Covering Vogue‘s November 2023 issue, Oscar winner Angelina Jolie opens up about her family, her new fashion outlet and the importance to her of being a mom.

“I was 26 when I became a mother. My entire life changed,” Jolie expressed. “Having children saved me — and taught me to be in this world differently.”

Jolie and her ex-husband Brad Pitt share six children: adopted kids Maddox, 22, Pax, 19, and Zahara, 18, as well as their biological children: Shiloh, 17, and 15-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.

Jolie and Pitt announced their divorce in 2016 after 12 years together, and messy tabloid headlines about the split still linger.

Jolie said of her clan, “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.”

She tells the magazine, “I’m still understanding who I am at 48 … I don’t feel like I’ve been myself for a decade, in a way, which I don’t want to get into.”

Without elaborating, she says of her and her kids, “We had a lot of healing to do. We’re still finding our footing.”

Part of that healing, she mentions, is the creative outlet Atelier Jolie, her new fashion imprint.

“I don’t want to be a big fashion designer,” she says, “I want to build a house for other people to become that.”

She adds, “I find it slightly funny that we are involved in fashion — I don’t think any one of us is overly ‘fashionable.’ But because we live in our clothes, it is so much a part of who we are, and something that’s important to explore, especially for young people.”

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