Inside Angelina Jolie’s turbulent relationship with her father Jon Voight – who blew up his marriage by cheating on her mother, sparking decades-long rift with his daughter… as he slams her for anti-Israeli views
Angelina Jolie and her Oscar-winning father, Jon Voight, have had their fair share of ups and downs – with their notoriously fraught relationship leading to them having zero contact for several years.
Although the father-daughter duo have had moments of reconciliation throughout their strained relationship, they have also experienced many turbulent moments that have led to them becoming estranged.
They were in contact briefly during the filming of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001, but Jolie reportedly severed ties again with her famous father in the early 2000s.
‘We don’t really speak that much anymore,’ the Changeling star told Vogue in 2002, shortly after starring in the Lara Croft film.
Angelina Jolie and her father, Jon Voight, have had a tense relationship for most of her 48-year life
Voight’s infidelity whilst married to Jolie’s mother Marcheline Bertrand and their subsequent divorce was also reportedly a driving force behind the father and daughter’s falling out, with bitter feelings resurfacing over the years.
Although the pair have made up in the past, the 84-year-old actor recently slammed his daughter, 58, for her anti-Israel posts, branding them as ‘lies’ and saying ‘the Israeli army must protect thy soil.’
In a video posted on Instagram, Voight criticized Jolie.
‘I am very disappointed that my daughter, like so many, has no understanding of God’s honor, God’s truths,’ he said.
Jolie is formerly a special envoy of the UN High Commission for Refugees.
She accused Israel of ‘deliberately bombing children, women, families, deprived of food, medicine and humanitarian aid’ in violation of the international law.
In response, Voight said he was ‘disappointed’ that his daughter did not understand that Hamas’ objective was ‘to annihilate the land of the Jews.’
With the father-daughter duo at odds once again, FEMAIL has taken a look back at their turbulent relationship.
Jolie and Voight played father and daughter in 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (pictured) and appeared to briefly reconcile after that
Jolie reportedly severed contact again from her famous father in the early 2000s (pictured on the set of Tomb Raider in 2001)
In 2002, Jolie told Vogue she and her father ‘don’t really speak that much anymore’
Voight admits to having an affair while he was married to Jolie’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, before the couple divorced when their daughter was just five years old
Voight and Jolie’s mother Bertrand tied the knot in 1971, welcoming their second child – Angelina Jolie Voight – in 1975.
But the couple separated a year later and were officially divorced by 1980, when Jolie was just five.
Although there was speculation about what led to her parent’s divorce, Voight later admitted to infidelity, explaining: ‘I had an affair and there was a divorce. There was a lot of hurt and anger.’
Jolie and her older brother, James Haven, were raised primarily by their mother with Voight making sporadic appearances in his children’s lives – taking them to film premieres and public events.
Jolie penned a piece for The New York Times in 2020 for Mother’s Day, in honor of her late mother who passed away in January 2007, aged 56, after a long battle with ovarian cancer.
Jolie’s parents Voight and Bertrand tied the knot in 1971, welcoming their second child – Angelina Jolie Voight – in 1975. Pictured is Voight with Jolie hours after she was born
Jolie and Bertrand pictured in 2001. The actress and her brother, James Haven, grew up primarily with their mother after their father left them at an early age
Voight is seen with James Haven and Jolie at the 1986 Academy Awards
In the piece, Jolie touched on her parents’ divorce, admitting it was one of the reasons why she and her father had such a difficult relationship.
‘When my father had an affair, it changed [my mom’s] life,’ she wrote in the piece. ‘It set her dream of family life ablaze. But she still loved being a mother.’
Jolie famously struggled with eating disorders and self-harm as a teenager and into her 20s, according to RadarOnline.
A former family friend of Jolie’s parents agreed that Voight had not been a good father to his children.
‘Jon Voight was a terrible father to [Jolie] back then,’ the source told the Express.
‘He cheated on her mother. Marcheline was broken-hearted. She told me Jon had emotionally abused her. She said he had a thing for a Hollywood starlet,’ they continued.
‘Angelina had a difficult time growing up with what was going on. She has a lot of hostility toward her dad.’
Voight blames his own divorce for Jolie’s ‘mental health issues’ following her divorce from husband Billy Bob Thornton in 2003
When Jolie divorced from her husband, Billy Bob Thornton, in 2003 after three years of marriage, her father publicly commented on her separation.
Voight admitted he blamed his own divorce from Jolie’s mother for his daughter’s ‘serious mental problems.’
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly in 2002, Voight claimed his daughter was ‘never normal’ and said it was due to how he behaved in his marriage.
Voight told the publication he ‘never had the feeling’ Jolie and Thornton’s marriage would not last because of ‘both of their serious problems.’
‘And they’ve both been very public about them,’ the Midnight Cowboy actor said. ‘So I never really held out any hope.’
Voight then claimed Jolie has refused to speak to him and even went on to legally remove ‘Voight’ as her surname in favor of her middle name Jolie – which she had long used as her stage name – a little over a month after the Entertainment Weekly interview.
Jolie married Billy Bob Thornton (pictured), 20 years her senior, in 2000 and split in 2002. At the time of their divorce, Voight told Entertainment Weekly his daughter was ‘never normal’
The duo’s relationship came to a head back in 2002 when he gave an interview to Access Hollywood and claimed that she had ‘serious mental problems.’ Pictured in 2001
Jolie responded to Voight’s comments in a statement, saying: ‘I don’t want to make public the reasons for my bad relationship with my father.
