Angelina Jolie thought she'd end up a single mother

Actress Angelina Jolie says she's thrilled to be with Brad Pitt - because she was scared that she would end up alone, being a single mother.

'It means a lot to me to have him in my life and to be there for our children,' she says.

'I was prepared and even resigned to raise them without a father.'

The 32-year-old 'Tomb Raider' star confesses that she was on the look out for a father figure for her adopted children when she met Brad.

'What I wanted was to find somebody who, first and foremost, was a great father, because I was already a parent.'

When Jolie met Brad, she already had adopted son Maddox - and then went on to adopt Zahara. The couple's biological daughter, Shiloh, was born in 2006, and they adopted son Pax earlier this year.

However, Jolie, who along with Brad Pitt, says she wants an even bigger family, admits that having children can be a passion-killer.

'You have less time together, you're always busy, you're often very tired in the evenings,' she tells Britain's OK! magazine.