What happened to Pierce Brosnan’s first wife? What we know about late Cassandra Harris amid actor’s reconciliation with son

Pierce Brosnan was recently spotted with his sons, Christopher Brosnan and Dylan, stepping out of a restaurant in London's Notting Hill neighbourhood on Wednesday, November 5.

Pierce previously revealed to Playboy in 2005 that he had "cut Christopher off" following his alleged drug abuse.

"You never completely cut them off. But I have cut Christopher off. I had to say, ‘Go. Get busy living, or get busy dying.’ He has my prayers."

He added:

"Christopher is still very lost. Shockingly so. I know where he is, but he’s having a hard life. I can only have strong faith and believe he will recover. He has tested everybody in this family but none more so than himself. He knows how to get out. He doesn’t want to."

Pierce shares his sons, Dylan and Paris, with his current wife, Keely Shaye, to whom he has been married since 2001.

Pierce Brosnan had an outing in London with his estranged son Christopher, 52, years after candidly sharing they disconnected. https://t.co/daCYlxSz3I pic.twitter.com/YfKGWDKURh

— E! News (@enews) November 11, 2025

He was previously married to Cassandra Harris, who had two kids from a previous marriage, Charlotte and Christopher. The couple met in the late '70s and married in December 1980. They later welcomed their only son, Sean, three years later.

After Christopher's father, Dermot Harris, passed away in 1986, Brosnan adopted him and his sister Charlotte.

Tragedy struck when Cassandra Harris, who starred in the 1981 James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, passed away from ovarian cancer on December 28, 1991, at the age of 43. Almost two decades later, Charlotte died from the same disease.

"There is an incredible cruelty in it all, losing a person you shared everything with. This is the first time in my life I've ever experienced bereavement, and it's overwhelming," Pierce told People Magazine in 1992.

"From day 1, we really had a fight on our hands": Pierce Brosnan recalls Cassandra Harris' battle with ovarian cancer.

Speaking about Cassandra Harris's battle with ovarian cancer while promoting his show The Son in 2017, Pierce Brosnan recalled that they learned of Cassandra Harris's aggressive ovarian cancer shortly after returning to London from India in 1987.

"From day 1, we really had a fight on our hands," Brosnan said.

He recalled that it wasn't just a "shadow or a tumour", it had "invaded" Cassandra's body. However, Cassandra, he explained, "took her destiny in her own hands with incredible courage and grace."

"As frightened as you are, you have to second-guess. I was the quiet party, but I was always there for her," he added.

Cassie, who underwent eight surgeries and a year and a half of chemo in two years, later moved to Malibu with her family. Recalling her last days, Bronson said:

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

He further reflected on the late actress's lasting impact on his life:

"She has made me the man I am, the actor I am, the father I am. She's forever embedded in every fiber of my being. She's there with me every day. I was so blessed to have met someone like that."

At the time of her passing in 2013, Charlotte had been battling the same disease that claimed her mother's life. Just weeks before her passing, she married her longtime boyfriend. Together they shared two children, daughter Isabella and son Lucas.

"Charlotte fought her cancer with grace and humanity, courage and dignity. Our hearts are heavy with the loss of our beautiful dear girl," Bronson told People Magazine.

Pierce Brosnan tied the knot with Keely Shaye Smith in 2001.