Angelina Jolie has had a tough time these past few years, given her divorce with long-time partner Brad Pitt and the subsequent custody battle for their children which is underway even today. The actress is looking forward to moving past these times and feels she would be in a much better place when she is in her 50s.

The Hollywood star, who will celebrate her 46th birthday in June this year, opened up about her personal life while speaking to British Vogue for its March cover issue. When asked if she feels she is at a "happy stage" in her life, Jolie said: "I don't know. The past few years have been pretty hard. I've been focusing on healing our family. It's slowly coming back, like the ice melting and the blood returning to my body."

The "Maleficent" actress added that she has not yet reached the end of this journey of healing, but hopes to be there and is "planning on it."

"I do like being older. I feel much more comfortable in my forties than I did when I was younger. Maybe because... I don't know... maybe because my mom didn't live very long, so there's something about age that feels like a victory instead of a sadness for me," she explained.

"So I like it," the mother-of-six said about growing older, noting that she has a strong belief she is going to hit her stride in her fifties. She added: "Though we were on the trampoline the other day, and the children said, "No, Mom, don't do that. You'll hurt yourself." And I thought, "God, isn't that funny?" There was a day I was an action star, and now the kids are telling me to get off the trampoline because I'll hurt myself."

The actress is currently living with her six children- Maddox, 19, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, John (Shiloh), 14, and 12-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox, at her Los Feliz estate, a compound formerly belonging to Hollywood legend Cecil B. DeMille, who also had legendary comic actor Charlie Chaplin as his neighbour. Jolie said that she took the decision to move into the estate because she wanted her children to be close to their father Brad Pitt, who lives only five minutes away.

"I felt a little pressure moving in. Like I had snuck into where DeMille and Chaplin would hang out. I love most that there is no entertainment room, but lots of pathways and places to walk and think. I feel very fortunate we have that at this time," she said about isolating at the iconic mansion during the coronavirus pandemic.

Angelina Jolie
US actress Angelina Jolie, shown here on the red carpet in London on October 9, 2019. Photo: AFP / ISABEL INFANTES