Jon Voight Surprised to Learn About Angelina Jolie’s Double Mastectomy

May 16, 2013 by Staff

They say father knows best, but that might not be the case for Jon Voight. The 74-year-old actor learned about daughter Angelina Jolie’s recent double mastectomy the same way the rest of the world did—by reading it online.

And in light of their tumultuous relationship, many wondered if the actress purposely left her father in the dark. Both Voight and Jolie have admitted that their relationship is at times rocky. According to the 37-year-old actress, she and her father stopped getting along when he cheated on her late mother in the 70s. “I grew up fighting with him over things, usually regarding [my mother],” Jolie explained in a 60 Minutes interview last year.

At one point, the source of their turmoil became so bad that father and daughter didn’t speak for years. “I decided that I felt it was an unhealthy relationship because it was making me feel sick,” Jolie went on to say. “And it was making me feel bad and it was making me too emotional. So I stepped away and called my mother and said, ‘He and I will not be speaking anymore.’” In 2002, while in the midst of their estrangement, Voight likely added fuel to the fire by appearing on Access Hollywood. The father of two pleaded for his daughter to seek help for alleged “mental problems.”

Fortunately, the two gradually started the reconciliation process and began speaking again in 2008. Since then, most sources have reported only good things about their relationship. But is Voight’s latest admission that he didn’t know about his daughter’s preventative surgery an indication that things aren’t as good as they seem?

Maybe not—although he wasn’t aware of his daughter’s major decision, Voight is still active in her life. “I saw her two days ago with my son Jamie,” he told the New York Daily News. “We all got together for his birthday, with her and Brad [Pitt]. But I didn’t know. It wasn’t obvious at all. I found out [Tuesday] morning.”

It is unclear why the devoted mother-of-six chose not to inform her father. But Voight supports his daughter no matter what. “I was as surprised as anyone and deeply moved by the way she’s handled this,” Voight said. And he harbors no hard feelings about Jolie’s decision to remain quiet during the process. “I completely understand,” he continued. “I want the focus to be on the inspiration.”