Angelina Jolie has reflected on how a remark from someone in her life about her abilities continued to impact her years later.
The Hollywood star, 49, plays famed opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larrains’ forthcoming biopic Maria, which she has said helped her through one of the darkest periods of her life.
Jolie took singing lessons to prepare for the role, but revealed in a new interview that she was once told she “couldn’t” sing.
“I had someone in my life say that I couldn’t sing,” she told fellow actors Zendaya, Tilda Swinton, Demi Moore, Mikey Madison and Zoe Saldaña in a roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter.
“I didn’t realise how much that had blocked me. I didn’t realise how much I didn’t know my voice. I didn’t understand how much life changes your voice, whether it be childbirth or death, or someone you love, or sickness or whatever it may be.
“But we hold things in our body,” she continued. “We change the way we are. And somewhere along the way – I’m 49 years old – I lost my voice. So it was such a gift to have these seven months [of training], to have someone hold my hand and help me take a deep breath and try to make sound again.”
Jolie said she recommended trying to sing opera “to everyone” because it required singing with “your full physical body, your full vocal, and your full emotion”.
“And we, especially as women, are very rarely allowed, asked, encouraged to give with our full power,” she said. “We are adjusting to the room, to our children, to society. Something along the way forms us, and we don’t bust out with everything.”
Her remarks sparked a conversation with her fellow actors about how women in their profession often lack opportunities to connect and reflect with one another as artists.
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Last week, it was announced that Jolie and her ex-husband Brad Pitt had finally reached a divorce settlement more than eight years after their separation.
The former couple began dating in 2004 after meeting on the set of the action film Mr and Mrs Smith, and married 10 years later before splitting in 2016. They share six children: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Vivienne and Knox.
In a statement, Jolie’s lawyer said she was “exhausted” but “relieved this one part is over”.
“More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr Pitt. She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr Pitt, and since that time she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family,” he said.
“This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago.”
Court documents are yet to be filed and a judge must still sign off on the settlement.
Details of the agreement have not been disclosed. The former couple are still engaged in a legal battle over Jolie’s share of their jointly purchased French winery, Château Miraval.
Maria will be released in cinemas on 10 January 2025.
