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Angelina Jolie Says She Got Bell’s Palsy Before Her Divorce

Photo: Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

Angelina Jolie is ready to talk about her divorce. In an interview with WSJ., she revealed that leading up to her divorce from Brad Pitt, she developed Bell’s palsy, a condition where facial muscles become weak or paralyzed. “My body reacts very strongly to stress,” Jolie said. “My blood sugar goes up and down. I suddenly had Bell’s palsy six months before my divorce.”

Jolie filed for divorce in 2016 after Pitt allegedly verbally and physically assaulted her and their son, Maddox, on a private plane. For the past seven years, the former couple have been fighting over everything from their winery to custody of their six children. Neither Pitt nor Jolie has spoken about the divorce at length, but Jolie told WSJ. that in the wake of the split, she and her children — whom she described as her closest friends — had “things we needed to heal from.” She also said during the divorce, she “lost the ability to live and travel as freely” (though she didn’t specify why), so she spent much of the last seven years at home in Los Angeles, where she says she doesn’t have much of a social life and isn’t dating.

Jolie went on to call her hometown “quite a shallow place,” noting that she’d like to eventually spend more time at her home in Cambodia. “I will move when I can,” she said.

Angelina Jolie Says She Got Bell’s Palsy Before Her Divorce