I hate when a story gets me all emotional first thing in the morning, and this video did it for me. Angelina Jolie and James Haven did a video tribute for their mother, who passed three years ago today. The video is a compilation of some home movies of Marcheline when Angelina and James were very young, and all of them were in Hawaii. The video (below) might be taken down in a little bit, but I tried to screen cap some of the images that I thought were cute/heartbreaking. Here’s PopEater’s summary:
Amid all of the split allegations, Angelina Jolie is making headlines in a more emotional and heartfelt capacity, as the superstar and her brother James have unveiled a video tribute to their late mother, Marcheline Bertrand. Bertrand, who had Jolie with actor Jon Voight, passed away from ovarian cancer on January 27, 2007. Today marks the three year anniversary of her passing.
The video, which opens with a title card that reads: “One place Marcheline always love was Hawaii … She made many happy memories for her family there.” In the tribute, home videos purportedly from 1981 show a then-six-year-old Jolie and her brother playing on the beach. Bertrand introduces her children on the video, and is then seen dancing the hula with Jolie on the beach.
After many more clips of Bertrand in Hawaii, the video closes with the statement: “”We Miss You Mom… With Love Angelina and James.”
As Jolie’s fame skyrocketed, she often credited her mother with being the key figure in her family. Jolie has always had a difficult relationship with her father, actor Jon Voight.
Following Bertrand’s death, Jolie gave a revealing interview to Ann Curry on ‘Today,’ saying that her mother “was extraordinary, so full of kindness and love.” Jolie also said that she hopes to one day be “even a sliver of what my mother was.”
“She was one of those women who would spend weeks to plan the right birthday party … And to write four drafts to get the right birthday card ready that said all those things that were emotional, and you could save them and that meant something,” Jolie said of her mother.
[From PopEater]
Marcheline seemed like a lively woman, inside and out. She passed away in 2007 after a prolonged battle with ovarian cancer, and I tend to think both Angelina and James are still feeling an extreme grief three years later. These are some really lovely old home movies, and I’m personally glad they shared them.
don’t you know the only reason they did this is beacuse of the break up rumours (eyeroll)
the video is really sweet
What a lovely tribute to their Mum.
The timing is perfect!!!
That is sweet. Amazing how much Angelina looks like her mother!
I love you Angie
PEACE
perfect timing?,
i bet her mother died 3 years just to take the attention from her daughter love life.. please.
lovely video,she seems a sweetheart.
Sweet, sentimental and extremely bizarre to release this to the public.
This type of thing seems like it would be something for family only, no?
I don’t think I oughta watch it right now because stuff like this will def make me cry.
even the screen caps were a bit tear-inducing.
Angie looks like her mother sans her sweetness because Marcheline does seem to be a sweet and happy person in this video. And this song-god it always makes me teary!
Hmmmmmm……why release it now? More fuel for the fire.
^because her mother died january 27 of 2007
I agree Sage, I think it’s very nice and they must miss her very much, but it’s something that I personally would have kept private, just for family.
Jeeze people, have a little compassion. Her mother was an actress, and so on some level her passing was public. The family set up a blog for her memory where friends and distant relations have been posting letters for years. This video was probably released for them.
Terribly heartbreaking video. I cried. This was actually the turning point for me, in her youth I had disliked Angelina, and thought she was a bit odd. But in 2007 I lost my mother around the same time she did and my grieving coincided with a lot of her interviews for A Mighty Heart, where she was talking about motherhood and what it meant to be a mother, about sadness, and grieving and she really spoke to me as sincere and I just grew to like her. Losing a parent, especially one you are so close to never gets easier, you always long for them to come back, or for just one more conversation.
it is a terrible thing to lose your mother. my mother also died at this time of year a few years ago. that pain just never goes away.
however, making this video open to the public, especially since aj herself openly confesses that she could care less what the public thinks about her, is very, very strange.
I agree with those who feel this sort of thing should remain within the family circle – just my two cents. Celebrities – by choice, of course – reside in a realm where privacy is a premium. If it were me, I would ensure that my family videos (and photos) would be safely tucked away in my own private treasure garden.
