Angelina Jolie has had times where she has felt not "free" and not "safe" over the past four years.
Angelina Jolie
The 'Maleficent: Mistress of Evil' star - who plays the titular fairy in the Disney franchise - went through a divorce and custody battle with ex-husband Brad Pitt, which was finalised this year, and has admitted that she had kept those thoughts of not feeling "free of harm" and "cornered" "hidden" from the public.
Speaking about her character Maleficent, she told 'Daily Pop' on E!: "I think Maleficent is wild, I think there is that thing in all of us that is just not safe and not fine, that wants to just have fun and be our best self."
And speaking about herself, she added: "There have been times in my life where I have felt - and maybe I've hidden them well from the public - where I have not felt free, I have not felt safe, I have not felt like free of harm. I have felt small. I have felt cornered.
"And it has taken a lot to find that again, probably more of that today than I was in the last four years."
The 'Salt' star - who has children Maddox, 18, Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13, and 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne with Brad -recently admitted the ''last few years haven't been the easiest''.
As well as the end of her marriage, the 44-year-old actress underwent preventive surgery in 2015 to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes after a cancer scare, and she admitted that she hasn't always felt strong during this time.
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.''
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