Angelina Jolie breaks down while talking about mother at TIFF 2025: ‘When she had cancer, she said to me once…’

Angelina Jolie became emotional when an audience member asked her for advice on coping with the loss of a loved one to cancer.

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie broke down in tears during the world premiere of her new film Couture at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The 50-year-old actor became emotional when an audience member asked her for advice on coping with the loss of a loved one to cancer.

Angelina Jolie was comforted by her colleagues after she broke down while talking about her mother

The attendee revealed that he had recently lost a close friend, prompting Jolie to pause and collect herself before responding. “I'm very sorry,” she said as reported by Entertainment Weekly. The exchange was especially poignant as Angelina lost her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, to ovarian and breast cancer in 2007, and later underwent a preventive double mastectomy in 2013.

Angelina Jolie cries while recalling advice from mother Marcheline Bertrand

Sharing a memory from her mother’s illness, Jolie told the audience, “One thing I remember my mother saying when she had cancer, she said to me once, we had had a dinner and people were asking her how she was feeling and what she was doing, and she said, ‘All anybody ever asks me about is cancer.’”

She added, “So I would say, if you know someone who's going through something, ask them about everything else in their life as well. They're a whole person, and they're still living.” The audience responded with applause as she spoke.

How Couture is personal for Angelina Jolie

Earlier during a press conference, Angelina reflected on the personal connection she felt with the film. “I felt very fortunate. The film is very thoughtful, and you just sit through something, and you get to spend time and think about life. Sometimes it’s as simple as that,” she said.

“Every single person here has been touched by grief, every single person here has lost someone. Many of you have had that moment in the hospital. You wonder, does that define you or how you live through it?” she continued.

Playing Maxine beyond her cancer diagnosis

Jolie, who plays filmmaker Maxine in Couture, highlighted how the story avoids reducing her character to just a diagnosis. “What I really love is that there’s often films that deal with cancer that become about the cancer, and the life becomes defined by the illness, instead of who is this life? Who is Maxine? Maxine through it isn’t just this. She’s a mother, she’s an artist, she’s sexual, all of these things I thought were really important to show, and to live forward while we’re here. Try to live as much as we can.”

During the event, Jolie was comforted on stage by director Alice Winecour and co-star Anyier Anei.