Actress Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split and asking for physical custody of the couple’s six children.

In a statement by Jolie’s attorney Robert Offer, the 41-year-old said the decision was made “for the health of the family”.

“She will not be commenting, and asks that the family be given its privacy at this time,” Robert Offer added in the statement.

Jolie married Pitt, 52, in 2014  after a decade of dating.

They pair are parents to Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and 8-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne

– with other agencies