Angelina Jolie and her father Jon Voight were last pictured together in 2001, co-starring in the action movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. But following one of the bitterest family feuds in showbusiness, Angelina Jolie and her father Jon Voight have at last been reunited, reports The Mail, London.
The pair were pictured together boarding a motor-boat in Venice after a reconciliation prompted by the death of Angelina's mother and encouraged by her partner Brad Pitt.
The 34-year-old actress is in Italy to film The Tourist, with Johnny Depp. For the next three months, she and Pitt are renting a 15th-century palazzo where they will stay with their six children. And to the surprise of many, 71-year-old Voight was with them when they arrived on Sunday.
The star still best known for his appearance in the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy left Angelina's mother Marcheline Bertrand when their daughter was only four years old. In early film appearances as a child star, Angelina used her full name of Angelina Jolie Voight.
But, perhaps because she did not want to be seen as trading on her father's fame, she had dropped the Voight by the time she appeared as Lara Croft, a female version of Indiana Jones.
It is not known what caused her to fall out with Voight, who played her father Lord Croft in the movie.
By July 2002, however, she was applying to have her non-acting name legally changed to Angelina Jolie, losing the Voight.
The following month, Voight gave an interview on U.S. television in which he claimed his daughter, who had just adopted a Cambodian boy named Maddox, had 'serious mental problems'.
'I'm broken-hearted... because I've been trying to reach my daughter and get her help, and I have failed and I'm sorry,' he said.
'Really I haven't come forward and addressed the serious mental problems she has spoken about so candidly to the press over the years, but I've tried behind the scenes in every way.'
Family day out: Zahara laughs in delight as she is lifted onto the boat before the family enjoy a ride through the city's canals
Daddy's girl: Zahara, four, looks happy to be in her father's arms
Angelina responded by cutting off her father completely, saying that, as a new mother, she did not think it was healthy to associate with him.
In an interview a year later, she said Voight's comments were damaging because they could have affected her relationship with Maddox.
'They could have decided he's right, she's crazy, let's remove that child from her custody, and that's unforgivable. My father and I don't speak. I don't believe that somebody's family becomes their blood. Because my son's adopted, and families are earned.'
Voight repeatedly tried to regain contact with his daughter, particularly after her mother's death in 2007.
And finally, with Pitt's blessing, she responded late last year.
A friend of the actress, who last month dismissed rumours that her relationship with Pitt was close to collapsing, revealed: 'Angie made the initial contact. Brad has been supportive - a key factor in her reaching out.'
