Angelina Jolie speaks out about Brad Pitt divorce for first time: 'It was very difficult'

'We are and forever will be a family and so that is how I am coping,' says actor

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have steered clear of the limelight since their highly public divorce. News of the breakup dominated news outlets at the time and even prompted Madam Tussauds to physically rip apart waxwork replicas of the pair.

After keeping a low-profile, Jolie has now spoken out publicly about the divorce for the first time. The actor said breaking up with Pitt after ten years together had been “very difficult".

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in September, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple officially got together in 2006 after playing married spies in Mr and Mrs Smith but they only married in 2014.

“It was very difficult. Many people find themselves in this situation,” Jolie told the BBC.

“My whole family have all been through a difficult time. My focus is my children, our children.”

”We are and forever will be a family and so that is how I am coping. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer.“

The actor, who is also a UN refugee agency special envoy, made the remarks before the premiere of First They Killed My Father, a film she directed which explores the Cambodian genocide. It was Jolie's first major public appearance since the divorce and she was accompanied by her six children.

The film is a true-life account of the Khmer Rouge genocide from the perspective of a child. It is based on author and human rights activist Loung Ung's account of her survival as a child under the 1975-79 communist Khmer Rouge regime. Jolie has a special attachment to Cambodia, having adopted her eldest son, Maddox, from the country.

Jolie and Pitt have six children together, Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10 and eight-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

When asked where she saw herself in five years, Jolie said she would have a house of teenagers by then.

“At that stage, I hope just standing,” she said, joking about being outnumbered by her offspring. “In five years’ time, I would like to be travelling around the world visiting my children, hoping that they’re just happy and doing really interesting things, and I imagine in many different parts of the world, and I’ll be supporting them.”

“Everything I do I hope is that I represent something, and I represent the right things to my children and give them the right sense of what they’re capable of, and the world as it should be seen,” Jolie added. “Not through the prism of Hollywood or through a certain kind of life, but really take them into the world, where they have a really good sense and become rounded people.”

In a joint statement, the couple recently announced they had reached an agreement to handle their divorce in a private forum and work together to reunify their family.

“The parties and their counsel have signed agreements to preserve the privacy rights of their children and family by keeping all court documents confidential and engaging a private judge to make any necessary legal decisions and to facilitate the expeditious resolution of any remaining issues,” their statement read. “The parents are committed to act as a united front to effectuate recovery and reunification.”