Actress Angelina Jolie recently attributed the medical condition she has, known as Bell’s palsy, to the stress she experienced during her divorce from fellow actor Brad Pitt.
Bell’s palsy is “a condition that causes sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face,“ according to the Mayo Clinic. ”In most cases, the weakness is temporary and significantly improves over weeks.” The weakness makes half of the face appear to droop. The exact cause of the disease is unknown.
Although Ms. Jolie, 48, had previously spoken about recovering from the condition in a 2017 Vanity Fair interview, she never mentioned what she believed to be the cause.
Bitter Divorce
It was in 2016 that Ms. Jolie and Mr. Pitt announced they were divorcing after 12 years together with the couple married for the last two and sharing both biological and adopted children at that point.Their divorce spawned a bitter fight over the property they shared as well as the custody of their six children. They include Maddox, now 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 17, and twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, 15.
Jolie Wants Out of LA
During the interview, Ms. Jolie also revealed her ultimate desire to leave Los Angeles and spend more time at her home in Cambodia, where her adopted son Maddox is from and where she directed the 2017 film “First They Killed My Father.”“It’s part of what happened after my divorce. I lost the ability to live and travel as freely. I will move when I can,” she said. “I grew up in quite a shallow place. Of all the places in the world, Hollywood is not a healthy place. So you seek authenticity.”
She also noted her current lack of a social life in LA after everything that’s transpired, including the media scrutiny.
“I wouldn’t be an actress today,” said Jolie. “When I was starting out, it wasn’t as much of an expectation to be as public, to share so much.”
After playing the fairytale villain in the tent-pole “Maleficent” in 2014, Ms. Jolie directed and co-starred opposite Mr. Pitt in 2015’s “By the Sea,” which didn’t fare well with critics or at the box office. Since then, her only leading roles have been in 2019’s “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and 2021’s “Those Who Wish Me Dead.” She’s had supporting roles in Marvel’s “Eternals,” “Those Who Wish Me Dead,” “Come Away” and speaking parts in Disney’s “The One and Only Ivan” and the upcoming “Kung Fu Panda 4.” Ms. Jolie also just wrapped filming on Pablo Larrain’s “Maria,” where she plays famed opera star Maria Callas during her final days.
Jolie Speaks Out on Israel–Hamas War
While Ms. Jolie said her current social life is lacking, her opinions as a humanitarian aren’t. Ms. Jolie has been a goodwill ambassador and special envoy for the United Nations Refugee Agency.“I’m very disappointed that my daughter, like so many, has no understanding of God’s honor, God’s truths. This is about destroying the history of God’s land, the Holy land, the land of the Jews,” said Mr. Voight in a post on the social media platform X. He titled the post “Truth and Lies.”
On Oct. 28 Ms. Jolie posted to her Instagram page, “What happened in Israel is an act of terror. But that cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no possibility of evacuation, and not even the basic human rights to cross a border to seek refuge.”
She prefaced her remarks by expressing that like millions around the world, she was sick and angry at the terrorist attacks in Israel and was praying for the immediate and safe return of every hostage and for their families.
