Angelina Jolie is still convinced her estranged husband Brad Pitt is a "wonderful father" despite the child services investigation hanging over him.
The Ocean's Eleven star was quizzed by both FBI officials and representatives from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) last year (16) amid reports of a fracas between the actor and his adopted son Maddox onboard a private jet in September (16).
Angelina filed for divorce just four days after the alleged altercation, citing the "health of the family". Brad was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing by authorities from both organisations, and the former couple went on to reach a custody agreement about the care of it six kids, which was approved by a Los Angeles judge in December (16).
The actress and director, who is promoting her new film First They Killed My Father, has since opened up about how her brood is coping in the aftermath of the marriage split, and in a new interview with U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America on Tuesday (21Feb17), she insisted they will emerge "stronger" from the personal drama.
"We are focusing on the health of our family," she said, "and so we will be stronger when we come out of this, because that's what we're determined to do as a family."
News anchor George Stephanopoulos then recalled previous comments Angelina had made about Brad during their romance, when she gushed about the 53-year-old as a "wonderful father".
Asked if she still believes in that statement, she replied, "Of course, of course. We will always be a family. Always."
Angelina's remarks echo those she made to the BBC over the weekend (18-19Feb17), when she personally addressed the divorce and custody battle for the first time, admitting it has been a "very difficult" transition.
She and Brad began dating in 2005 and wed in 2014. They are parents to adopted kids Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, and Zahara, 12, and biological children Shiloh, 10, and eight-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.
