Angelina Jolie has shared an emotional reflection on how losing close family members at a young age changed the way she raised her children.
While discussing themes of life and mortality during the promotion of her new film ‘Couture‘, the actress revealed that she has spent much of her life preparing for the possibility.
Why Angelina Jolie Has Never Expected To Live A Long Life
Jolie said a scene in ‘Couture‘ forced her to think about her own experiences with loss and mortality. In the film, she plays Maxine, a low-budget horror movie director who is juggling a fashion film commission, single motherhood, and a divorce. And amid all, her life changes when she receives a breast cancer diagnosis.
She continued, “I think having lost my mom young and never met my grandmother, I have never lived feeling like I’m going to have a long life. I’m already past the age when my mother was diagnosed. I may struggle from almost feeling like I can’t live in the moment. It’s because I feel like I have to push and rush because time’s running out.”
Those feelings eventually affected how she approached motherhood. Jolie admitted that thoughts about death became so present in her life that they influenced how she prepared her children for the future. “I raise my kids almost preparing them for my absence and not as much preparing to be a grandmother,” she said. “That’s what happens when you consider death as a reality.”
How Jolie’s Family Cancer History Connected Her To ‘Couture’
Couture writer and director Alice Winocour said she created the role of Maxine with Jolie in mind. “I needed someone special, someone who would have a special connection with the story,” Winocour said. “Angelina has a lot in common with the character. She’s also a director, and she has been through this — not cancer — but everyone knows her story. So I felt like it’s for her.”
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While Jolie has never been diagnosed with cancer, parts of Maxine’s story mirror her own life. The actress famously revealed in a New York Times op-ed that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy after discovering she carried the BRCA1 gene. It significantly increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
Cancer has deeply affected Jolie’s family. Her mother died from ovarian cancer at the age of 56, and her grandmother also lost her life to the disease. Those experiences made the film’s themes particularly personal for the actress.
Winocour also said Jolie brought exactly the energy she wanted for the role. “Also what I liked with Angelina was that she had this kind of punk spirit and punk energy and raw energy. And it’s really what I wanted for the film,” the director said.
The actress also revealed that she feels like she has regained a part of herself after a difficult period. “I think my fighting spirit is finally back. I lost it for a bit. And got kind of taken down a little bit and it’s coming back in large part thanks to my children, who are now older, and encouraging it.”
The actress may now be older than her mother was when she was diagnosed. But those memories still stay with her. As Jolie reflected, she revealed that the fear of losing loved ones too soon has changed her outlook.
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