Jennifer Love Hewitt says the media knew her late mother Patricia had died before she did.

The 45-year-old actress was in Monaco at the 52nd Monte Carlo Television Festival when her mother Patricia Hewitt died on June 12, 2012 at the age of 67 after a battle with cancer.

“The press knew before I did that my mother had died,” the Waco, Texas, native said while promoting her new book Inheriting Magic and the film it inspired, The Holiday Junkie, at Zibby’s Bookshop in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter. .

The actress, who has three children with husband Brian Hallisay, 46 – daughter Autumn, 10, son Atticus, nine, and son Aidan, three – said “it was so strange for her” how things unfolded amid the family tragedy.

“The flight time when I came back was so long,” the 9-1-1 actress said. “It seemed like a ten and a half hour flight, so by the time I arrived everyone knew.”

Hewitt said discovering the life-changing news itself followed a problematic pattern she had encountered before.

Jennifer Love Hewitt, 45, says the media knew her late mother Patricia had died before she did. Pictured in March in LA

Hewitt’s mother Patricia Hewitt died on June 12, 2012 at the age of 67 after a battle with cancer

“Later I thought, but everyone always knew everything about my life before,” Hewitt said. “Even in divorces, people would say, ‘He already cheated on you.’ Really, people? Like, why didn’t you tell me?’

Patricia, who worked as a speech therapist, had brought Jennifer from Texas to Los Angeles in 1989 to work in show business; Jennifer began appearing on the show Kids Incorporated that year and later broke out with roles on the TV show Party of Five and the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Hewitt told THR that her new book marks the first time she has spoken in detail about her late parent and the rich legacy she left behind: “I had honestly never said that much about my mother after she passed away because I couldn’t find the words.” .

“I just didn’t know what to say, and this felt like the right time to talk about her and say, ‘This is what she left behind.’

Hewitt said her late mother had a ritual of holding her hand as she left to work on her acting projects.

‘I didn’t ask her until I was probably in my late 20s, I was like, “Why are we holding hands? What is this about?’” she said. ‘Because I didn’t really understand it. And she said, ‘I want you to take my love and support with you to work throughout the day. I want you to feel it and know that I am with you.’

‘And I miss it. It’s what I miss the most. I wish I had her hand.’

Hewitt shared a photo of herself sitting with her late mother in June 2022 to mark “10 years since the loss” of her mother and “best friend.”

Hewitt directed and stars in the upcoming Lifetime film The Holiday Junkie, which was partially inspired by her late mother

Hewitt has paid tribute to her late mother Patricia through multiple posts on her Instagram account, including this throwback shot she posted in 2022

“Someone told me after I lost my mother that the first year would feel impossible, the years that followed would build strength within me, and the ten-year mark would be another open wound,” Hewitt said. ‘Because it would be insane to have been without her for so long. They were right.’

Hewitt said the anniversary felt “very raw” and brought back painful memories.

“I’ll never forget not being able to say goodbye,” Hewitt said. “I’ll never forget walking into her house that day, hoping she would somehow get around the corner, and waking up the day after praying it was all a bad dream.

“The countless times I accidentally called her when something good or bad happened because I forgot she couldn’t answer.”

Hewitt said that while she is “proud of the way (she) deals with grief,” she wishes “it wasn’t so painful.”

Hewitt’s book Inheriting Magic is scheduled for December 10; it partially inspired her upcoming Lifetime film The Holiday Junkie, which premieres December 14.