Actor reveals he was ignorant of his daughter's decision but was deeply moved by her handling of the situation
Angelina Jolie's father, actor Jon Voight, has revealed that he was kept in the dark over his daughter's plan to have a double mastectomy, and only learned about it at the same time as the rest of the world.
Voight told the New York Daily News: "I was as surprised as anyone and deeply moved by the way she's handled this."
Jolie announced she had undergone the medical procedure in an op-ed piece in the New York Times on 14 May, but Voight explained he had no prior knowledge. "I saw her two days ago with my son Jamie. We all got together for his birthday, with her and Brad [Pitt]. But I didn't know. It wasn't obvious at all."
He also said he "completely understood" her reasons for not informing him. "She's a very extraordinary person, the way she examined it and what she shared," added Voight.
Jolie is the daughter of Voight and his first wife, Marcheline Bertrand. Following their separation in 1976, Jolie lived with her mother and her brother, James Haven. Her first film role was a brief appearance as Voight's daughter in Hal Ashby's 1982 feature Lookin' to Get Out.
The two subsequently had a difficult relationship, falling out repeatedly – notably in 2002, after Voight said on TV that his daughter had "serious mental problems" – but were reconciled after Bertrand's death from ovarian cancer in 2007.