My beloved Mom passed away in August of 1984…25 years later, I and my siblings miss her even more than the day she left us. So I don’t doubt for a second Angelina’s sincerity and sadness here, but…to post it on Youtube?
Her mother had such natural beauty and vibrance, unfortunately Angelina has fiddled a bit too much with her looks surgically imo. Very touching video though, that song always reminds me of E.R. when Mark Green (in Hawaii too I think) when he was living his last days after the cancer came back they played this song and now it always makes me sad/poignant.
i agree that releasing it seems odd, only because she seems to be very protective of her privacy and her family. i understand that her mother was an actress, but this seems too personal to be public. makes me wonder if she and her brother meant for it to be released publicly, or if it was done without their consent.
Why release it to the public? Because you guys have all been touched by it, that’s why! I had a mother like that too, and I tell everyone, every chance I get about who she was and why she was important to the world. If I had a way to communicate to everyone the power of her consideration, generosity and love (I remember on one occasion a stranger burst into tears because no one in her life had ever been as kind to her as my mother had on a two hour bus trip) I would shout it from the rooftops.
The right person can change the world, and it’s important, and we shouldn’t just keep it to ourselves/our family. Perhaps that’s the way Angelina and James feel about their mother.
VERY WEIRD to put this video on YouTube. I find it tasteless and think it shows that Angelina (and James) have no boundaries. The timing is completely suspect, and her mom looks and sounds hopped up on ludes, too. Too creepy, all around.
When I think that some people here could not go down much more to try to insult and make false accusations … you always surprised me and is not in a good way.
So Angie and her brother should not pay tribute to their mother at the time she unfortunately died because of what has been said by the media in the last 5 years of Brad and Angie together. You are even complaining about a video of 2 minutes in honor of their mother?
I don’t care if the person is famous or not we all have the right to honor our loved ones and share if we want with people who may have experienced the same situation. In youtube are videos to honor thousands of people who died but because she is a celebrity she can not do the same?
I think differently I find ridiculous and inhuman the way the media in general is committed to destroy Angelina trying to make out that her life is in tatters and she is always the culprit or the evil of history when the truth is that nobody knows shit but they know this is a painful time in her life since she was always very attached to her mother they do this the whole year for the last 5 years so is too much asking to give her a break?.
Wonderful idea. Timing too coincidental. Something big is coming and this really seems like a manipulative ploy designed to garner sympathy for her and deflect whatever potential negative recriminations she may think the public will have against her. If not, and as everyone here seems to agree Angie fiercely guards her private life, then why release this at all? Her love for her mother was never in doubt, nor her love for her brother. If you were going to release it as a tribute wouldn’t the time have been 3 years ago?
I totally agree that this video is just weird, seeing it made me feel uncomfortable, not sad. I think Angelina forgot a long time ago where the division between privacy and publicity lies. Maybe this is just the sign of the times: people don’t give a damn about privacy anymore, just fame counts.
I’d like to thank Angie and her brother for sharing. She seemed like a great mom, and it shows in how much her kids love her. And as for you “people” who are determined to trash an easy target because of your own personal insecurities and unresolved issues, I can only hope your own kids would want to pay tribute to you on the anniversaries of your deaths as James and Angelina have.
if someone is touched then it is because it reminds them of a lost loved one.
she could have donated to haiti in tribute to her mother, for example, if she wanted to make this type of a statement. what this woman says and what she does do not coincide. sorry, i just feel this is strange, strange strange (to put it nicely).
While I sympathize (having a parent who has passed), it is still UNCHARACTERISTIC of her to do this, so I can see why SOME would be suspect of this in general. Her “tribute” would seem more along the lines of donating something to someone, somewhere in her name.
I’m sure they knew to expect criticism of SOME kind, fair or unfair, ESPECIALLY NOW, so such a public forum seems out of sorts. Maybe they’re feeling particularly mournful at this stage in their lives for whatever reason, and just don’t care what we think, the message being more important than the messengers.
