Angelina Jolie became emotional Sunday during a question-and-answer session at the Toronto International Film Festival, recalling her late mother Marcheline Bertrand’s battle with cancer and urging compassion for people living with illness.
An audience member who had recently lost a friend to cancer asked Jolie and her fellow cast members for a message of "hope" for those struggling with grief. Jolie paused, wiped away tears and, after regaining her composure, urged people to ask about the whole life of someone who is ill rather than focusing only on the disease.
"I’m very sorry for your loss," Jolie said, according to a video posted online. "One thing I remember my mother saying when she had cancer ... she said to me once, 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.' So I would say, if you know someone who is going through something, ask them about everything else in their life as well, you know? They’re a whole person and they’re still living."
Jolie, 50, was appearing at a TIFF event for Couture, in which she plays an American film director who travels to Paris during Fashion Week while facing a serious medical diagnosis. Director and writer Alice Winocour later noted Jolie "immediately found a personal connection with the film for reasons we know since her mother and grandmother died of breast cancer," and that Jolie had a "connection in her flesh" after undergoing a double mastectomy.
Bertrand was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1999 and later with breast cancer before her death in January 2007 at age 56. Jolie has written publicly about the impact of her mother’s death, and six years after Bertrand’s passing she underwent a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a BRCA1 mutation that raised her cancer risk.
In a 2013 New York Times op‑ed titled "My Medical Choice," Jolie said she decided to be proactive to "minimize the risk as much I could." In a later essay, she wrote that losing her mother felt like someone "rip[ping] away a protective blanket," and that her life was changed by the loss.
Jolie’s family history has been part of public discussions for years. Her parents, actor Jon Voight and Bertrand, married in 1971 and separated in 1976. Jolie and Voight also share a son; Bertrand and Voight were divorced decades ago.
Couture premiered at TIFF on Sept. 7. The film centers on a director named Maxine Walker, who is navigating a divorce and motherhood when she receives a troubling medical diagnosis, according to the festival. Jolie’s remarks at the festival linked the film’s subject matter to the personal experience that has informed some of her public statements and advocacy on health and family.
Festival footage and social media posts captured Jolie’s emotional response at the Q&A, and her comments prompted discussion about how to support people facing illness and grief. The actress has repeatedly used her platform to discuss her family’s medical history and the choices she has made in response to that history.