Angelina Jolie Reveals How to Prepare Children for Death

JAKARTA - Angelina Jolie spoke openly about death, family, and how she raised her children. The Oscar-winning actress admitted that she had never felt that she would live a long life.

HuffPost quoted Thursday, July 2, reported that Jolie said this in an interview with Variety. He said he raised his children with the awareness that one day he might no longer be with them.

"I raised my children almost as if preparing them for my absence, and not so much preparing myself to be a grandmother," Jolie said. "That's what happens when you view death as a reality."

The confession came as Jolie discussed her latest film, Couture. In the film, she plays a filmmaker who is diagnosed with breast cancer. The theme is close to Jolie's life.

In 2013, Jolie underwent preventive double mastectomy, an operation to remove both breasts to reduce the risk of cancer. In an opinion article in The New York Times, she once explained that the decision was made because she had a BRCA1 gene mutation, which increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

Her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died of breast and ovarian cancer at age 56. The experience influenced the way Jolie viewed life and death.

"He lasted long enough to meet his first grandchild and hold him," Jolie wrote at the time. "But my other children will never have the chance to know him and feel how loving and graceful he was."

Jolie said the experience of losing her mother at a young age, as well as never knowing her grandmother, made her view life in a different way.

"It's very sobering, like the doctor says in the film, we're all going to die, we're not all going to be here forever," Jolie said.

He also admitted that it was sometimes difficult to really live in the present because he felt that time was moving on.

"I was past the age when my mother was diagnosed," Jolie said. "I probably struggled with feeling as if I couldn't live in the moment because I felt like I had to keep moving and rushing because time was running out."

Now, as her children are growing up, Jolie is getting encouragement from them to get out more, travel, and live the part of life she had held back.

"My kids are almost all 18, so now they want to see me travel around the world, they want me to go out and do a lot of things," Jolie said.

"They know me better than anyone, and they still like me, which I think means a lot," he said.