are in the midst of a heated custody battle after the pair filed for divorce in 2016 following a two-year marriage.

"I'm not a perfect parent by any means," the actress admitted.

"Every day I feel like I'm more aware of everything I don't do right. And I'm pretty tough on myself, because I feel often, 'Am I doing the right thing? Did I say the right thing?'"

One of the essential parts of her parenting approach is viewing her children as "six very individual human beings," she explained. And Jolie considers herself to be a family member among them, rather than above them.

"They're pretty great people, and because there's so many of them, I think they've had a very significant effect on each other. It's not like I'm the head of anything. I'm very honest with my kids. And I'm very human with my kids," she said.

Jolie said she hopes her transparency encourages her children to reciprocate openness back to her.

"We're supposed to help them figure out who they are. And you can't figure out who they are if you don't enthusiastically develop with them," she said.

"My children have done many, many loving things. My children's kindness has been very healing to me," Jolie added.

In September, the actress told The Guardian that going through the public divorce, which was finalized in 2019, and subsequent custody battle throughout the past five years has left her feeling "broken."

"I just want my family to heal," she told the outlet. "And I want everyone to move forward — all of us, including their dad. I want us to heal and be peaceful. We'll always be a family."

Featured image credit: REUTERS / Alamy

Angelina Jolie has revealed that she just lives five minutes away from her estranged husband Brad Pitt in a rare new interview.

The couple, who separated in 2016, share six children including Maddox, 19, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14, and 12-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

Jolie and Pitt married in 2014 after a decade long relationship, which saw them affectionately dubbed "Brangelina" and widely regarded as one of Hollywood's ultimate power couples, having fallen for each other on the set of the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Opening up on life after their separation, Jolie said that she still lives physically close to Pitt, despite the couple being in the midst of a lengthy divorce.

The actress currently lives in a six-bedroom, ten bathroom mansion in Los Angeles.

In an interview with British Vogue, she said: "I wanted it to be close to their dad, who is only five minutes away.

"I felt a little pressure moving in. Like I had snuck into where DeMille and Chaplin would hang out.

"I love most that there is no entertainment room, but lots of pathways and places to walk and think. I feel very fortunate we have that at this time."

The actress went on to reveal that she is still adjusting to life after splitting from her ex-partner.

She said: "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. But I'm not there. I'm not there yet. But I hope to be. I'm planning on it.''

Jolie continued: "I do like being older. I feel much more comfortable in my forties than I did when I was younger.

"Maybe because… I don't know… maybe because my mom didn't live very long, so there's something about age that feels like a victory instead of a sadness for me."

Jolie's mother Marcheline Bertrand, passed away in 2007 after a battle with ovarian cancer at the age of 56.

Jolie subsequently underwent a preventative double mastectomy in 2013 after discovering that she had a defective BRCA1 gene that could lead to breast cancer.

Following her operation, Jolie issued an open letter which read: "On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's 12 year relationship was unendingly documented, from their scandalous meeting, to their lavish 2014 France wedding, to their messy divorce two years later.

However, despite all the drama, Angelina has made it clear that their children are the most important thing to her, making every effort to protect her brood from the public eye.

That's perhaps what made it so special when the Maleficent star and all six of her children appeared for a rare family picture in New York this week.

Knox, 10, Vivienne, 10, Pax, 15, Shiloh, 12, Zahara, 14, and Maddox, 17, all joined their famous mother to pose at a special screening of The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind at Crosby Street Hotel on Monday, February 25 - and they all looked so grown up!

It sure does seem like another lifetime when the A-lister pair were busy growing their family. Before the couple met, Maddox was adopted by Angelina in Cambodia in 2002. It has been claimed the teen wants to follow in his parents' footsteps and go into the film industry; the 17-year-old worked behind the scenes as a production assistant on Angelina’s 2015 film, By the Sea, and contributed to her Netflix show, First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers.

After Maddox came Zahara, who the actress adopted from an orphanage in Ethiopia and is said to want to become a model. She was followed by Shiloh, Brangelina's first biological child who is rumoured to have moved in with Brad after the divorce, as well as Pax, who the pair fell in love with in Vietnam.

Finally, in 2008, the twins came: Knox, who recorded animal noises for Kung Fu Panda 3, and Vivienne who played small-size version of Princess Aurora in "Maleficent" alongside her mother.

