LOS ANGELES: Angelina Jolie says she developed high blood pressure and Bell's palsy last year.

The actress-director tells Vanity Fair that she credits acupuncture for her full recovery from the paralysis, which was caused by nerve damage and led one side of her face to droop.

Jolie also opens up about her divorce from Brad Pitt in the magazine's cover story. Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016.

She says they care for each other and for their family and are "both working toward the same goal." She says she does not want her six children to worry about her and that "it's very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them."

Talking about life after split, Angelina Jolie has put movie-making on hold to become a better mom, take cooking classes and do ordinary tasks like picking up dog poop.

In the interview, the actress said life after splitting in September from husband Brad Pitt was focused on looking after her health and her children.

"I actually feel more of a woman because I feel like I'm being smart about my choices, and I'm putting my family first, and I'm in charge of my life and my health. I think that's what makes a woman complete," Jolie said.

Her latest film as a director, "First They Killed My Father," about the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s, under which more than 1 million people died, had its premiere in Cambodia in February. It is due to be released globally and on Netflix in September.

Apart from promoting the film, Jolie said she had no interest in working on another movie right now. She has primary custody of her six children with Pitt pending a final settlement of their divorce.

"I'm just wanting to make the proper breakfast and keep the house," she told Vanity Fair.

"That's my passion. At the request of my kids, I'm taking cooking classes. As I go to sleep at night, I think, 'Did I do a great job as a mom or was that an average day?'"

"I've been trying for nine months to be really good at just being a homemaker and picking up dog poop and cleaning dishes and reading bedtime stories," she said. "And I'm getting better at all three."

Jolie, 42, a special envoy for the United Nations refugee agency, said the children had been "very brave" since the split from Pitt.

"They're six very strong-minded, thoughtful, worldly individuals. I'm very proud of them. They've been very brave. They were very brave," she said.

-AP/Reuters