Angelina Jolie Says Acting Became ‘Harder’ After Her Mom’s Death: ‘I Realized How Much of It Was for Her’

Angelina Jolie is opening up about how her late mother encouraged her to become an actress — and how her death made continuing her career even harder.

In a new interview with W magazine published on Jan. 3, the Maria star, 49, spoke candidly about how her late mom, Marcheline Bertrand, encouraged her to go into acting as a child.

"I did it in the beginning because … it was my mother's dream," she said, recounting how Bertrand originally tried to pursue her own acting career, trying out for roles in both theater in Chicago and film and TV in Los Angeles.

"But by the time my mom was 25, she was divorced with two kids and she decided she would focus her life solely on motherhood," Jolie continued, referring to Bertrand's split from her father, actor Jon Voight. The couple also shared a son, Jolie's brother James Haven.

"She loved being being a stay-at-home mom, but she really wanted me to be an actress so I don't remember making the choice to be an actress. I remembered it made my mom happy," Jolie added.

For the star, acting served as a way to help her mother pay the bills during her childhood, as Bertrand served as her manager.

"We were a team," Jolie recalled to W. "I always wanted to buy her a house and things like that — it kind of started that way."

The actress and her mom remained close throughout the rest of Bertrand's life. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1999, and was also later diagnosed with breast cancer. She died on Jan. 27, 2007, at the age of 56.

"When my mom passed, I think it it was harder for me to be an actress for while," the star told W. "I realized how much it was for her."

Angelina Jolie Honors Her Late Mother Marcheline Bertrand in Moving Speech at Gotham Awards: 'Thinking of My Mom'

Jolie has previously been candid about how Bertrand's death affected her. Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2008, Jolie shared how she was inspired by her mom's dedication to motherhood.

“When [my mother] passed, I realized that somebody who lives life with that kind of dedication to their family is the most noble," she said. "In her passing, she reminded me what matters. And what's most fun — to put yourself aside for these other little people you're raising."

Just last month, while accepting the Performer Tribute at the Gotham Awards, Jolie reflected on how her mother's dedication to theater and literature also shaped her career, inspiring both her and Haven, 51.

"I grew up with a mother who kept books inside the oven because there were more books in our house than shelves in the apartment we had," Jolie told the audience. "It was how she solved the problem, while still making sure we were fed. But it was her priority."

Elsewhere in her conversation with W, Jolie spoke about Maria, in which she stars as the renowned opera singer Maria Callas, and shared that she enjoys playing characters based on real people.

"The more I learned about Maria, the more I felt she deserved empathy and understanding," she told the magazine. "In those last years of her life, when she was so criticized and so alone, my goal was for the audience to please give her life a second look. Give her one more moment."

Maria is in theaters now and is available to stream on Netflix.