Angelina Jolie says the "last few years haven’t been the easiest".
The 44-year-old actress has had a difficult time over the past few years, from undergoing preventive surgery in 2015 to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes after a cancer scare to splitting with her husband Brad Pitt in 2016, and Angelina has admitted that she hasn’t always felt strong during this time.
Speaking to E! News, she said: "I’m like everybody and… especially these last few years haven’t been the easiest, and I haven’t felt very strong. There’s something when you’re not feeling very strong, where you push yourself."
However, Angelina insisted that the training she is doing for her role as Thena in the new Marvel movie ‘The Eternals’ is helping her to push herself to be strong.
She explained: "Sometimes you really feel low and you gotta pull it back up. Right now, for Thena, I’m having to do so much training and she’s so positive, so healthy and she’s so aggressive that I’m often like, ‘This is not gonna work.’ But, you gotta push yourself.
"And I’m so grateful that I have the opportunity to play these kind of characters, that pull out every bit of strength I have and that remind me that I can be strong."
Angelina – who has children Maddox, 18, Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13, and 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne with Brad – also revealed that her children have been getting involved in the training.
She said: "Some of them have been around in doing [training]. My son Knox does some weapon [training] and karate.
"I’ve been jumping into all of their classes. I’m the mom that keeps trying to show up. But it’s been fun and really good."
Maddox recently started studying at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea and Angelina admitted she will find it hard to stay away.
She said: "I’m so proud of him and he was so ready. I couldn’t be more excited. Our house in Cambodia is six hours away, so I’ve got plans to… be stalking.
"I’m gonna be one of those moms. It’s only been a few days, give me a few weeks and I might be back on a plane."
Angelina Jolie discusses difficult few years
