Angelina Jolie has opened up about how her late mother Marcheline Bertrand's death "changed" her.
Angelina Jolie
The 'Tomb Raider' star's parent died in 2007 at age 56 after a battle with ovarian cancer, and Angelina has admitted "so much shifted inside" her when her "protective blanket" was taken from her.
In an op-ed on Mother's Day (10.05.20) for the New York Times, Angelina 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."
The 44-year-old star - who has Maddox, 18, Pax, 16, Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 13, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 11, with her ex-husband Brad Pitt - had the letter W inked on her hand in memory of Marcheline, in a nod to the Rolling Stones' song 'Winter', which she would sing to her as a child, and Angelina admitted that when it started to fade away, so did her "home and protection"
She said: "As the 'W' faded on my hand, so did that feeling of home and protection. "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."
The 'Maleficent' actress also shared how her mother was forced to give up her acting dreams as she had to devote all of her time to raising Angelina and her brother James Voight, 47, after their famous actor father Jon Voight had an affair.
She penned: "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."
Tagged in Angelina Jolie Jon Voight