Angelina Jolie can't discuss past with estranged dad

Angelina Jolie and her father Jon Voight have such a troubled past they can't talk about it. Photo / Getty

She was estranged from him for nearly a decade following years of bitter fighting.

Now Angelina Jolie has revealed that the only way she can have a relationship with her father is if they do not talk about their past.

Since their reconciliation following her mother Marcheline Bertrand's death in 2007, the Tomb Raider star, 36, said she and Jon Voight, 72, had never discussed the rows that blighted her childhood.

Were they to delve into the problems of the past, their relationship could collapse again, she suggested.

Miss Bertrand was married to Voight from 1971 to 1980, and despite studying under famed acting teacher Lee Strasberg, she concentrated on her family rather than her career.

The couple split when Voight was caught having an affair, and he and Jolie began rowing.

Things got worse when he claimed in 2002 that she had "serious mental problems".

It was not until Miss Bertrand died in 2007 that father and daughter patched things up.

In a candid interview, Miss Jolie said: "I thought about my children never meeting their grandfather.

"I thought about my brother only having one parent and only one family member alive and I thought about my father being alone and discussed that the best thing we could do would be to meet and talk, but that we would only be able to do this if we never spoke about the past again."

The Oscar-winning actress, who has six children with Brad Pitt, 47, also revealed that she looks forward to the day when she can "focus on being a mum".

Asked when she might give up acting, she told US TV network CBS: "My kids will let me know."

- Daily Mail