Inside Angelina Jolie's Complicated Relationship With Dad Jon Voight

A daughter's relationship with her father can be complicated in the least trying of circumstances. Throw in Hollywood stardom, a rough divorce, youthful rebellion, crossed communication wires and miles of distance, physical and emotional, and there's a recipe for two people to grow further and further apart.

But even the most fractured of relationships can be repaired when the timing is right and, despite various periods of estrangement, Angelina Jolie and her father, Jon Voight, who's celebrating his 80th birthday Saturday, have reconnected in recent years.

Jolie was 2 when Voight and her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, separated and she credits Bertrand with raising her and her brother, James Haven, on her own, with financial support from Voight. They remained very close until Bertrand's death from cancer in 2007 at only 56 years old and when Jolie became a mom herself, she talked about how Bertrand influenced her own approach to parenting.


"My mom always made it clear that I was her friend—and that is a lesson on how to bring up my own children," she told The Sun in 2011. "When we talked, I felt she wanted to hear what I had to say. She enjoyed me and I feel I'm enjoying my kids."  

She concluded, "If anybody ever tells me that I am a mother to them like my mom was to me, it will be a great compliment."

Her mother was even an influence in Jolie's decision to become a face of Guerlain, calling it a brand Bertrand loved. "She was a very natural woman who never spoiled herself, never wore makeup, and wore modest jewelry," the actress recalled to Marie Claire, "but she always had a few special items for when she wanted to feel like a lady."

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