Angelina Jolie Reflects Emotionally on Her Late Mother, Marcheline Bertrand
Angelina Jolie is honoring her late mother, Marcheline Bertrand.
The Oscar-winning actress, 49, shared touching memories of her mom while receiving the Maltin Modern Master Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California on Wednesday, February 5.
“I often think of my mother … she gave up her aspirations for a creative life, but she fully supported my artistic endeavors,” Jolie reflected, mentioning Bertrand, an actress who passed away at 56 in January 2007 after a fierce battle with breast and ovarian cancer.
Jolie recounted that while Bertrand was alive, she would write letters addressed to the characters Jolie portrayed in her films.
“‘Dear Gia,’ ‘Dear Lisa Rowe,’ ‘Dear Lara Croft’ — it’s been 16 years since I last received those letters,” Jolie shared, according to footage posted via X by The Hollywood Reporter.
Discussing her current role as opera singer Maria Callas, she added, “I often imagine what she might write, and she likely would have told Maria that she loved her, because Maria had so many achievements but lacked a mother’s love.”
With tears in her eyes, Jolie expressed, “I would be utterly nothing without my mother. She passed away many years ago around this time, and this weather always brings her to mind.”
“That deep feeling and sensitivity is precisely what makes my work possible and connects many artists to their craft, and I know I’m not alone in that,” the actress concluded.
Jolie previously honored her mother in December at the Gotham Awards in New York City, where she was presented with the Performer Tribute Award for her role as Callas.
“I grew up with a mother who kept books inside the oven because our apartment had more books than shelves,” Jolie recalled at the 2024 Gotham Awards, which Us Weekly covered. “It was her solution to a problem, all while ensuring we were nourished. But prioritizing literature was essential to her.”
“[My mom] took me to the theater. She shared stories about meeting Tennessee Williams and introduced me to the Lee Strasberg Institute, where I later studied,” Jolie reflected. “Now I find joy in watching my own daughter embrace theater and participate,” she noted, mentioning her daughter Vivienne, 16, who assisted Jolie in producing The Outsiders Broadway musical. (Jolie is also the mother of sons Maddox, 23, Pax, 20, and Knox, 16, and daughters Zahara, 19, and Shiloh, 18, with ex Brad Pitt.)