I will not bother speculate, I would add no original theories…
It was a lovely tribute. My mother has survived two bouts of cancer. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her. I know I’d spend every moment I could reminding myself and others of the wonderful woman she was. I imagine it’s the same for Angelina and James. Marcheline seemed a vibrant, loving mother. I know they miss her terribly.
Darn…is the video not available anymore?
I applaud all those who had anything left to give to this video. I am too drained from El Darfur and Haiti to feel anything but passing compassion on the death of someone’s loved one three years ago..
I am too worried about all those people still trapped who will never see the light of day because the rescue efforts have ceased. Too spent over weeping for all those babies who will never get to dance in the waves on a beach in Hawaii with their parents because their parents are dead.
I am too tortured by visions of the thousands of women who are raped in the Sudan everyday as they search for water to cook a decent meal. They will never know what it feels like to fall in love with another woman’s husband on the set of a movie, because they are too busy fighting for their lives.
*Takes a deep breath. I am done.*
Angelina barely resembles her mother. That woman does not have a throbbing vein in her forehead,huge lips, or a prominent forehead. She is slim not thin. If anyone was presented with that still shot above and asked to name the offspring, NOBODY would have guessed Angelina.
Get it together.
Hmm, why was this released now???? Seems weird. Side note, Angie’s mom looks like Jessica Beil (that’s who I thought it was in the picture).
So you only have a certain amount of sympathy & it’s all been used up? lol, silly people!
the video is no longer available.. : (
All of that — and if you think about it, SHE may not have released that video AT ALL. That’s why I said it seemed uncharacteristic. How hard is it to submit a video under an unverified “screen name?”
No, seriously. How hard? I never tried.
Either way, c’est la vie…
Yes, the term is called “EMOTIONALLY DRAINED” Johanna.
they release it now because TODAY is the 3rd death anniversary of their mother!And if they post a video about their mom, why not????? They are proud and love their mom so respect that. If you dont like it, you have the freedom to hit the back button. theres no note in the vid that you are forced to watch it. and by the way, the glimpse for that vid is only for today Jan. 27. I would do the same if I have vids of my late father. I would post vids every year.
She does look like Jessica Beil, @#30
She reminds me of Barbara Hershey.. I think that was her name, from the movie Beaches, with Bette Midler..
Jeebus, the amount of rage some people have for a person they will never meet is astounding
I thought the video was lovely. And I too post home movies and such when me and my man sit around chatting or I’m at my families’s and we are all singing. They’re moments in me life that I want the world too see because I think its some of the greatest times of my life so far. Never mind that noone else could think so.
And Me, thats pretty fricking low of you to say the only reason she could look so happy in the video is being hopped up on drugs. I dont care if thats how you like to spend your family vacations, but maybe she looks happy in the video because she is happy. A successful woman with her husband and two children she eyes as beautiful on an exotic vacation. I’d be overjoyed like a loon too.
Barbara Hershey is Angie’s godmother. We don’t know who released the video. Last year there was a video tribute of Marcheliness brother on youtube maybe another relative released it. This video is not going to stop any rumors or tabloid lies. Now if they released a video of the family frolicking on a beach w/ the twins playing in the sand than that would be suspicious.
I’m not sure why they would put this on YouTube. It seems inappropriate, but fits with her attention-seeking personality.
Counting down to the break up press release…
Hatsumomo, but if you say that no one could agree that videos of you sitting around and chatting with your man and singing with your family are interesting, why would you post them on YouTube? It seems you can relate with Angie’s over-sharing and narcissism.
And I wasn’t saying that Marcheline looked like she was on ludes because she looks happy, it’s the SLOOOOOOOW speech and crazy faces and movements she makes. Hey, it was the 70s.
Nana,
Sorry about your dad’s passing. I think it’s different when it’s Angelina, just because she must know the kind of media attention and speculation this would garner. It’s weird because she’s so famous. I don’t know, it’s just different.
No matter what you think of Angelina Jolie- Do you guys really think she’d pimp out her Mother to improve her image?
