Hollywood icon Pierce Brosnan has opened up about his grief after his wife Cassandra and daughter Charlotte both died after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, with the star calling it “overwhelming”
A heartbreaking double tragedy struck Pierce Brosnan after he lost his daughter and wife to the same disease two decades apart. The 71-year-old is known for his beaming smile and infectious positivity, but away from the spotlight Pierce has nursed the pain of immense personal loss following the death of his first wife, Cassandra, and daughter, Charlotte.
Prior to marrying his second wife Keely, who he has been married to for 24 years, the Hollywood icon was in a relationship with actress Cassandra Harris. The pair tied the knot in a romantic ceremony in 1980 and the pair welcomed their son, Sean, into the world three years later. The pair also raised Cassandra’s two children, Charlotte and Christopher, from a previous relationship. When their father sadly died in 1986, the 007 actor adopted the siblings and they later took his last name.
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However, the family were struck by another tragedy just one year later when Cassandra was diagnosed with an aggressive form of ovarian cancer. Speaking about her diagnosis, Pierce recalled the impact it had from day one of her diagnosis. “From day 1, we really had a fight on our hands,” he told People magazine in 1992. “This wasn’t a shadow or a small tumour – this had invaded Cassie’s being.”
For four years, the mum-of-three underwent treatment. Heartbreakingly, she died in December 1991 at the age of 43. “There is an incredible cruelty in it all,” Pierce explained, adding, “losing a person you shared everything with. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever experienced bereavement, and it’s overwhelming.”
Tragically, almost 22 years after Cassandra’s death, Pierce faced yet more devastation when his 41-year-old daughter Charlotte died from the same disease in 2013. At the time of her passing, Charlotte was surrounded by her husband Alex, her children Isabella, who was 14 at the time, and Lucas, who was eight, as well as her brothers Christopher and Sean.
“Charlotte fought her cancer with rare grace and humanity, courage and dignity,” the Mamma Mia star said in a statement. “Our hearts are heavy with the loss of our beautiful dear girl. We pray for her, and that the cure for this wretched disease will be at hand soon. We thank everyone for their heartfelt condolences.”
In 2014, Pierce opened up about his grief during a Stand Up To Cancer telethon. “To watch someone you love have his or her life eaten away bit by bit by this insidious disease, that part of your sorrow becomes an indelible part of your psyche,” he said, reports Entertainment Tonight.
“I held the generous, strong, beautiful hand of my first wife Cassie as ovarian cancer took her life much too soon. Just last year, I held the hand of my funny, wonderful daughter Charlotte before she, too, died from this wretched inherited disease.”
Pierce more recently made headlines this week when he was spotted with his granddaughter, Isabella, while at the afterparty of the MobLand premiere. Pierce rocked a black two-piece suit and a black scarf as he guided his granddaughter – Charlotte’s daughter — through the crowd.
Following the loss of Cassandra, the James Bond star feared he’d never find love again. While starring in the Danish romantic comedy Love Is All You Need, in which he played the role of a heartbroken widower and father-of-one whose life changes after he meets cancer survivor Ida, he opened up on the parallels the film had with his own life.
“As a man who has gone through the rigours of loss and dealing with family, I guess there was something there I could draw on,” he told The Mirror in 2013. “I know what it is like to be a widower and what it is like to find love again. So I know there’s hope and that you have to learn to get on with it. Ups and downs are what life is all about. But the memory of Cassie and her fight against cancer is never forgotten.”
In 1994, Pierce met his now-wife Keely Shaye Smith in a Mexican bar. The pair have two children, Dylan and Paris, and the actor calls her his ‘North star’. He added: “We met when I was like Philip, adrift. I’d lost my wife and been a widower for three years. Keely is the backbone of our family, of my life, and I tell her that I love her every day. I tell her that she’s beautiful and I couldn’t have done it without her. We look forward to the time now when the boys go off to college and my darling will be able to travel with me on these movies.”
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