It is never easy to lose a family member that was influential in your life. For actor Nicolas Cage and his relatives, they are currently experiencing this sentiment as the passing of his mother, Joy Vogelsang, occurred last May.
Christopher Coppola, Vogelsang’s son, disclosed the difficult news of her passing on Facebook. “My mama died at 10:33pm 5/26,” the director said. “I was with her all day but left for a couple hours and missed her passing by a couple hours so wasn’t able to hold her hand to give her my love and affection before her journey to peace land.”
Coppola also shared information regarding her mental health. “She had a very hard life with mental health issues. In all of that painful emotional chaos she still managed to teach me something super important. My mama lioness told me, her middle son cub, that I was affectionate,” he wrote, explaining how he learned what “‘affection’ really means” from his mother.
“It’s not love thy neighbor. It’s smaller yet bigger,” he continued, “Shake one’s hand with tenderness and meaning. Don’t let your mind [wander] while you hug someone.”
She was also an extraordinarily creative person. She was a successful dancer and choreographer. Her creativity became inspiration for some of her children pursuing acting and directing and having an appreciation for the arts.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Cage made a statement regarding his mother’s mental illness earlier in his career. “She was plagued with mental illness for most of my childhood,” Cage said. “She was institutionalized for years and went through shock treatments. She would go into these states that lasted for years. She went through these episodes of poetry – I don’t know what else to call it. She would say the most amazing things, beautiful but scary. I’m sure they had an impact on me.”
Her creativity inspired Cage throughout his career.
“The strangest thing about it is that, even when things got really bizarre, I was able to detach and look at it with a scientific curiosity. I’m sure it had some impact on me, though. I do consider her the driving force in my creativity,” he said, also stating that she “never wanted to hurt anybody.”
It’s been a few decades since Cage has released those statements regarding his mother. He should be applauded for coming forward and speaking the truth during a time where mental illness was more stigmatized than it is today. His assertions were printed in the 90s, a time where mental illness received very little attention from people in the medical and health communities, as well as being a subject that only a few people were brave enough to discuss. Cage sharing the mental health information during that time should be viewed as an act of courage.
The most impressive part of Cage’s statements is that he decided to tell the truth, rather than not share any information regarding mental health. When the brave discloses mental health information no matter how society will handle the news, Cage and others like him are inspiring other people to come forward today and express that they either have a mental illness or they know someone who does and they want them to get the help they need. Courageous people coming forward can have a positive impact people’s lives.