Furthermore, do you think her brother would let her?
I don’t think she would stoop so low.
Do you know who put it on YouTube? It wasn’t necessarily Angelina, you know. Who knows, maybe she even was the one who asked to have it removed.
I was thinking the same thing. I definitely understand what some here have said, that they would love to share something like that of their family. But when you are one of the most famous people in the world and every moment of your private life is tabloid fodder and analyzed to death, I think it’s a whole different story than just regular everyday people.
If I were in that sort of position, I would try to keep every bit private that I could. I could see showing it to friends and family and those close to her mother, but putting it out there on the internet, I just don’t think I would do that.
Was her mother that famous? She was a little before my time, but I don’t remember ever hearing of her until Angelina came on the scene.
Like or dislike Angie it doesn’t matter it’s incredibly rude, insensitive and ignorant to try to rip down her DEAD mother by saying she looks hopped up on ludes. That’s someone’s mother!
People have no heart anymore. Who cares why Angie and James did what they did? Maybe they wanted to world to see what a wonderful woman their mother was, because after three years they still miss and mourn her. I personally would have kept it private, but everyone mourns in different ways.
I can relate to this. I recently lost my mother ;-( I did a pictorial tribute and released it to family + friends. This tribute found its way to several print shops where they are using it as a guide. So, I think people assuming that Angie released it herself for the PR might be wrong. They could have released it to family and friends, and it got around.
ME, its your opinion and would respect that. if you dont like her as a person whatever you see, hear or read about her will always have a negative impact on you.you will never appreciate it and think of it differently.
we are opposite as i like this vid and i have no ill feeling towards it. no other thoughts came in me except it is her mom’s death anniversary and her mom is soo pretty. now,i am surprised to learn people connect it to split up rumors while i havent seen brad pitt in the video. i dont know if it should have been better if marcheline died in august coz jan 27 seems not the best day?
if it was of other person’s vid with millions of views I will appreciate it too.. video well done with great music and since I knew it is the family of angelina, i am more thrilled because she is very very interesting. to see her as a little girl with her young mother and brother. my thoughts now is that, ok.. as you said she knows the attention she will get. of course she knew, so should she stop being like normal person sharing her memories because she is famous? should she stop going out and communicate the world because shes angelina jolie?
I don’t know how I feel about it and I won’t watch it to find out. I wouldn’t watch one that you put up either, random internet strangers. Way too personal for me. I think that many of you wouldn’t actually watch a stranger’s old family movies if they weren’t going to grow up to be famous, but I could be wrong. Maybe you want to come over and see some of my vacation slides, too? I’ll make jello salad.
Awesome! I LOOOOVE jello salad!
Well, I put them up because I think my family is super awesome and good-looks run in the family! And if anyone thinks its narcissistic or stuck-up, whateves. I’m incredibly proud of my sisters and my man, and I do believe I have the most beautiful looking niece and nephews. And so I like to share my videos. And id you dont agree, then too bad for you, its your opinion. And I’m apparently one of those few who DO like to look at other peoples home vidoes.
@phowie. Cynical much?
It says going private soon. Meaning they thought for a limited time they would share it publicly. If you had a mother you missed and loved who had passed would you share a video tribute breifly with anyone who had also lost a parent. Or maybe so that people who knew her could also see it before they took it private and they would have to join to do so.
Also it is a tribute from James and Angelina. For all we know James put it together and they decided together to let it be public for a limited time as a tribute to her. Who knows.
And yeah the timing is perfect since it is the anniversary of her death.
“And I’m apparently one of those few who DO like to look at other peoples home vidoes.”
I do, too, but only if I know the person. the other thing I love looking at (have NO idea why!) is other peoples’ yearbooks. even if I don’t know ANYBODY who went to the school, I still love looking at them. Weird, I know.
so sweet. she looks so much like her mother! and her mother is so playful and warm in the video. given her relationship with her father, it must have been extra hard losing her mom.
all of this said – i dont want to hear AJ or her peeps bitching about prying eyes into their personal lives re: their romantic relationships while at the same time releasing uber-personal stuff like this.