‘I will only say that, like every child, [brother] Jamie and I would have loved to have had a warm and loving relationship with our dad,’ the statement continued.
‘After all these years, I have determined that it is not healthy for me to be around my father, especially now that I am responsible for my own child.’
In 2007, the Hollywood actor also shared why he believed his children didn’t want him in their lives in an interview with People.
‘I find it very heartbreaking that my children want to paint a bad portrait of me,’ Voight admitted.
‘I feel that it comes from their inability to let go of years of programmed anger from their mother [the late Marchelin Bertrand] who understandably felt quite hurt when we divorced,’ he continued, adding he felt their resentment for him grew after Bertrand’s passed away.
Making amends? In 2010 the pair made a move towards reconciliation with the help of Jolie’s then-husband Brad Pitt
Eight years after Voight made comments about his daughter’s mental health, they appeared to make amends and the grandfather met all six of Jolie’s children in 2010.
Jolie, who shares six children – Maddox, 22, Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 17, and twins Knox and Vivienne, one – with Brad Pitt, reportedly reached out to her estranged father ahead of the holidays.
According to reports, Jolie’s then-husband reportedly helped bring about a truce between the two, which began in 2007.
The semi-reconciliation came after the death of Jolie’s mother, with Pitt encouraging her to reach out to her family.
Voight shared his feelings with the Daily Mail at the time of the reconciliation, saying: ‘That one moment changed my whole life. It gave me back my daughter and my family. Being reunited with my Angie is very precious to me.’
According to the Express, Jolie said the distance between her and her father was very intentional.
‘I think sometimes you have to distance yourself from relationships you feel are unhealthy for you,’ Jolie said at the time.
‘But we have spoken and we are going to try to get to know each other and maybe try not to be this daddy and daughter, but to be there for each other as friends in the coming years.’
After her divorce from Pitt, Angelina (shown in 2018 with Shiloh and Zahara) reportedly started to mend fences with her father, according to a December 2017 piece in The Hollywood Reporter.
Moving on: Following her mother’s passing and her divorce from Pitt, Jolie and Voight became closer in 2017.
Voight and Jolie supposedly grew closer in the years following her mother’s passing, and it seemed like they had a few years of reconciliation.
After divorcing Pitt in 2016, Jolie reportedly started making efforts to make amends with her father in December 2017, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
At the time, she stated on the THR Awards Chatter Podcast, “Jon and I are discovering a new relationship as we have gotten to know each other through our grandchildren.”
We’ve faced challenges, but art has allowed us to communicate. It is the vernacular.
Voight called the Girl Interrupted actress a “very invested mom,” complimenting Jolie on her work as a mother and told US Weekly as much.
“She’s got it.” She’s got these youngsters covered. He remarked, “She shows them love every moment of the day.”
“I offer prayers for Brad and the entire family.” Everyone will be alright. That concludes it.
Jolie apparently contacted Voight in 2010. Jolie and Pitt have six children together: Maddox, 22, Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 17, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 1. The 2014 photo of the family
At the seventh annual Gold Meets Golden gala in 2020, Voight kept praising the actress.
According to Radar Online, he told reporters, “She loves her kids, she’s always involved with them, always concerned for them.”
Jolie also discussed her bond with her kids with Voight, saying in 2017 to Vanity Fair: “He’s done a great job of realizing that they needed their grandfather right now.”
He was simply around last night when I had to attend a therapy session. “He is aware of the general rule—don’t let them play with you,” she said.
“Just be a creative, cool grandpa and hang out in the library to read a book and tell stories.”
Has the fissure reopened? Voight criticizes Jolie for her recent anti-Israel remarks on Instagram.
Family ties might have been broken once more after Voight chastised his daughter for remarks she made against Israel.
In an attack on Gaza, Jolie accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of “deliberately” killing children.
She vehemently denounced the IDF’s reaction to the 1,400 Hamas terror attacks on October 7, the vast majority of whom were civilians.
Voight, who abandoned his liberal beliefs of the 1960s and 1970s to become an outspoken Republican Party supporter, urged Jolie to reconsider her stance on Israel’s involvement in the conflict.
He sent a video to Instagram on November 4th, stating: “Inhumane terror was unleashed on innocent babies, mothers, fathers, and grandparents in Israel.”
“You idiots say that Israel is the issue; you ought to examine yourself and ask, What am I?” Who am I? And ask God if I’m being misled and just following people, or if I’m discovering the truth? Truth-aware people are able to spot lies.
The actor went on, “Hamas and this deceit of their ruling is destroying their own people.”
‘I am really saddened that my daughter, like so many, has no understanding of God’s honor, God’s truths,’ said Voight, 84, without holding back in his condemnation of his frequently estranged kid.
‘Sick and enraged at the terrorist attack in Israel’, Jolie said on Instagram in early November, expressing her grief over ‘the killing of so many innocent citizens.’
“I am also praying for the safe and prompt release of all hostages as well as for the families who must endure the unspeakable grief of losing a loved one.” The star wrote, “above all, the murdered children and the many children now left orphaned.”
“What transpired in Israel is a terrorist act.” However, Jolie continued, “that cannot excuse the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no chance of evacuation, and not even the fundamental human right to cross a border or seek refuge.”
The speaker went on, “My focus is on the people displaced by violence in any context because of my work with refugees for 20 years.”
Jolie continued by denouncing “the denial of aid, fuel, and water,” saying that it “collectively” punishes everyone, especially children and innocent bystanders.