Angelina Jolie reveals she’s not dating as she says her ‘closest friends are refugees’

‘Maybe four out of six of the women that I am close to are from war and conflict,’ actor says

Angelina Jolie has opened up about her relationship status while reflecting on her “social life” and those closest to her.

The 48-year-old actor spoke candidly about her personal life during an interview with WSJ Magazine, published on 5 December. She explained that, while she’s living in Los Angeles, she doesn’t “really have…a social life,” before adding that she’s not currently dating anyone.

According to the Maleficent star, she’s formed most of her friendships through the work she’s done with refugees.

“I realised my closest friends are refugees,” she says. “Maybe four out of six of the women that I am close to are from war and conflict.”

In the candid interview, she also recalled her struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide during the height of her fame, and how she’d “wanted to escape”. Following the struggle, she went on to visit refugee camps in Cambodia, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and Pakistan, before starting her work with the United Nations refugee agency in 2001.

“There’s a reason people who have been through hardship are also much more honest and much more connected, and I am more relaxed with them,” Jolie said. She went on to explain some of the things she admires most about the refugees she’s become friends with.

“Why do I like spending time with people who’ve survived and are refugees? They’ve confronted so much in life that it brings forward not just strength, but humanity,” she said.

While she was the UN’s special envoy for more than two decades, she moved on from the role in December 2022. When announcing her departure from the position, she noted that she “will continue to do everything in [her] power in the years to come to support refugees and other displaced people”.

Elsewhere in her conversation with WSJ Magazine, she addressed how the paparazzi and public eye have shaped her career in the entertainment industry. “They’ve also chosen how they want you,” Jolie said.

The Girl, Interrupted star went on to reflect on her early days as an actor, and how she felt like she had to maintain a certain reputation at the time.

“Since I was young, people liked the part of me that’s pretty tough and maybe a bit wild - that’s the part that I think people enjoy,” she said. “I’m not the one [who] you want to hear about my pain or my sadness. You know, that’s not entertaining.”

She also alluded to her public split from ex-husband Brad Pitt, and how it has impacted her plans to leave Los Angeles. “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. Jolie said that when she moves, she wants to spend more time at her home in Cambodia.

Since announcing their separation in 2016, Jolie and Pitt have been embroiled in divorce proceedings concerning child custody and disagreements over their various properties.

In 2008, the pair bought a French vineyard together for around £20m, with both of them owning a 50 per cent share of the property, as well as its wine-making enterprise. Jolie sold her part of the property to Stoli Group, owned by Russian-British businessman Yuri Shefler, in 2021, prompting a lawsuit from Pitt.

In May 2021, after a lengthy legal battle that spanned nearly five years, Pitt was granted joint custody of his children ​​with Jolie. However, one month later, a California appeals court disqualified the private judge used in Pitt and Jolie’s case, and the custody battle has not yet been resolved. Currently, Jolie has sole custody of their children, while Pitt has visitation rights.

Jolie, who is a mother of six, adopted her first child, now 22-year-old Maddox, in 2001. While she was with Pitt, he legally adopted Maddox, before the two actors welcomed five children: Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 17, and 15-year-old twins, Knox and Vivienne.

Speaking to WJS Magazine, Jolie opened up about her close relationship with her six children. “They are the closest people to me and my life, and they’re my close friends,” she said. “We’re seven very different people, which is our strength.”

During an interview with Vogue in September, she also expressed her gratitude for her children, revealing that she’s ultimately been encouraged to “live for them”.

“I was 26 when I became a mother. My entire life changed. Having children saved me – and taught me to be in this world differently,” she said. “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,” the Mr and Mrs Smith star added. “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.”