Jolie has Bell's palsy

Photo: The Canadian Press

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 has been open about her health challenges in the past. She wrote in the New York Times about her 2013 decision to have a preventative double mastectomy after learning that she carries the gene that made it extremely likely that she would get breast cancer. She had her ovaries removed two years later.

Jolie also opens up about her divorce from Brad Pitt in the magazine's September cover story , which was released online Wednesday. 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."

Jolie says that when she was growing up, she often worried about her mother, and she doesn't want her children to worry about her.

"I think it's very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them," she said. "They need to know that everything's going to be all right even when you're not sure it is."