The cruel coincidence that took the lives of both Pierce Brosnan’s wife and daughter

5 December 2024, 16:10 | Updated: 5 December 2024, 16:12

He's been happily married for over two decades.

In 2001, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan married the love of his life, Keely Shaye Smith, after seven years of dating.

He was instantly mesmerised by the American journalist, who remain happily in love and share two children: Dylan and Paris.

It's difficult to think of Pierce being in love with anybody else, given the sheer affection and dedication he's publicly shown to Keely.

But Brosnan was in fact married before, to actress Cassandra Harris, who he met after graduating from drama school in London.

• Why Pierce Brosnan and wife Keely's 20-year marriage is so beautiful
• Pierce Brosnan pays beautiful tribute to wife Keely and recalls their first meeting as she turns 60
• Halle Berry says Pierce Brosnan "restored my faith in men" after filming James Bond together
• James Bond icon Pierce Brosnan unrecognisable as elderly man in latest movie role

They married in 1980 and had one son together, Sean, with Pierce choosing to adopt her children Charlotte and Chris from her previous marriage, becoming their parent in the process.

Tragically, Cassandra lost her battle to ovarian cancer in 1991, leaving Pierce a widow, a loss he struggled to cope with.

Tragedy would strike twice, however, in a cruel twist of fate that would see his daughter Charlotte also die of the same disease.

Pierce first met Australian actress Cassandra Harris soon after leaving drama school, through David Harris, the nephew of late acting legend and "hell-raiser" Richard Harris.

The pair swiftly began dating, with Pierce absolutely smitten, which led them to buy a house in Wimbledon together.

"What a beautiful-looking woman," Brosnan later recalled about Cassandra. "I never for an instant thought she was someone I'd spend seventeen years of my life with.

"I didn't think of wooing her, or attempting to woo her; I just wanted to enjoy her beauty and who she was."

They married in December 1980, and after Harris appeared in 007 entry For Your Eyes Only in 1981, it led the couple to relocate to California where Brosnan got his big break being cast as the titular character in the series Remington Steele.

In 1983 they had their first son together, Sean, who would later become an actor himself. Life was good.

But several years later whilst filming The Deceivers in 1987, Cassandra became incredibly ill. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and eventually died in 1991 after battling the disease for four years.

Years later, Pierce opened up about the experience of being with Cassandra as they lay together in bed near the end of her life.

"I was in a helpless state of … confusion and anger. She was comforting me. She said, 'Please, darling, don't worry. It's just a life winding down.' What can you do?

• Pierce Brosnan poses with son Paris for beautiful father and son modelling campaign
• Pierce Brosnan's son Paris gives rare insight into his father's home life in new interview

"Up until then there was always something, some new treatment. But then the options got fewer and fewer. At the end, Cassie didn't want to be resuscitated [by] any machines."

Understandably, Pierce was devastated, not knowing how to continue after suffering such an unimaginable loss.

In 1997 he reflected: "When your partner gets cancer, then life changes. Your timetable and reference for your normal routines and the way you view life, all this changes.

"Because you're dealing with death. You're dealing with the possibility of death and dying.

"And it was that way through the chemotherapy, through the first-look operation, the second look, the third look, the fourth look, the fifth look.

"Cassie was very positive about life. I mean, she had the most amazing energy and outlook on life. It was and is a terrible loss, and I see it reflected, from time to time, in my children."

• Pierce Brosnan facts: James Bond actor's age, wife, children and movies revealed
• Pierce Brosnan gives perfect retort to man who offered his wife weight loss surgery

It was Cassandra who believed Pierce would make the perfect James Bond and encouraged him to pursue the role, yet didn't live to see it come to fruition when he first appeared as 007 in 1995's Goldeneye.

As we know, Pierce moved past the grief of the experience and learned to love again after finding Keely.

But years later, the disease came back to haunt the Brosnan family, with Charlotte tragically losing her life to the same type of cancer that took her mother.

It was Pierce who made a statement to the public announcing the death of his adopted daughter, one that dredged up all the pain from losing his first wife as well as living the horror of losing Charlotte.

"Charlotte fought her cancer with grace and humanity, courage and dignity. Our hearts are heavy with the loss of our beautiful dear girl," Brosnan said in 2013 just days after her death at the age of just 41.

"We pray for her and that the cure for this wretched disease will be close at hand soon."

Pierce had the love, support, and strength from his wife Keely, as well as his sons Paris and Dylan to help him, Sean and Chris through the awful moment that had to endure.

The family remembered Charlotte as a "custodian of laughter" which they nicknamed. Her friend Nancy Ellison told People magazine that she was "a bubbly, almost kind of goofy, gorgeous girl."

"Pierce wrote to me after she died that the most intense memory that he had was of always being able to make Charlotte laugh. He wanted to be able to make her laugh again."