Angelina Jolie recently opened up about how her late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, greatly influenced her life.

In a new interview with French Marie Claire, the 39-year-old actress said that her mother, who passed away in 2007 after a long battle with ovarian cancer, helped her become the humanitarian that she is today.

"She was very soft but could move mountains for her kids," the Oscar-winning actor told the publication, as quoted by E! News. "That's something I always admire in women: that mix of softness and strength."

"She was half Indian, and I remember that as a small girl, she took me to a dinner for Amnesty International," added Jolie, who has been a supporter of many charities including the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, the ONE Campaign and UNICEF. "She always tried to understand the complexity of the world. She had a great heart which was sensitive to the world's violence."  

When asked whether she believes in life after death, the "Maleficent" star told the magazine via People:  "I'm not certain ... I feel in contact with my mother when I look at my children. I can feel her influence over me then."

"I see that my way of raising them resembles the way she raised my brother and I," she explained. "It's more apparent with my daughters Shiloh and Vivienne. Therefore, yes, my mother is there, present in this influence, all the time."

And though her mother was not physically present when Jolie tied the knot with Brad Pitt this past August, the "Inglourious Basterds" actor had a special personalized message in honor of her mother-in-law inscribed inside the chapel at their French estate, Château Miraval.

"Brad had a dedication to Marcheline engraved inside the chapel where we stood," Jolie told People. "I also wore a little flower ring that was hers, and Jamie [her brother] wore an angel pin from her jewelry box."

Bertrand died at the age of 56 in January 2007 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after almost eight-year battle with ovarian cancer and breast cancer. In 2010, Jolie told Esquire that her mother's side of the family tended not to be long-lived, saying, "My grandmother also died young so my mother always thought it could happen to her."