Angelina opened up recently about not having "perfectly behaved" children, claiming that she welcomes a little rebellion.

"[My kids] all have a good rebellious streak that is wonderful and curious," she told BBC Radio 4's Today in December, per People. "I don’t want them to be perfectly behaved little people that just say what’s absolutely appropriate because I say so … they have to find themselves."

It's been claimed that she and Brad are determined to be friends and to co-parent their children, with a source allegedly telling the Sunday Mirror: "The whole process of divorcing has been a long, drawn-out battle for Brad and Angelina. But they’ve both agreed they want to be friends and are making time to work on their friendship.

"They realise they will always be in each other’s lives and want to get to a point where they can hang out and have a laugh together for the sake of the kids."

It's good to see the Jolie-Pitt children are doing well!

Angelina Jolie has opened up about the ups and downs of single motherhood after her split from her ex-husband Brad Pitt.

In her latest cover story for Vogue, the 48-year-old actress described the shift in her life when she became a mom to her eldest son Maddox whom she adopted in 2002.

"I was 26 when I became a mother," she told the outlet. "My entire life changed. Having children saved me — and taught me to be in this world differently."

The Maleficent star who is also a mom to Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Vivienne, and Knox, also added that due to the difficulties that have come about in her life more recently since her split from her ex-husband Pitt, 59, she's thankful to her children for giving her a reason to live.

(L-R) Maddox, Vivienne, Angelina, Knox, Shiloh, and Zahara at the LA premiere of Eternals in 2021. Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Getty"I think, recently, I would’ve gone under in a much darker way had I not wanted to live for them. They’re better than me because you want your children to be. Of course, I’m the mother, and hopefully that safe place for them and that stability.

"But I’m also the one that they laugh at - and I see them taking over so many different aspects of our family," she added.

Despite guiding them as best as she can, she also hopes that they continue to "be their own people" and express themselves in the way they deem best.

"My kids would roll their eyes if they were here," Jolie said when talking about her own childhood methods of expression. "I was quite dark when I was young. I was a punk, not the popular kid - going to thrift stores, cutting things up, burning little teeny cigarette holes into things: That was me as a teenager, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Maybe that part of me wants to push back.

"I don’t tell the kids how to dress," she continued. "Even when they were little, I just put things in front of them. Nobody has to go anywhere if they don’t want to, and if they don’t want to dress up, they don’t have to... I want them to be their own people."

Angelina Jolie says her children gave her a reason to live. Credit: Amy Sussman/WireImage/GettyJolie's interview comes after what has been a tumultuous few years for the star and her family.

Back in September 2016, it was first reported that the 48-year-old had filed for divorce from her then-husband, Pitt. According to court documents, she cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the split and requested physical custody of their six children and visitation for Pitt.

It was added that Jolie did not request child or spousal support.

Angelina Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/GettySpeaking to PEOPLE, Jolie's attorney told the outlet at the time that this decision was made for the "health of her family."

"Angelina Jolie Pitt has filed for dissolution of the marriage. This decision was made for the health of the family. She will not be commenting at this time, and asks that the family be given their privacy during this difficult time," the statement said.

In response, Pitt said: "I am very saddened by this, but what matters most now is the well-being of our kids. I kindly ask the press to give them the space they deserve during this challenging time."

Things only continued to get messier as the highly publicized divorce played out.

In 2021, Pitt lost all visitation rights with his kids due to a violation of "his ethical obligations," as per a ruling by Judge John Ouderkirk who oversaw the case at the time.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had a contentious divorce. Credit: GVK/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/GettyWhen discussing the separation publicly for the first time, she told the Guardian that she's not "the kind of person who makes decisions like the decisions I had to make lightly."

"It took a lot for me to be in a position where I felt I had to separate from the father of my children," she continued before adding: "I mean, in some ways, it's been the last decade. There's a lot I can't say."

Amid the back and forth with the children's situation, the pair have also been involved in a battle regarding their winery Château Miraval which has led to multiple lawsuits filed against Jolie from Pitt in a bid to allegedly "protect his family."

A source told People that "Mr. Pitt saying that he is suing his ex-wife to protect his family is hard to understand because he is well aware the children have not felt able to return to the house in France for almost seven years now due to the events that led to Ms. Jolie filing for divorce."

Featured Image Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty