Angelina Jolie struggled to hold back tears as she addressed her divorce from Brad Pitt for the first time publicly since their September split.

In a sit-down interview with BBC World News that aired Sunday, the actress and human rights activist opened up about the "very difficult time" her family endured in the months following Brad and Angelina's highly-publicized (and ongoing) breakup.

"I don't want to say very much about that, except to say it was a very difficult time," Jolie shared, visibly upset. "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."

The six Jolie-Pitt children joined their mother in Cambodia over the weekend as she premiered her latest film, First They Killed My Father. The event marked Angelina's first official appearance after going her separate ways from the Hollywood A-lister.