Jennifer Love Hewitt has opened up about the grief following her mother’s death in 2012, and how the media previously found out about her death.
The Ghost whisperer star, 45, recently spoke about her upcoming book Inherit magic – in which she talks about her healing journey after her mother’s death from cancer – during a bookstore event in Los Angeles, California, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Hewitt’s mother, Patricia Mae Hewitt, died on June 12, 2012 at the age of 67 from complications due to cancer. I know what you did last summer actor, who was 33 at the time, shared that she heard about her mother’s death through the media.
“The part I didn’t put in the book is that the press actually knew my mother had died before I did,” Hewitt said at the event. At the time, she was in Monaco for the 52nd Monte Carlo TV Festival.
“The flight time when I came back was so long,” she recalled. “It seemed like a ten and a half hour flight, so by the time I arrived everyone knew, and it was so strange to me.
Jennifer Love Hewitt says she heard about her mother’s death through the media (Getty Images)
‘But later I thought: but everyone used to know everything about my life. Even in breakups, people said, “He already cheated on you.” Really, people? Why didn’t you tell me?’
In Inheriting Magic: My Journey Through Sadness, Joy, Celebration, and Making Every Day Magicalout December 10, Hewitt talks about her close relationship with her mother, who she says made everyone around her feel special.
“I was on a very successful television show, we walked into a restaurant and people didn’t care about me; that was my mother,” the 9-1-1 actor explained. “They wanted to know who the woman I was standing next to was because she was light, she was joy. She made friends with everyone, there was not a single stranger in the world for her.”
Hewitt, who stars in the upcoming Lifetime Christmas movie The holiday junkieremembered how her mother tried to bring joy even to the most somber event.
“If I was heartbroken or having a bad day, she would put up Christmas lights because she believed it improved the mood,” she said. “When I had severe cramps, there were lights.”
Hewitt’s mother Patricia Mae died in 2012 after complications with cancer (Getty Images)
Speak with The Hollywood Reporter, Hewitt admitted that she “never said that much about (her) mother” after she died because she “didn’t have the words before.”
“I just didn’t know what to say, and this felt like the right time to talk about her and say, ‘This is what she left behind,’” she told the outlet.
Hewitt has been married to actor Brian Hallisay since 2013. The couple share three children together: daughter Autumn, 10, and sons Atticus, nine, and Aiden, three.
In June last year the Heartbreakers star honored her mother on the 11th anniversary of her death. She paid tribute on Instagram by sharing a throwback photo of herself with Patricia Mae.
“11 years ago my life changed in one fell swoop. We didn’t get to say goodbye, but I think that’s because we didn’t know how,” Hewitt wrote in the caption. “I see you in my children every day. I feel you in the things I say and smile because I am more like you than I thought. I honor you by trying to create magic for my family just as you did for us. I love you very much.
“I’m so grateful that you were our mother. This day will always hurt because you were so special. Always and forever mom.”
