Angelina Jolie shares the heartbreaking experience that nearly brought her career to an end
Angelina Jolie recently opened up about how acting became more challenging after the death of her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, who had always supported and encouraged her to pursue a career in the industry.
In an interview with *W Magazine* on Friday, the 49-year-old *Maria* actress reflected on how she and her late mother, who passed away at 56 in early 2007 after battling breast cancer, were a team.
Jolie admitted that she didn’t consciously choose acting for herself at first but did it to make her mother proud.
«I did it in the beginning because… it was my mother’s dream,» Jolie shared. Her mother had also tried to break into the entertainment industry, auditioning for theater roles in Chicago and films in Los Angeles.
However, by the time she was 25, Bertrand had become a single mother of two and decided to dedicate her life to raising her children.
Jolie explained, “She loved being a stay-at-home mom, but she really wanted me to be an actress. So I don’t remember making the choice to be an actress. I remembered it made my mom happy.”
Jolie made her acting debut at six years old alongside her father, Jon Voight, in *Lookin’ to Get Out* in 1982.
To her, pursuing a career in acting also meant helping her mother financially, with Bertrand acting as her manager during those early years.
«We were a team,» Jolie said, reflecting on her deep bond with her mother, who passed away on January 27, 2007, after battling cancer.
She admitted that acting became harder after her death, realizing how much of her career was shaped by her mother’s dreams.
A year later, she shared how her mother’s dedication to family became her own guiding principle. «Somebody who lives life with that kind of dedication to their family is the most noble,» Jolie said.
At the Gotham Awards, she paid tribute to her mother’s love for literature and theater, which influenced both her and her brother. «I grew up with a mother who kept books inside the oven,» she recalled.
Jolie has six children with ex-husband Brad Pitt: Maddox (23), Pax (21), Zahara (19), Shiloh (18), and twins Knox and Vivienne (16).
