Pierce Brosnan has suffered an eerily familiar tragic loss.
The actor's daughter Charlotte died Friday at 41 after battling ovarian cancer, the same disease that claimed her mother, Cassandra Harris, in 1991.
"On June 28 at 2 p.m. my darling daughter Charlotte Emily passed on to eternal life, having succumbed to ovarian cancer," Brosnan said. "She was surrounded by her husband Alex, children Isabella and Lucas and brothers Christopher and Sean."
He continued: "Charlotte fought her cancer with grace and humanity, courage and dignity. 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 close at hand soon. We thank everyone for their heartfelt condolences."
Charlotte, who died in London, was one of Harris' two children from a previous marriage whom Brosnan adopted after their father passed away in 1986. He and Harris had another child together, son Sean, and he has two sons, Dylan and Paris, with wife Keely Shaye Smith.
Brosnan, who plays a widower dating a woman battling cancer in his latest film, Love Is All You Need, talked to Britain's Daily Mail in March about his role and Harris' death—a loss that he acknowledged he is still grieving to this day.
"I went through it all, very publicly," Brosnan told the paper. "Such things draw a mark across your heart and it's always a part of your life. To watch someone you love have their life eaten away—bit by bit, by this insidious and horrid disease— becomes an indelible part of your psyche. It certainly did for me and, of course, when I received this script, the challenge of playing this part was not lost on me."
There is no indication in the story that he revealed what his family was again going through at the time.
"I've sat in rooms with doctors and awaited the outcome of examinations, for results to come back," Brosnan said. "I've opened letters with bad news in them. I know what it's like, I really do."
"Cancer is a very sad thing but you can always take something from every experience. This film is proof of that," the erstwhile James Bond continued. "I've always been a positive thinker. I suppose Keely is my North Star, always looking out for me. And I guess that makes me more thankful and more up for it, up for taking on whatever life throws at me and whatever parts my career now puts my way."
