How Angelina Jolie Confronted Her Trauma Through the Role of Thena in Eternals – A Healing Journey!

Angelina Jolie has long been known for her advocacy in human rights and for speaking candidly about her troubled upbringing. Her life has been far from a fairy tale, and over the years, the Oscar-winning actress has opened up about her personal struggles, from self-harm and drug use to a difficult relationship with her father, actor Jon Voight. But despite the challenges she’s faced, Jolie’s path to healing has not only come through humanitarian efforts but also through her art. One of the more unexpected ways she worked through her trauma was through her role as Thena in Marvel’s Eternals.

A Painful Past, An Empowering Present

Jolie’s childhood wasn’t easy—she’s been open about the strain between her and her father, which took years to heal, and the dark moments she faced during her youth. Self-harming as a teenager and using drugs to cope, Jolie reached some of her lowest points while battling with the overwhelming weight of her life experiences. At one point, she even hired a hitman to take her life, a tragic attempt to relieve her family of guilt.

Her path to recovery and stability came with significant effort and transformation. While becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest stars before her 30s, she didn’t just leave her past behind. Instead, she used her platform for good, with her commitment to humanitarian work. The adoption of her first child, Maddox, an orphan from Cambodia, occurred while filming Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and helped cement her focus on global issues. However, despite her activism, she never entirely compartmentalized her personal struggles.

Thena in Eternals: A Healing Role

While Jolie has taken on a wide range of roles over her career, her role as Thena in Eternals, directed by Chloé Zhao, provided an unexpected form of therapy. As she explained in an interview with CinemaBlend, playing the immortal extraterrestrial character gave her the chance to confront her own past.

In Eternals, Thena is an ancient being who, over centuries, has witnessed the brutality of humanity’s development. She becomes burdened by these traumatic memories, ultimately choosing self-imposed exile to escape the weight of her past. The character’s struggles mirrored Jolie’s own personal journey in many ways—navigating the emotional scars of a long history of pain and trauma. Jolie reflected, “Like many people, I have my own struggles with different traumas or things that have happened, and so many of us become overwhelmed by the weight of our lives or our memories. And in some way, it was therapeutic to let it come through. And what I liked about her is that she is both; she’s also very strong.”

Thena’s Trauma as a Mirror to Jolie’s Own Struggles

For Jolie, playing Thena was a way of tapping into her own emotional struggles while embodying a character whose inner turmoil parallels the challenges of her real life. Thena’s trauma, which leads to her feeling disconnected from the world around her, hit close to home for Jolie. The character’s strength, even in the face of overwhelming difficulty, inspired her. Just as Thena learned to overcome her disillusionment with humanity, Jolie found that playing this role provided a channel through which she could face her own past.

Jolie’s ability to blend emotional depth with physical strength in her performances has always been one of her defining qualities, whether she’s playing a human-rights advocate in A Mighty Heart or a fierce immortal in Eternals. In Eternals, she combined both elements, channeling Thena’s inner strength while confronting personal demons through the role.

A Therapeutic Performance

Despite the fantastical elements of Eternals, Jolie’s performance grounded the character in deep human emotions. Thena, like many of the characters Jolie has portrayed, is a figure of immense strength, but also of vulnerability. This combination allows her to resonate on a personal level with audiences, and in Jolie’s case, it also allowed her to work through some of her own experiences.

The film’s portrayal of Thena’s trauma and her journey toward healing serves as a reflection of the resilience Jolie herself has had to cultivate throughout her life. The role enabled her to integrate her emotional struggles into her work, offering a unique form of catharsis that helped her continue her journey toward self-acceptance.

Conclusion

Jolie’s role in Eternals was an unexpected yet significant way for the actress to work through her trauma while portraying a powerful, complex character. By embracing Thena’s vulnerability and inner strength, she not only gave audiences a captivating performance but also confronted and processed aspects of her own personal history. It’s a testament to her resilience that, even in a Marvel blockbuster, Jolie’s humanity, empathy, and emotional depth remain central to her roles. Whether she’s saving the world from CGI creatures or navigating the complexities of her own past, Jolie’s ability to heal through her art offers an inspiring example for others.