We all know at least one person who has unfortunately lost their life because of cancer, and it’s something that has affected us all in different ways. Sadly, these 5 celebrities have all lost a parent to cancer. Some were quite young when the death occurred, while others may have been adults but still found the death very difficult to process. Here is what they’ve said about their parents and what they went through.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina lost her mother Marcheline after she battled ovarian cancer for eight years. Angelina spoke about her mother’s life: “My mother was a full-time mother. She didn’t have much of her own career, her own life, her own experiences. Everything was for her children. I will never be as good a mother as she was. I will try my best, but I don’t think I ever will be. She was the most generous, loving woman. She’s better than me.”
Demi Lovato
Demi’s father passed away after a cancer battle and Demi commented following the death: “There’s an overwhelming sense of peace knowing my dad is no longer battling his demons anymore and that makes me so happy.”
Denise Ricards
Denise lost her mother to kidney cancer but she never gave up hope: “Even though deep down I knew [my mom was going to die], I still had hope that maybe it wouldn’t happen. And I think that hope helped her. If you lose hope, your loved one loses hope too.”
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth’s father Bruce died in 2003 due to complications from cancer. The actress says the death opened her eyes to her own health: “It really changed the way that I thought. I think I had more of a laissez-faire attitude about my health, and when he got cancer it was a real shock… It was sort of like the break of my adolescence. This is my one life, and I need to invest in myself and my family and make sure that we can do what we can to stay healthy.”
Lily James
Lily lost her father to cancer when she was still in drama school. She said about his death: “He had cancer. That’s sort of why my experience of drama school is pretty unique – it happened whilst I was there. I think that will take the whole of my life (to process his death). I had a scene (in ‘Cinderella) where I was told my dad had died, so it was really hard, but I feel what’s important in the film is that Cinderella gains strength from her loss and that was something I could… That was in me. It’s s**t (not having him around).”
