Angelina Jolie Says She Was Diagnosed With Bell’s Palsy

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Angelina Jolie. What has Angelina been up to? Apparently dealing with some more medical issues, that’s what.

Angelina appears in the September issue of Vanity Fair to talk about her upcoming film First The Killed My Father, and also about her split from Brad Pitt, because I believe there’s a Hollywood law that says you can’t conduct a magazine interview with Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt and not ask them about their mess of a divorce. About that, Angelina describes her life since last summer in the same way I would describe what it was like to watch By The Sea: It was rough.

“It’s just been the hardest time, and we’re just kind of coming up for air. [This house] is a big jump forward for us, and we’re all trying to do our best to heal our family…things got bad. I didn’t want to use that word…Things became difficult.”

As for their six kids, they’re basically the living embodiment of lyrics from a Sara Bareilles song.

“They’ve been very brave. They were very brave…In times they needed to be. We’re all just healing from the events that led to the filing…They’re not healing from divorce. They’re healing from some…from life, from things in life.”

Then Angelina got into how she’s been holding up. Angelina says she’s got some extra gray hairs and that her skin is drier now. She doesn’t know if that’s the result of menopause or the stress from battling it out with Brad. She has also been dealing with shit more serious than what can be cured with a spritz of L’Oreal Root Cover Up.

Last year, in addition to hypertension, Jolie developed Bell’s palsy, a result of damage to facial nerves, causing one side of her face to droop. “Sometimes women in families put themselves last, until it manifests itself in their own health.”

Everything I know about Bell’s palsy I learned from growing up with a Prime Minister who had it. Basically it’s a type of facial paralysis that is sometimes believed to be caused by a viral infection. Based on how Angelina Jolie is posing with her hand on her mouth on the cover of Vanity Fair, I assumed she might still have a bit of it. But she claims she’s made a full recovery from the condition, thanks to acupuncture.

I’m sure seeing half her face hanging low freaked Angelina Jolie out. But I do hope she was able to have a little with it before she acupunctured it away. One side, Angelina Jolie, the other side – ta-da – Jon Voight!

Pic: Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott/Vanity Fair