Angelina Jolie says she developed Bell’s palsy from stress of Brad Pitt divorce

Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie filed for divorce in 2016.

Angelina Jolie has opened up about her stressful divorce from Brad Pitt and her wish to leave Hollywood. In a candid interview with WSJ Magazine, published December 5, the Maleficent star said stress of her impending divorce caused her to develop Bell’s palsy.

“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,” she revealed. Bell’s palsy is a condition that causes sudden weakness or paralysis on one side of the face.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie announced their split in 2016, allegedly after Pitt physically assaulted her and their son on a private plane. They have since been embroiled in a long legal battle for custody of their six children: Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 17, and twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, 15.

This is not the first time Jolie has spoken about her Bell’s palsy diagnosis – she first opened up about it in 2017 for a Vanity Fair cover story. “Sometimes women who have families put themselves last, until it manifests itself in their own health,” she said at the time, crediting acupuncture for helping her recover from the condition.

More recently to WSJ, she also spoke about wanting to leave Hollywood, calling her hometown “quite a shallow place.”

Jolie revealed that eventually, she would like to spend more time at her home in Cambodia. “I will move when I can,” she said.