Angelina Jolie can fully relate to the “solitude and loneliness” felt by opera singer Maria Callas, who she portrays in the new biopic Maria.
Angelina has endured a turbulent time since news of her shock split from husband Brad Pitt broke in 2016 after 11 years together but only 25 months of marriage.
Their separation soon turned ugly, with allegations of abuse at the hands of Brad, 60, being made public through a lawsuit filed by 49-year-old Angelina in relation to their shared French vineyard Chateau Miraval.
Talking ahead of Maria’s U.K. release, the Oscar winner revealed the trait she most shares with the real-life Maria, one of the 20th century’s most renowned and influential opera singers.
“I have my children I love but as an adult I’m often alone. I find myself identifying with the solitude and loneliness she has,” the mother-of-six said at a London screening of the movie, according to The Sun.
“I also haven’t quite figured out how to live life in a way where I’m on my own. Maybe a lot of artists feel that we’re in an open space as a person. We don’t quite settle. So it leaves us in a strange way sometimes.”
Maria, written by Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight, follows the late, great singer over the final days of her life in 1977 when she was only 53.
The opera star had to overcome struggles and scandal during the course of her career, with Angelina recently saying playing her was like therapy.
She added: “When I’m up there crying, that’s my pain, that’s my grief.”
Maria will be released in U.K. cinemas on 10 January.
