Angelina Jolie told French Marie Claire that her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, who passed away in 2007 from ovarian cancer, still has a huge influence over her life, especially in areas of motherhood.
“She was very soft but could move mountains for her kids,” Jolie revealed to the publication.
“That’s something I always admire in women: that mix of softness and strength.”
“I feel in contact with my mother when I look at my children,” she told the glossy. “I can feel her influence over me then. I see that my way of raising them resembles the way she raised my brother and I.
“It’s more apparent with my daughters Shiloh and Vivienne. Therefore, yes, my mother is there, present in this influence, all the time,” she added.
The actress, who regularly works with the United Nations on issues relating to refugees and human rights, said that it was her mother who sparked her humanitarian interests at such a young age.
“She was half Indian, and I remember that as a small girl, she took me to a dinner for Amnesty International,” she said.
“She always tried to understand the complexity of the world. She had a great heart which was sensitive to the world’s violence.”
Angelina, who married Brad Pitt in an intimate ceremony earlier in 2014, told People that she made sure her mother was a part of her special day.
“I also wore a little flower ring that was hers,” Ange said. “And Jamie [her brother] wore an angel pin from her jewellery box.”