Angelina Jolie Gets Real About Sending Maddox Off to College

It's a bittersweet moment for most parents, and Angelina Jolie is no different.

The Oscar-winning actress just sent her first child, 18-year-old son Maddox Jolie-Pitt, off to college -- and despite recently admitting she "ugly cried" when she first said goodbye, she's now loving this "stage" in his journey.

"I just sent one off," Jolie told Entertainment Tonight in a recent interview alongside "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning. "I'm so proud of him. I'm so excited. I feel like my world expands as their world expands. And I learn so much from them. I love this stage. I'm excited."

"But maybe it's also gonna be different for different kids. Maddox was so ready," she added, noting that her oldest tends to make smart "choices."

Maddox, who Angelina shares with ex-husband Brad Pitt, just started his first year at Yonsei University in South Korea. Although the mother of six appears to be in a very calm, cool and logical headspace, she still cried like a baby the day she dropped him off.

"Oh my god, like, embarrass-your-children ugly cry!" she told ET last month. "I also just at some point had the big [sun]glasses. The amount of times I turned and waved... I do know it was the one moment in my life... I think I turned around six times before the airport just kind of [disappeared]. And he sweetly stayed and kept waving, knowing that I was gonna keep turning around. You could feel he knew he couldn't leave."

"It's nice to know that he knows how much he's loved," she added. "But yeah, I miss him. I miss him."

For her part, Pfeiffer -- who's mother to daughter Claudia, 26, and son John, 25 -- said the transition from raising children to parenting adults was "challenging."

"It's a push and pull, because I do think it's a part you feel like you're losing literally a part of your body," she explained. "But you know, I mean, at the same time, what you really want for your children is for them to be incredibly independent. So you've succeeded in doing what you set out to do, so you're incredibly proud, but it's hard to make that separation. It was for me. It was challenging."

"Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" hits theaters Oct. 18.

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