My children Maddox and Pax saw my pain on Maria’s set

Angelina Jolie is secretly famous.

But in a new interview with BBC News, the Hollywood star spoke candidly about her experience working with her older sons, saying they saw the “pain” she often hid from them.

The actor is starring in a new biopictitled Maria, about the opera singer Maria Callas.

Two of Jolie’s six children with ex-husband Brad Pitt, Maddox and Pax, took roles as production assistants on the film.

“An actor [Callas] I have a lot of pain and they have seen me go through many things, but they have never felt the pain that a parent usually hides from a child,” she said.

“They were there to witness some of that, but we would hug or bring me cups of tea.”

Jolie added that it was a “new way” to find a way to be honest with her children about her feelings, “in an even bigger way”.

Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, the film focuses on Callas’ last years, in the 1970s, when he lived in Paris.

With Jolie taking on a rare acting role in recent years, the film gave her something of a comeback narrative and could lead to an Oscar nomination for best actress.

Callas was a US-born Greek soprano, and one of the most famous opera singers.

In Maria, a combination of Jolie’s voice and Callas’ original recording is used in the singing scenes.

The actress learned to sing opera for the role, something she describes as “physically demanding”.

The training took about seven months, he said.

“We started with regular singing classes and it was challenging in many ways, but when the opera classes start, what you need for your breathing work and the strength of what you push through yourself, it’s a very different body.”

Jolie, whose previous credits include Changeling, Maleficent, Salt, and Mr & Mrs Smith, said she had never sung before, and was “actually very shy about singing”.

“Maybe it’s one of the areas I was hesitant about in my life,” he said.

But he revealed that it was also something he enjoyed.

“One of the great privileges of being an actor is that you often have the support of the team to try something and explore something you’ve never done before and this was a big challenge,” he said.

Jolie’s sons Maddox, 23, and Pax, 21, have worked with her on many projects, including her film Without Blood.

They both accompanied her to Maria’s New York City premiere in September, along with her younger sister Zahara.

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in September 2016. The two were involved in a custody battle that resulted in Pitt being was granted joint custody in 2021.

The Hollywood stars also share daughters Shiloh and Vivienne, and another son Knox.

On the film set, both Maddox and Pax were “very busy”, says director Pablo Larraín. “They were very professional,” he added.

Jolie said that during the filming, Pax recorded a lot of her singing career “so she was with me in my early, bad days,” she laughed.

“It’s always good for your children to watch your mother not do something easily, but she gets scared and fights and fails and tries again,” she said.

“So that’s an important and a good thing.”

Maria is the third in a trilogy of films about sophisticated, sophisticated women from Larraín, following his films about Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana.

The film received mixed reviews, although critics generally praised its average performance.

“Jolie writes well as Maria Callas, embodying her with grace and determination,” says Sophia Ciminello of AwardsWatch. “He doesn’t disappear from the role, he passes.”

Time’s Stephanie Zacharek wasn’t so keen in her performance, however, she says that Jolie “plays her subject as arrogantly cool and deeply insecure, but she doesn’t hold a single bit of her evil pity”.

Known as La Divina, “The Divine One”, Maria Callas started singing at the age of 14.

One of her most famous performances was as Tosca, at Covent Garden, in 1964.

But the decline of the voice, possibly caused by the severe weight loss, led to the premature end of his career.

He spent his last years living alone, and died of a heart attack at the age of 53.

Larraín said he hopes his film will honor Callas’ desire to promote the art form.

“If this film shows the attention of the opera from a hundred to a million, it will be a success,” he said.

“I don’t know if there is an art form as strong as opera,” added Jolie.

“The way it connects to the soul and the body, so it’s for everyone.”

Maria will be released in UK cinemas on 10 January.