11/22/2023
Angelina Jolie, speaking of her mom, Marcheline Bertrand: "My mom, her name was Marcheline, but everyone called her marshmallow, because she was just the softest, most gentle woman in the world. She was really, really sweet, and she would never get angry. She couldn't swear to save her life. But when it came to her kids, she was just really, really fierce." -- 2008.
"She was an extraordinary mother. She was so selfless, and she was just one of those very, very kind people that love to do everything for others. And I could just never be as good a mother or person as she was... She was a great listener, and a great friend. She was my best friend. I could talk to her about everything. She made me feel like I had a voice, and no matter what would happen, I knew she'd love me." -- 2011.
"My mother was a full-time mother. She didn't have much of her own career, her own life, her own experiences. Everything was for her children. I will never be as good a mother as she was. I will try my best, but I don't think I could ever be. She was just grace incarnate. She was the most generous, loving... She's better than me." -- 2011.
[explaining her decision to have a preventive double mastectomy] "My mother fought [ovarian] cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was." -- 2013
