Actress Victoria Smurfit says her late mother appeared in mirror on wedding day

Irish Daily Mirror

5 days ago

Actress Victoria Smurfit has opened up about seeing the face of her late mother in the mirror on her wedding day.
Victoria married Steve Jacobs in the Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath, UK in 2023, almost two years before Victoria's mother, Caroline, passed away in January 2022.
But while the Dubliner was busy getting her hair and make-up done on the morning of her wedding day, one of her bridesmaids noticed her mother's face in the mirror.
Holding back tears, Victoria told how she still speaks to her mother every day, and recalled her mother appearing in the mirror on her wedding day.
Speaking on the podcast, These Three Things, she recalled the story to host Deborah Thomas, saying: "My mum wore this necklace almost every day of her life and when she went on, she was wearing it. And I was lucky enough to be with her when she passed and she was in my arms when she went. Victoria Smurfit arriving on the red carpet at the Mansion House for the IFTA Film & Drama Awards (Image: Michael Chester)
"And so I don't wear it very often. I wore it when I got married about 18 months ago, and it's a weird story…. So when I decided for my wedding day, I would wear this, and she had diamond studs, and I thought, well, 'I'll wear mum's earrings and her necklace, so she's with me'.
"She was with me anyway. But I was having my hair done, so I was in a mirror, and I'm jibber-jabbering to my bridesmaids behind me, all my best mates, and one of them, Joanne Mitchell Brunt, she goes, 'Oh my God, look. Look in the mirror.'
"And I'd literally just clipped my necklace on and put the earrings in, and I looked up and in the mirror was not my face, it was my mum's face.
"She took a snap, and I've got the picture. I didn't want to share it, because it's just too… and it was so bonkers. And it was bonkers not just because she saw it first, because she knew my mum very well… but for a few seconds, my face in the mirror was my mum's." Victoria Smurfit
She said her mother and father championed her in her career as an actress.
"She did champion me. She was very keen that myself and my brother found out what we wanted to do.
"She was very clear, as was my dad, that you go into the acting business, and it's the business of rejection that you have to be prepared for that.
"She was very proud."
Victoria also opened up about how she was almost cast as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider before Angelina Jolie took the part.
But she said producers kept Victoria "waiting in the wings" and dyed her hair dark in case Jolie didn't take on the role. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Image: REX/Shutterstock)
"I remember auditioning for Tomb Raider way back in the day, 1,001 years ago, and they wanted Angelina Jolie, obviously, who got the part.
"But they had myself and another actress in the wings, where they dyed my hair dark and my eyebrows dark, and they had me all ready, and, you know, as backup, just in case, because I was quite kind of strong and fit and kick ass at the time, and but obviously Angelina took it."
Victoria also praised renowned Irish director Ros Hubbard for "changing the direction" of her life.
"She changed my life in an instant by asking me to audition for a film called The Run of the Country with Albert Finney.
"And they were looking for an Irish girl. I was in drama school playing everything except Irish and everything except girls. It was my first ever casting. She was so kind, so fun.
"She changed my life forever and she was just so supportive. She was just brilliant. So she changed my life 1,000 per cent and if I ever win a big prize, she's the first person I'm thanking," she added.
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