Pierce Brosnan on Losing His Wife and Daughter to Ovarian Cancer: “I Don’t Look at the Cup as Half Full”
Years after he trаɡıᴄаււy lost both his wife and daughter to ovarian cancer, Pierce Brosnan is bravely opening up about their ԁеаtһs in a new interview.
“I don’t look at the cup as half full, believe me,” the 63-year-old actor recently told Esquire. “The dark, melancholy Irish black dog sits beside me from time to time.”
Pierce and his first wife, Cassandra Harris, met in 1977 and tied the knot in December 1980. They welcomed a son, actor Sean Brosnan, 33, in 1983. Three years later, the James Bond star legally adopted Cassandra’s two older children — Christopher Brosnan, 44, and Charlotte Brosnan — after their biological father, Dermot Harris, died in 1986.
In 1987, Cassandra suddenly fell ill and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She later passed away on Dec. 18, 1991, at age 43. Tragedy struck Pierce’s family again when his daughter, Charlotte, died in June 2013 at age 41 after a three-year battle with ovarian cancer.
“I have sat at bedsides and seen the suffering and despair firsthand and it astounds me that we still do not have a cure for this pernicious disease,” Pierce previously told Closer Weekly at an Ovarian Cancer Research Fund charity event.
“The night comes with many emotions for me. I would like to see this disease banished from our society,” he continued. “I would like to see the cure for ovarian cancer as a man who lost a wife and a daughter to the disease.”
In early 2016, Pierce’s close friend Beau St. Clair also sadly succumbed to ovarian cancer. “Beau was a beautiful woman in every way. She had style, grace, humor, intellect, and a kind heart that I will forever miss,” Pierce said in a statement at the time. “[She was] the sister I never had.”
The Mamma Mia! star is now married to his second wife, Keely Shaye Smith. They later welcomed two sons, Dylan Brosnan, 20, and Paris Brosnan, 16, together.
