Her divorce from Brad Pitt in 2016 was perhaps one of the most drawn out and toxic splits Hollywood has ever seen – so it’s little wonder that Angelina Jolie has shied away from dating for the last eight years.

As a mother of six children, it’s clear the actress, 49, has also been short on time to canoodle with any potential suitors, and has instead focused on ‘healing’ from her two year marriage to Brad.

However, with recent pictures of Angelina – who was voted the ‘Sexiest Woman in the World’ by FHM magazine in the early noughties – looking dazzling as she appears to have a spring in her step again, sources now tell us that she is very much back on the dating scene.

But don’t expect any PDAs, as the insider says the once-burnt star is keeping her top-secret dates under wraps – planning to meet with ‘a few different’ guys in discreet hotels .

An insider says, ‘People assume Angelina’s just been holed up working and raising her kids, but she actually has more of a social life than people realise.

#She’s hyper aware that anyone she dates is going to be put under a microscope so she’s purposely kept things very, very private, but she has been meeting up with a few different guys.

‘She’s discreet; her usual M.O. is to meet up with them in hotel rooms so that they can keep it completely under the radar.’

The past eight years for Angelina have been marred by court battles with Brad, 61, before their divorce was finalised in December last year.

At the time, Angelina’s lawyer described her as ‘exhausted’ but ‘relieved’ that she could finally have closure on her marriage.

Their shock split happened in 2016 following an alleged altercation between Brad and the former couple’s eldest son Maddox, then 15, on the family’s plane just a day before Angelina filed for divorce.

While the accusations were kept largely under wraps at the time, they were explosively revealed during Brad and Angelina’s dispute over their French vineyard in 2022, when Angelina’s lawyer alleged that Brad ‘grabbed Jolie by the head and shook her’ before he ‘choked one of the children and struck another in the face’.

In 2017, Angelina bravely spoke out about prioritising her children she shares with Brad – Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 18, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 16.

She said at the time, ‘We all have our difficult times, but as a mother you also have a responsibility first and foremost towards the kids.They are going through their formative years and everything else comes second to that.’

Now the source adds, ‘It’s true that for a long time after she and Brad split she had no love life to speak of, she was just so focused on making sure the kids were alright and sorting out the wreckage of the divorce.

‘But it’s been nearly a decade and that side of her wasn’t going to stay dormant forever. She’s feeling and looking great and with the kids all so grown up now and doing their own thing her love life is something she can actually make time for again.

‘She’s done so much work to move past the trauma [of her divorce] and be able to trust again and she’s finally feeling healed enough to enjoy some adult companionship.’

The once-wild star – who wore a vial of ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton’s blood around her neck and who Brad Pitt previously described as a ‘bad girl – delightfully so’ – appeared to have become a shadow of her former self following their split.

Yet the finality of their divorce appears to have sparked a new rebellion for the Maria actress, who in January served her revenge on Brad when she revealed her plans to relocate from LA, where she revealed she ‘has to be’ because of the divorce stipulations, as soon as the Vivienne and Knox turn 18 next summer.

And now the source says that, with her 50th birthday approaching next month, Angelina finally feels ready to unleash her playful side again.

‘She’s not looking to rush into anything serious right away, this is about rediscovering a part of herself that she had to put on pause for a long time,’ the insider says.

‘For now it’s all very no strings attached fun, but she is open to all the possibilities and would love to have a life partner again, but only if the person adds to her life in every way.’

However, after being married three times – to Jonny Lee Miller from 1996-1999, Billy-Bob from 2000 to 2003 and Brad – the source says Angelina won’t settle for ‘less than she deserves’ and has a ‘checklist’ of requirements for anyone looking to date her.

‘She’s incredibly cautious about whom she lets in, she’s not going to date someone unless they are fully vetted,‘ they say.

‘That means being introduced by people she knows. But that doesn’t mean she’s only dating Hollywood types, she has a huge network of people that she knows in all walks of life.’

In 2021 she was briefly linked to The Weeknd and, more recently, Angelina’s team have been forced to deny any romance with British rapper Akala, whose girlfriend is also believed to be a close friend.

But the source says humanitarian Angelina would ‘prefer’ to find someone removed from the Hollywood industry she has spoken out against.

‘She isn’t ruling out dating another actor but ideally she would prefer to settle down with someone in a totally different world so that way there’s not any weird competition,’ they tell us.

And the source says that while she’s not yet ready to introduce anyone to her children, who she is ‘fiercely protective’ of, Angelina is relishing in romance again, a part of her life she’d kept under lock and key for a long time.

They say, ‘For now she’s taking things very slow and just enjoying having some romance in her life again after all these years.

‘You can see that it’s brought a new lightness to her and she seems to have finally shed all the pain and anger from her divorce that was weighing her down.

‘She’s got her glow back and is finally coming out of her shell. She’s entering a new decade of life feeling empowered and hopeful, it’s a beautiful thing.’