Angelina Jolie Reveals Why She’s Stepped Away From Acting

By Douglas Helm | Updated

eternals angelina jolie
Angelina Jolie in Eternals (2021)

Angelina Jolie was once one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and would regularly appear in major blockbusters. However, in recent years, she has taken more of a break from acting, which Jolie herself explained in a recent interview with Vogue, saying, “We had a lot of healing to do,” and “We’re still finding our footing.” Jolie explained that she stopped doing as much film work around seven years ago and that she would “only take jobs that didn’t require long shoots.”

Angelina Jolie opens up about her long break from regularly appearing in major motion pictures, saying that she’s needed a lot of healing over the years.

Angelina Jolie didn’t go into specifics about her decision during her interview, but Variety points out that the seven-year timeline lines up with her 2016 divorce filing from now ex-husband Brad Pitt following an alleged physical altercation with Pitt on a plane.

Regardless of any alleged physical altercations, it would make sense that Jolie would want to take some time to heal after a major divorce.

In the years leading up to her divorce from Pitt, Angelina Jolie starred in the Disney blockbuster Maleficent in 2014 and her directorial effort By the Sea, which co-starred Pitt, in 2015.

“We had a lot of healing to do. We’re still finding our footing.”

-Angelina Jolie on her absence from screen

Since then, Jolie’s only lead roles have been in the films Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Those Who Wish Me Dead. Of course, she also had major supporting roles since then, but those may have fit her shorter shooting time stipulation.

maleficent
Angeline Jolie in Maleficent (2014)

Some of the biggest roles Angelina Jolie has had in recent years include her reprising her role as Tigress in Kung Fu Panda in 2016 and her major MCU role as Thena in Eternals.

While we will likely see Jolie reprise her Marvel role sometime in the future (though Marvel has been pretty quiet about when we can expect to see the Eternals again), she will definitely be returning to her Kung Fu Panda role in 2024. Kung Fu Panda 4 is set to come out on March 29, 2024 and will continue following Po’s (Jack Black) adventures as a martial art expert in ancient China.

In the meantime, Angelina Jolie has been busy with other ventures outside the world of acting. She also spoke to Vogue about her upcoming launch of the envrionmentally and socially concious fashion brand Atelier Jolie.

In the same interview, Jolie mentioned that the company has helped her on her emotional healing journey, saying “I think part of this has also been therapeutic for me — to work in a creative space with people you trust and to rediscover yourself.”

Without Blood

Angelina Jolie has also been busy expanding her directorial resume in recent years, as her upcoming film Without Blood is currently in the post-production stages. Jolie adapted the screenplay for the film from the short novel by Alessandro Baricco.

Along with writing the script for the film, Jolie also took on directing and producing duties. The film follows a woman named Nina, who escapes the murder of her family as a young girl, thought one of the murderes sees her hiding place and decides to keep quiet to let her live.

Years later, the woman and the man who kept quiet cross paths again. Nina is played by Salma Hayek while the man, named Tito, is played by Damian Bichir. There currently isn’t a release date set for the film. We’ll keep you updated on this and Angelina Jolie’s other upcoming projects.