Angelina Jolie Tears Up Talking About Her Mother

Updated 10:51 PM EST, Mon, Nov 17, 2008

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Angelina Jolie has long been guarded when it comes to speaking about her late mother.

But during a press conference in London on Monday to promote her new film, “Changeling,” Angelina became quite emotional when talking about using her mother, Marcheline Bertand, as the inspiration behind her character.

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“A single mom in 1928 was a difficult place to come from. [She] didn’t command any respect,” the actress said of her character Christine Collins. “Because I couldn’t relate to it, my mom wasn’t [there in] 1928, but there was something about her.”

As she began to talk of Marcheline, who died in January 2007, Angelina became visibly emotional and even cursed as her eyes began to tear up.

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“She is very much Christine Collins,” Angelina said, comparing her mother to her “Changeling” character. “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 really, really fierce. So this is very much her and her story.”

Despite the character’s underlying ties to her mother, Angelina revealed she initially didn’t want to do the film.

“When I first read the script, I couldn’t put it down and then I said no immediately. I didn’t want to go near this story,” she told reporters.

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However, she later changed her mind, considering the film “an extra piece of justice” for Collins, a woman whose son disappears in the movie.

And in preparing for the role, she was able to pull her inspiration from close to home.

“[My mother’s] name was Marcheline and everyone called her ‘Marshmallow’ as a joke because she was just the softest, most gentle woman in the world,” Angelina continued. “She was the one I relate to who had that elegance and strength and just knowing what was right.”

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