Ange in crisis
It’s rehab or the kids
As Angelina Jolie joined her children for a day out at Disneyland recently, onlookers couldn’t help but stare. Yes, she’s one of the world’s most famous women, but the reason for their gasps was the actress’ shocking weight loss.
With reports that the skeletal 42-year-old has dropped to an alarming 41kg, Woman’s Day can reveal that the star is being urged to check into rehab if she hopes to keep custody of her children. The star admitted to neglecting her health in the wake of her shock divorce from Brad Pitt.
“Angelina is in a bad way,” tells an insider. “She’s battling unbelievably bad anxiety and is taking a cocktail of medication justj to getg
through the day. Her friends and family are doing their best to help and support her, but the reality is, she needs professional help. They fear she’s on the brink of a serious mental breakdown.”
Our insider says Angelina’s lawyers – who are working on her battle for sole custody of their children, Maddox, 16, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 11, and nine-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne – have advised her to check into rehab so that she’s fighting fit when facing off against Brad.
“They’re concerned that unless she gets the help she desperately needs, she’ll end up losing her children for good. At this point, it looks
like Brad’s putting in the work and she’s not.”
Brad, 53, has hinted that it was his drinking that led to the couple’s shock split in September last year and has since given up booze as he battles to gain back access to his children.
Shrinking frame
While Angelina has never commented publicly on her weight, she admitted she had suffered facial paralysis (Bell’s palsy) after her stressful split from Brad in Vanity Fair magazine last month.
“Sometimes women in families put themselves last, until it manifests itself in their own health,” she said before opening up aboutbout the end of her 12-year union.nion.
“Things got bad. I didn’t want to use that word rd ... but things became difficult.”
She said her children dren had been “very brave” throughout roughout the painful split.
“We’re all just healing aling from the events that led to o the filing [for divorce]. They’re not healing from divorce itself.”
Last week, the embattled battled star was forced to defend fend her casting process on her er new film First They Killed My Father. The destitute orphans auditioning in Cambodia were given money, only for the cash to be taken away after they were “caught stealing” by the director. Critics said she was cruel for using the exercise as a means to assess the children’s reactions.
“This was almost the final straw for Angelina,” tells our insider. “She never thought people would react this way and it’s knocked her for six. She sees herself as a humanitarian, so it’s almost her worst nightmare to be accused of cruelty against children. She’s really not dealing with it well.”
In fact, the star – who is believed to have dropped a dangerous 10kg since the divorce – spends most of her days holed up in her new Loz Feliz house while her children are homeschooled by a team of tutors and nannies, says our insider.
She’s relying on anti-anxiety pills and barely eating, and doctors have warned her she faces osteoporosis, a weakened immune system and anaemia if it continues.
“When she gets the energy
to take the kids out or attend end a social event, she has to spend the next three days s recovering,” reports our insider. nsider. “Her collarbones are jutting ng out and her already-tiny clothes hes are falling off her. It’s not a healthy sight.”
Angelina is no stranger er to health problems. In 2013, 13, she announced that she’d d had a preventative doublee mastectomy after learning ng she carried the BRCA1 gene, which put her at a high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.r. In 2015, Angelina then made the brave decision to remove her ovaries as a preventative measure.
Now, our insider says, it’s Angelina’s fear of being g apart from her children that’s stopping her from seeking proper help.
“Ange’s brother James has offered to move in and take care of the kids while she goes off for treatment, but she just wants to protect them and won’t admit there’s a problem. She’s insisting on soldiering on, but it’s getting to the point where e her loved ones are very worried. She’s crumbling before their eyes.”