Angelina Jolie Pays Tribute to Late Mom Marcheline Bertrand on Mother's Day

Angelina Jolie celebrated her late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, on Mother’s Day in an op-ed for the New York Times.

She wrote, “Mother’s Day is hard for anyone who has lost their mom, but this year must be particularly so because of coronavirus. So many people have lost a parent suddenly, without being by their side, able to care for them and return their love in the way they’d always imagined.”

Angelina continued, “I lost my mother in my thirties. When I look back to that time, I can see how much her death changed me. It was not sudden, but so much shifted inside. Losing a mother’s love and warm, soft embrace is like having someone rip away a protective blanket.”

Marcheline passed away from ovarian cancer at the age of 56.

“When my father had an affair, it changed her life. It set her dream of family life ablaze. But she still loved being a mother. Her dreams of being an actor faded as she found herself, at the age of 26, raising two children with a famous ex who would cast a long shadow on her life. After she died, I found a video of her acting in a short film. She was good. It was all possible for her,” Angelina continued. “But now, with my girls growing up and being the ages I remember so well as a daughter, I am rediscovering my mother and her spirit. She was a girl who danced all night on the Sunset Strip and loved rock ‘n’ roll. She was a woman who loved, even after loss, and never lost her grace and her smile.”

She added, “I now know what it’s like to be alone and to wrap my coat around those I love. And I know the overwhelming sense of gratitude at being strong enough to keep them safe and warm. When your children come into your life, they immediately and forever come first.”

Find out what Angelina Jolie previously said about her mom and how she would have been as a grandmother.

Read the entirety of Angelina Jolie‘s op-ed over at the New York Times.