Angelina Jolie developed Bell's palsy leading up to divorce from Brad Pitt

“My body reacts very strongly to stress,” Jolie said in a recent interview

By Kelly McClure

Nights & Weekends Editor

Published December 6, 2023 6:47PM (EST)

Angelina Jolie arrives for the State Dinner in honor of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2023. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Angelina Jolie arrives for the State Dinner in honor of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2023. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

The details of what went down leading up to Angelina Jolie filing for divorce from Brad Pitt back in 2016 are still trickling in, so many years later, as the couple have yet to finalize the legalities of their split after only two years of marriage and much of what led to it is tied up in court proceedings.

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Jolie opens up about the ways in which the stress of it all took a toll on her, both emotionally as well as physically, revealing that she developed Bell’s palsy — a condition where facial muscles become weak or paralyzed — before calling it quits with Pitt after he allegedly verbally and physically assaulted her and their son, Maddox, on a private plane.

“My body reacts very strongly to stress,” Jolie says. “My blood sugar goes up and down. I suddenly had Bell’s palsy six months before my divorce.”

During the interview, in which she discusses finding new purpose in the launch of a sustainable-fashion company called Atelier Jolie, she furthers that she and her six children have been focusing on healing and that she'd eventually like to leave Hollywood after her divorce finally goes through, saying, "I lost the ability to live and travel as freely. I will move when I can." 

 

 


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