Angelina Jolie has six kids of her own, but she lost her mom way too soon. Marcheline Bertrand died back in 2007 after fighting breast cancer, and it’s something that’s left a deep mark on Angelina, the famous actress we all know.
She’s done her best to honor her mom’s memory over the years, but the pain is still there. Just recently, at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere, the 50-year-old got teary-eyed sharing a tough story her mom told her during those hard times with cancer.
Born in 1975 to Marcheline Bertrand and actor Jon Voight, Angelina grew up in L.A. Her parents met while her mom was trying to make it as an actress too. They had Angelina and her brother James, but things fell apart, and they split when she was just three.
Marcheline ended up raising the kids solo, and she built this incredibly tight bond with them that lasted right up until she passed. In 1999, doctors found she had breast cancer, and sadly, she lost the fight on January 27, 2007, at only 56.
Angelina was super close to her mom, and even after all this time, she keeps her spirit alive. The year after Marcheline died, in 2008, Angelina talked to Vanity Fair about how the loss changed her outlook, especially on being a mom herself. She shares six children with her ex, Brad Pitt.
She said something like, “When she passed, it hit me that living your life so fully for your family is the noblest thing.” It reminded her of what really counts—and how fun it is to put your kids first, even if it means setting yourself aside.
Angelina’s Brave Choice to Prevent Cancer
Angelina hasn’t just mourned; she’s fought back against cancer in big ways. She’s raised awareness, collected funds for research, and even took steps to protect herself.
Back in 2013, she had a preventative double mastectomy, and it kicked off what’s now called the “Angelina Effect.” In a piece she wrote for The New York Times, she explained how she found out she carried this faulty BRCA1 gene, which bumped her breast cancer risk up to 87%. So, she decided to act.
“I’m sharing this because I want other women to learn from what I went through,” she wrote. “Cancer scares everyone, makes you feel helpless. But now, a simple blood test can tell if you’re at high risk for breast or ovarian cancer, and you can do something about it.”
She admitted it wasn’t an easy call to make the surgery happen, but she’s glad she did—her risk dropped to under 5%. “Now I can look my kids in the eye and say they won’t lose me to this,” she added, hoping her story would push more people to get informed.
She admitted it wasn’t an easy call to make the surgery happen, but she’s glad she did—her risk dropped to under 5%. “Now I can look my kids in the eye and say they won’t lose me to this,” she added, hoping her story would push more people to get informed.
In 2014, the UK charity Prevent Breast Cancer noted how her announcement doubled the number of women getting referred for genetic testing and counseling in the UK. Their professor, Gareth Evans, did the research showing that spike right after she went public.
Even in 2018, a plastic surgeon from L.A., Dr. Jay Orringer, said he’d seen women whose lives were probably saved because of the buzz Angelina created.
Angelina’s talked about her surgeries and losing her mom a bunch over the years. In a touching essay for Time in 2019, she got real about the emptiness.
“I’ve gone more than ten years without her now. She only got to meet a handful of her grandkids, and she was often too weak to really play with them,” she wrote.
The Touching Memory Angelina Shared Recently
“It’s tough to see any silver lining when I think about how much better their lives would’ve been with her around, her love watching over them. Mom battled for a decade and made it to her 50s. Grandma didn’t even reach her 40s. I’m just hoping my decisions give me a little more time.”
But Angelina’s career is still going strong. On September 7, she was at the TIFF premiere for her new movie, Couture. During the Q&A afterward, she choked up talking about her mom’s cancer after someone in the audience, who’d just lost a friend to it, asked for a message of hope.
“I’m so sorry about your friend,” she started, then shared this memory: “One thing my mom said to me when she was sick was, we’d had this dinner, and everyone kept asking how she was feeling. She told me, ‘All they ever talk about is the cancer.’”
She went on, “So, if someone’s going through that, ask about the rest of their life too. They’re more than their illness—they’re still out there living.”
It’s inspiring how Angelina keeps sharing these personal stories. She’s turning her pain into something that helps others. If this resonates, pass it along to friends or family—it might just offer a bit of comfort to someone dealing with cancer or supporting a loved one.