Angelina Jolie says dad Jon Voight's affair changed her mother forever: 'It set her dreams ablaze'
Angelina Jolie has opened up about her personal life and recalled how her father's affair had "changed" her mother's life forever.
The actress wrote a very heartfelt Mother's Day op-ed for the New York Times on May 10. Angelina's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, had passed away in 2007 when she was 56 after battling ovarian cancer.
The 44-year-old 'Maleficient' star wrote, "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."
"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," Jolie had written. The 81-year-old Jon Voight had admitted to having an affair while he was married to Marcheline, his second wife.
Over the last few years, Jolie and Voight have had a strained relationship but are said to be on better terms now. During her open letter, Jolie added, "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," speaking of her mother.
"After she died, I found a video of her acting in a short film. She was good. It was all possible for her. Life has taken many turns. I've had my own loss and seen my life take a different direction. And it hurt more than I imagined it ever would," she continued.
Jolie is a special envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and also touched upon the strength she has got from her experiences and journey traveling to conflict zones. "This Mother's Day, I think of refugee mothers I have met, living in poverty and displacement," she wrote.
Her experiences and stories have led her to believe that "a mother is the strongest person on earth." She then concluded her op-ed by saying that there "is nothing more painful for a mother or father than to be unable to provide their child with the things they need."
"So to the mothers everywhere who feel helpless — yet who still give every last bit of energy, every last bite of food and the only blanket to their children — I honor you."
We had previously reported that Jolie had recently admitted that she used to get really emotional and often broke into tears when she thought about the plight of children suffering all over the world.
While speaking with California Surgeon General Dr Nadine Burke Harris in the video conference for TIME magazine, she shared, "There was a time in my life when I became more aware of what was happening around the world and what happens in our own country and what happens in people’s lives."
On the call, she urged fans to keep checking up on their loved ones while maintaining the strict social distancing rules that have been implemented amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.