Angelina Jolie says her cancer scares led to Brad Pitt split

Angelina Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt during happier times  AP

Much has been said about the possible reasons behind the split between seemingly perfect Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Earlier reports cited infidelity and alcohol abuse on Pitt’s part, but the pair has relatively been silent on what really caused the rift in their two years of marriage.

In a recent interview on The Hollywood Reporter’s podcast Awards Chatter for her film “First They Killed My Father,” Jolie candidly revealed that her health problems did in fact put pressure on their relationship.

“My life has been… I’ve had many, many extraordinary very fortunate things happen and it’s also been many things over the years that had been challenging. So that wasn’t a particular time when I wrote it… I had my mastectomy right before I had Unbroken,” she said.

“Over the span of that decade, I did lose my mother, I did have my mastectomy, and I did then have an ovarian cancer scare and had that surgery as well, and other things of course that happened in life that you go through,” Jolie added.

The 42-year-old “Maleficent” star underwent a preventive double mastectomy in 2013, after doctors discovered a defective gene in her body that put her at an 87 percent risk of developing breast cancer.

In 2015, she also displayed possible signs of ovarian cancer and opted to get a preventive oophorectomy having her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.

Jolie also confirmed that the couple did indeed try to save their marriage by working together on “By the Sea” film in 2015.

“We had met working together and we worked together well… I wanted us to do some serious work together… I thought it would be a good way for us to communicate,” she said.

Despite their efforts, the couple dubbed as “Brangelina,” could not settle their differences and decided to part ways.

“In some ways it was, and in some ways we learned some things. But there was a heaviness probably during that situation that carried on and it wasn’t because of the film,” Jolie shared.

“A piece of art can be something that’s healing or something that’s difficult. I don’t know. I’m glad we did that film because we did explore something together. Whatever it was maybe it didn’t solve certain things, but we did communicate something that needed to be communicated to each other.”  Khristian Ibarrola /ra