Almost a year on from her shock split with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie has admitted her new life as a single mum of six is “just hard”.

In her most frank admission since she filed for divorce from Pitt, the actress said she’s struggling on her own and has lost her old sense of self.

“It’s been difficult,” said Jolie, 42, who left Pitt, 53, after a two-year marriage and 12-year relationship.

“I don’t enjoy being single. It’s not something I wanted. There’s nothing nice about it.”

While she’s managed to move into a $25 million mansion and take her kids to Disneyland, Africa and skiing in Colorado, Jolie admitted her calm front is just that.

“Sometimes maybe it appears I am pulling it all together,” she said. “But really I am just trying to get through my days.”

Apart from her tell-all in September’s Vanity Fair, she has kept clear of the spotlight to “heal” herself and children Maddox, 16, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 11, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 9.

Why? The actress told UK newspaper the Sunday Telegraph the Pitt split had changed her personality.

“I am a little shy this time, because I am not as strong inside as I have been in the past.”

Admitting that “we all lose our way a bit”, Jolie said she wants to discover her “old” self.

“Now that my kids are growing up I am starting to realise my own sense of play has been put on hold for a while,” she said.

“Maybe them hitting their teens is going to bring out a little more fun in mum.”

Surrounded by all her children, she looked relaxed at Saturday’s premiere of her Cambodian-set drama First They Killed My Father at the Telluride Film Festival.

Angelina Jolie with children Zahara Jolie-Pitt (L) and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt (R) in 2015. Photo: Getty

But she said that on top of her emotional rollercoaster ride, “my health is something I have to monitor”.

Jolie had a preventative double mastectomy in 2013, and her ovaries removed two years later. Last year, she suffered hyptertension and developed Bell’s Palsy which she treated with acupuncture.

At times, she admitted, she feels “that my body has taken a hit, but I try to laugh as much as possible”.

“Even if you are going through chemo, you need to find the ability to love and laugh,” she said.

“It may sound like a postcard, but it’s true.”

While she might be missing married life, Jolie has been careful when asked if her relationship with Pitt has improved since it imploded on September 14, 2016.

The trigger was an alleged altercation between the Allied star and Maddox on a private jet, which saw Pitt investigated and cleared by the FBI.

Now “we care for each other and care about our family”, she told Vanity Fair, “and we are both working towards the same goal”.

She also has domestic goals and is taking cooking lessons at the request of her children because of her “erratic” kitchen skills.

“[The kids] often take over and tell me that they can do it better.”