Angelina Jolie has always been known not just as an actress but also as a mother, humanitarian, and advocate for women’s health. Yet behind her strength lies a story marked by deep personal loss. Jolie is a mother of six, but the woman who first taught her about love, resilience, and motherhood — her own mother, Marcheline Bertrand — is no longer alive. Marcheline passed away in 2007 after a long battle with breast and ovarian cancer, and the heartbreak of that loss has shaped much of Jolie’s life, choices, and even her career.
Jolie has kept her mother’s presence alive in countless ways over the years, but the scars of losing her so young remain. At the Toronto International Film Festival this September, the 50-year-old actress found herself tearing up when recalling one of the most painful but profound memories from her mother’s journey through cancer.
A Mother’s Influence
Angelina Jolie was born in Los Angeles in 1975 to Marcheline Bertrand and actor Jon Voight. Her father’s career was already on the rise, while her mother was pursuing her own dreams in acting. The couple divorced when Angelina was only three years old, leaving Marcheline to raise Angelina and her brother, James Haven, largely on her own.
Their bond was fierce, shaped by loss and strengthened by love. Bertrand put aside her own ambitions to focus on her children. Jolie has often described her mother as selfless, soft-spoken, and deeply committed to her family. That devotion continued until the very end of her life. Marcheline was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999, and after an eight-year battle, she passed away in January 2007 at the age of 56.
Jolie has admitted many times that her mother’s death changed her. In a 2008 Vanity Fair interview, she said, “When my mother passed, I realized that somebody who lives life with that kind of dedication to their family is the most noble. In her passing she reminded me what matters.” Jolie carried that lesson into her own motherhood. Together with her then-partner Brad Pitt, she raised six children — Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne — always keeping Marcheline’s spirit close.
A Bold Medical Decision
For Jolie, her mother’s death wasn’t just an emotional loss — it also came with a warning. Cancer had already taken Marcheline in her fifties and Jolie’s grandmother in her forties. In 2013, Jolie revealed she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation, which gave her an 87% risk of developing breast cancer. In a candid New York Times op-ed, she announced she had undergone a preventative double mastectomy.
“I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy,” Jolie explained. “But I’m very happy I did it. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear losing me to breast cancer.”
Her openness triggered what doctors called the “Angelina Effect,” a global surge in women seeking genetic counseling and preventative treatment. Medical experts praised her for turning her own private fear into public empowerment. Women across the world suddenly had a new awareness of options available to them.
Carrying the Loss
Despite her courageous choices, Jolie has been honest about the lingering ache of losing Marcheline. Writing for Time magazine in 2019, she reflected: “I have lived over a decade now without a mom. She met only a few of her grandchildren and was often too sick to play with them. It’s hard now for me to consider anything in this life divinely guided when I think of how much their lives would have benefited from time with her and the protection of her love and grace.”
Jolie admitted she hopes her decisions allow her to live longer than her mother and grandmother, ensuring that her own children do not have to face the same heartbreak.
A Tearful Memory at TIFF
During a recent Q&A at the Toronto International Film Festival after the premiere of her latest film, Couture, Jolie was asked by an audience member — who had recently lost a friend to cancer — what message of hope she had for others navigating grief.
Jolie paused, visibly emotional, and then began to cry as she recalled something Marcheline had once told her. “I think I will say that one thing I remember my mother saying when she had cancer… we had had a dinner and people were asking her how she was feeling and she said, ‘All anybody ever asks me about is cancer.’”
Her mother’s words struck Jolie deeply, and in that moment she shared an important lesson with the audience: “If you know someone who is going through something, ask them about everything else in their life as well. They’re a whole person and they’re still living.”
The Legacy of Marcheline Bertrand
For Jolie, keeping her mother’s memory alive has meant more than words. It has meant advocacy, bold choices about her health, and continuing the devotion to family that Marcheline embodied. Every time Jolie speaks publicly about cancer, prevention, or resilience, she honors her mother. Every time she chooses to focus on her children’s lives and well-being, she honors her mother.
Even now, more than 17 years after Marcheline’s death, Jolie’s voice cracks when she speaks of her. The loss never fades, but it becomes a compass. Marcheline’s story, her love, and even her suffering remain guiding lights in Jolie’s journey as a woman, a mother, and an advocate.
Angelina Jolie’s strength has inspired millions, but her vulnerability — her willingness to share her pain and her mother’s wisdom — may be her greatest gift to the world. Through her grief, she continues to remind others that even in illness, even in loss, life must be seen, honored, and celebrated.