This Christmas, let's all say a prayer for Angelina Jolie and the adversity she faces in her blessed marriage to human golden retriever Brad Pitt.

You might think it's easy being a famous movie star with minimal effort while studios cater to your every whim (mostly), but you'd be wrong, and that's okay, because how could you even hope to understand—you don't have to come home to Brad Pitt every night.

After a public fight with Pitt drove her into the arms of a cigarette last month, Jolie explained the onslaught of stress she faces from her perfect family.

"Maintaining a marriage and raising kids is hard work. You have to really make sure that your work doesn't get in the way. That you don't do something that is going to put too much strain on your family," Jolie tells the Weekly.

For example:

"We have more moments where I say, 'I'm going to be a better wife,'" she recently told Today. "'I'm going to learn to cook.' and [Brad] says, 'Oh, honey, know what you're good at.' ... But I do like, 'No, no, no, I'm going to get this wife thing down.' He knows my limitations and where I'm a good wife and a good mom."

[image via AP]