Angelina Jolie opened up about losing her mother to breast and ovarian cancer during a Q&A for her new film, Couture, which follows a filmmaker taking a job in the Paris fashion industry amid a cancer diagnosis. Marcheline Bertrand, the actress’s adoring mom, passed away in 2007, aged 56, after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer eight years prior and breast cancer shortly before her death. Angelina was incredibly close with her mother, particularly after her parents’ divorce. Marcheline was married to Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight for nine years and also welcomed a son, James Haven, with him.
The 50-year-old was taken aback by a question from the audience during the Toronto International Film Festival event and began to dab at her eyes as she was comforted by director Alice Winecour and co-star Anyier Anei. The audience member revealed that their close friend had passed away after a cancer battle, and asked Angelina’s advice “to anyone who recently lost someone”.
The mother of six took a moment to compose herself, holding her hand over her mouth as she gathered her thoughts. “I’m very sorry for your loss,” she began. “One thing I remember my mother saying when she had cancer…we’d had a dinner and people were asking her how she was doing. She said, ‘All people ever ask me about is cancer.'”
“I would say, if you know someone who’s going through something, ask them about everything else in their life as well. They’re a whole person. And they’re still living,” she continued. Angelina also touched on how Couture was able to capture this and give her character an identity outside of her cancer diagnosis.
“What I really love is that there’s often films that deal with cancer that become about the cancer, and the life becomes defined by the illness, instead of who is this life?” she explained. “Who is Maxine? Maxine through it isn’t just this. She’s a mother, she’s an artist, she’s sexual, all of these things I thought were really important to show, and to live forward while we’re here. Try to live as much as we can.”
The Maria actress got candid about using her grief to inform her performances during an appearance at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in February. “I would be absolutely nothing without [my mom]. She passed away many years ago at this time of year, so it’s always this weather that reminds me of her,” Angelina said. “That feeling, that sensibility that makes that actually hard for me is part of what is my work, and what connects me and many artists to their work, and I know I’m not alone in this.”
© GettyThe humanitarian’s experience with her mother’s cancer inspired her to undergo a hysterectomy in 2010 and a double mastectomy in 2013 to drastically cut her chances of developing the same diseases as Marcheline. She opened up about the decision in an essay for the New York Times, a move which has since been praised for raising awareness about breast and ovarian cancer prevention.
© GC Images“I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made,” she wrote. “My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under five percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.”
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