Angelina Jolie was presented with an award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival by her godmother, Jacqueline Bisset.
Bisset, 80, presented Jolie, 49, with the Desert Palm Achievement Award for her role as opera singer Maria Callas.
‘It is such a thrill to be here with you tonight to present this award to Angelina Jolie, who just happens to be my goddaughter, and whose mother Marcheline was one of my dearest friends,’ Bisset gushed.
She went on to praise the Mr. and Mrs. Smith star’s career and humanitarian work, saying she was ‘immensely proud’ and added that she was an ‘exceptional mother,’ People reported.
Jolie seemed delighted by the personal connection Bisset provided at the awards ceremony on January 3.
She thanked Bisset in her acceptance speech along with those she worked with on Maria with ‘for allowing me to have a voice, and to find mine again.’
Angelina Jolie got a very personal introduction at the Palm Springs International Film Festival
‘I’m very grateful for our director Pablo Larrain. I was so scared to do this film … it was a privilege to be on this journey with you.’
She added: ‘The freedom to express and create is the greatest.’
Jolie’s daughter Zahara, 19, accompanied her to the awards ceremony and got a shout out in her mother’s speech along with her brothers and sisters.
‘Callas was loved. But Maria was often alone. But I’m all right because when I walk off this stage, I am more myself because of you, Zahara, and your brothers and sisters.’
Angelina took singing lessons to portray Callas and opened up about that process in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
‘It took many months of singing classes. Months of just getting the singing down and then the Italian classes and then the voice and doing all these things like her. You try to be precise,’ she explained.
As Jolie receives accolades and award nominations for her role as Maria Callas, she revealed how it is the first job she’s been able to give her all to in several years.
In a Vanity Fair interview promoting the film, she talked about going ‘very dark’ and taking a step back from working these past few years, which appeared to coincide with her messy and on-going divorce from Brad Pitt.
Her godmother, Jacqueline Bisset, 80, presented Angelina, 49, with the Desert Palm Achievement Award for her role as opera singer Maria Callas
‘It is such a thrill to be here with you tonight to present this award to Angelina Jolie, who just happens to be my goddaughter, and whose mother Marcheline was one of my dearest friends,’ Bisset gushed
She went on to praise the Mr. and Mrs. Smith star’s career and humanitarian work, saying she was ‘immensely proud’ and added that she was an ‘exceptional mother’
‘I went very dark for reasons I’d rather not explain, but I didn’t have a lot of light and life within me. Your lights dim. I also just needed to be home more, so I couldn’t commit large periods of time to pieces,’ she told the outlet.
‘The choice of what to work on and when was not a creative choice, often, the last few years, but sometimes the practical choice,’ she continued. ‘Really, I think Maria was the beginning of starting to come alive again.
‘I needed a lot of kind people around me to hold my hand,’ Jolie explained, adding, ‘We’ve all been with terrible people in our life, where it’s hard to do your work because you feel emotionally vulnerable and then you feel like it’s being used in the wrong way.’
The Oscar winner has been through a lot in the last eight years of her very public and publicized split from Pitt.
‘Brangelina’ became a couple in 2006 and tied the knot in 2014, before their shock split in 2016, which triggered a bitter feud in the courts over child custody and their property.
The former couple share three biological children — Shiloh, 18, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 16 — as well as their adopted children Maddox, 23; Pax, 21; and Zahara, 19.
Since their parents’ bitter split, Zahara, Shiloh and Vivienne have all dropped Pitt as their last name.
It has been reported that Maddox and Pax do not talk to their father – while it is believed that Knox and Vivienne still speak with the Fight Club star, though they have not been pictured with him in several years.
Jolie seemed delighted by the personal connection Bisset provided at the awards ceremony on January 3
Jolie seemed delighted by the personal connection Bisset provided at the awards ceremony on January 3
Angelia and Brad finalized their horrendous divorce last week although the former couple’s battle of their French vineyard is still ongoing.
Their bitter custody battle over their six children ended with Angelina retaining primary physical custody of their brood. Brad was granted visitation rights.
The actor had originally sought a 50/50 arrangement relating to their six kids, but an insider told DailyMail.com in March this year that he was no longer contesting the matter.
Court documents filed in 2018 showed that Brad has paid Angelina — who has a promising new project set for early 2025 — at least $9 million in child support.
The children have reportedly not had any contact with Brad’s wider family either, including his parents – William, 84, and Jane Pitt, 83.
‘Brad Pitt’s parents have not been able to see their beloved grandchildren for around eight years amid the ongoing divorce and legal battle between Brad and Angelina,’ an insider previously told DailyMail.com.
