Angelina Jolie on her marriage to Brad Pitt: “We have problems like any other couple”

10 November 2015

By Fashion Quarterly

Just when we thought the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Mutual Adoration Society couldn’t get any cuter…

The power couple spoke to WSJ Magazine and reveal the love, admiration and respect they shared in the early years of their relationship is still going strong – despite the many challenges thrown at them along the way.

The duo also get candid about their family life and what it has been like working together on By the Sea – the film written, directed by and starring Angelina – about a couple in a troubled marriage. Brad co-stars in the film.

Read excerpts from the interview below:

Angelina on not taking ‘work’ home with them at the end of the day: “It was not easy. We just had to be brave and say, ‘Okay, honey, we’re strong enough to do this; let’s somehow use this to make us stronger. As soon as we got home, it was bedtime stories, children’s needs and problems, the fights they’d had during the day. We had to immediately snap back to something that was uniting and positive and loving.”

Brad on what Angelina is like as a mother: “When Angie has a day off, the first thing she does is get up and take the kids out. This is the most important ‘to do’ of the day. No matter how tired she might be, she plans outings for each and all. She has an incredible knack for inventing crazy experiences for them, something new, something fresh. I may be the bigger goof of the pair, but she invents the stage.”

Angelina on shooting emotionally difficult scenes with Brad: “We had to stay in our corners, like boxers, and not be husband and wife. It was very hard to do those scenes without Brad and I taking care of each other. Normally in between takes, you’d make sure that the other’s okay, but we had to be able to really get ugly.”

Brad on their dynamic on the set of By the Sea: “Being a couple, we have that shorthand that can be communicated in a look. Conversely, it means I knew immediately if she felt a take stunk.”

Brad on filming By the Sea almost immediately after their wedding: “That this became our honeymoon is just f*cking funny.”

Brad on his perspective on Angelina’s movie career: “I’m not sure she ever really enjoyed acting, but was doing it more for her respect for artists and her mother, who loved the art. With writing and directing she has discovered her own joy within it.”

Angelina on ensuring her children never worry about her: “I want to make sure my kids are never worried about me. Even if I’m going through something, I make sure they are very aware that I’m totally fine. I’ll stop and make a joke, I talk to them. I never, ever want them to have that secret worry and feel that they have to take care of me.”

Angelina on their ‘dorky’ normal life at home: “We wake up, we make breakfast. In our domestic life, we’re Mum and Dad. And often we’re dorky Mum and Dad, which the kids find ridiculous.”

Brad on Angelina’s decision to tell the public about her mastectomy and ovary removal:“She’s never been a person who hides. She’s utterly forthcoming and sincere about who she is.”

Brad on Angelina’s family history of both breast and ovarian cancer: “You have to understand that this is a woman who never knew she’d make it to 40. This is a woman who had watched her mother, aunt, and grandmother become sick and eventually succumb, all at an early age. Her drive, her absolute value in herself, is defined by the impact she can have during her time here — for her kids and for the underprivileged and those suffering injustices.”