Angelina Jolie’s Step-Grandmother Quietly Passed Away Following Years of Estrangement

Angelina Jolie has lost one of the last connections to her mother’s family.

The Maleficent star’s step-grandmother, Elke Bertrand, died quietly at age 85 in 2024, the National Enquirer has learned.

Elke immigrated from Germany and married Rolland Bertrand — Jolie’s grandfather — in 1975, the same year the actress was born.

In a 2016 interview with the Daily Mail, Elke opened up about her loving relationship with the actress and her brother, James Haven, which ended abruptly when Rolland died in 1985 and Elke had a falling-out with the kids’ mom, Marcheline.

Nearly 30 years later, Elke spoke fondly of her granddaughter, now 50, and shared photos of their times together. “Angelina hasn’t got many people left in her life,” the Nevada resident pointed out to the Daily Mail. “I know she’s got her father [Jon Voight] but I don’t know how close they are.”

Angelina lost her mother in 2007 and her uncle Raleigh in 2009, both to cancer. She was also close with her mother’s sister, Debbie, who passed away in 2013 of breast cancer as well.

In 2011, the Unbroken director admitted to Marie Claire that her then-partner, Brad Pitt, was the “only person” she talked to, but they split six years later.

“Maybe it’s good Angelina is moving on,” Elke noted in her interview. “Leopards don’t change their spots.”

Angelina admitted in a 2023 interview with WSJ that she didn’t have a “social life,” calling her kids — Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 19, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 17 — her “closest friends.”

But despite having no contact in years, Angelina and her step-grandmother had a lot in common. According to the Daily Mail, Elke volunteered as a mentor for abused and neglected children and also helped feed the homeless.

According to Elke’s obituary, she “was a passionate advocate for abused women and children.”