I doubt AJ had anything to do with its release. She seems very protective of her late mother.
All things aside, it was still touching. Marcheline was very pretty. Losing a mom at any age is tough, especially if you’re close.
I thought it was a sweet video, and there is way more inappropriate and creepier crap on YouTube.
CNN is reporting the video was made and released by a family friend, and not Jolie herself.
Also the youtube account where it was posted clearly states they are fans of Michalene and in NO WAY related to the Jolie family. Same goes for the blog and memorial page that they host.
You’re wasting your time L. People prefer to speculate and to hate. When it comes to Angie she’ll always be a polarizing figure. But what really makes me sad has nothing to do with Jolie and with the fact that people rush to judgement and to comment without checking the facts. It frequently happens that people will read a blog or tabloid headline and post a comment or form an opinion without bothering to read the article itself. The purpose of the headline of course is to grab attention, often the content reveals something far less dramatic or scandalous. I mean I really like this site as well as a couple of other of celebrity sites but no blogger’s post or opinion is gospel to me and just because a thing is repeated often enough that doesn’t necessarily make it true. And I’m done.
Well it’s a beautiful video and they are obviously proud of her mother. Her mother was also an actress so I don’t find that weird that they released it.
I loved seeing Angelina try to mimic her mother’s moves. Even from a distance you can see how in awe she was of her. I hope my daughter looks at me the same one day. I imagine this is how Angelina acts with her own kids.
Never met the woman.
I guess I just wonder why? TMZ stated that this was released by Angelina and her brother. Who else has personal family footage? And what good friends would release this without Angie’s consent? Anyway the video is touching and a great memory. However, I agree with above posters about keeping things private when you are famous. It is things like this that keeps Angie in the tabloids. Cnn you imagine Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Penelope Cruz, etc. releasing a video of their dead mother if they had one? Probably not. The making public a personal life when you are famous is tabloid fodder. I am not saying it is wrong or bad it just is what it is. This is why some stars are in the tabloids and some are not – because of how public they make their private life.
MORE PR to Deflect the Break up stories, only if the general Public will fall for it. Keep it coming..A private video shown on YOU TUBE, whether nice or not, just all to deflect the situation at hand. She is definitely NOT polarizing. Just My Opinion
The video was released in a blog dedicated by her relatives to Marcheline. It would be nive if for a change some people kept their mouths shut instead of being nasty as usual. If you checked the you tube channel is old. And anyway I don’t believe in tabloids so as far as I0m concerned her and Brad are very much together and ian Halperin is just trying to sell his book and made an agreement with NOW. Disgusting person that Ian.
I have home movies of relatives who are famous in the my community. I could easily release the movies of my deceased aunt as a tribute w/o asking her kids for their permission.The video was removed w/ in hours.
Now some of you are saying it wasn’t made by Ang and James… But there’s a screen cap of a sign-off from them. So it was fraudulent, is what you’re saying? Someone stole their family movies (or got them somehow, anyway) and then forged a video as if it were made by the kids. Weird.
Maybe they released the video to the public in memory of the happy moments they spent with their mother? Why not? They love her and were proud of her and want to share it. Nothing wrong with it. It’s not like the video shows the mother in the hospital fighting her illness at her worst moments.
It made me teary eyed and makes me appreciate my mother even more. I’m gonna give my kids a big hug when they get home from schoool
@ESCALANDO
my comment wasn’t directed to you per se but to everyone who seemed to have misplaced their sensitivity chip but you were wise to recognize that you were among them.
Secondly, don’t go pulling off that, “I’m to effn concerened w/real issues around the world” when you’re logged onto a gossip site commenting on the very subject you’re belittling. You invoke Haiti & Darfur all in the sake of making a point. That says a lot about your character & I suspect your lack of of sensitivity is the least of your personal issues. So w/all due respect, “emotionally drained my a–!” you probably won’t see this since you’ll probably be logged on Haiti & Darfur websites, seeing that your emotionally drained on the issues, but just in case you do, have a wonderful day!