'We're a family and we'll always be a family'

Hollywood star couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt may have parted ways last year but the actor says that they will always be a family. The celebrity couple separated in September last year after more than a decade long relationship and spent several months embroiled in a bitter custody battle over their six children.

The 41-year-old star opened up about her highly-publicised split from Pitt, 53, for the first time since filing for divorce, reported People magazine. Although they have decided to go their separate ways, Jolie hopes the whole thing will make them a "stronger" unit.

"I don't want to say very much about that, except to say it was a very difficult time... And we are a family and we will always be a family, and we will get through this time and hopefully be a stronger family for it," Jolie said.The actor was in Cambodia to promote her new film First They Killed My Father.

It is a project close to Jolie's heart, as the actor adopted her first child, son Maddox, now 15, from a Cambodian orphanage in 2002.

The mother-of-six further said that she was coping by maintaining a focus on her children, Maddox, Pax, 13, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8.

"Many, many people find themselves in this situation. My whole, my family... We've all being through a difficult time.My focus is my children, our children... And my focus is finding this way through."

"We are and forever will be a family. I am coping with finding a way through to make sure that this somehow makes us stronger and closer."