Woman Realized She’d Never Take Another Selfie with Her Mom, So She Asked 300 Funeral Guests to Join Her for One Last Photo (Exclusive)
Woman Realized She’d Never Take Another Selfie with Her Mom, So She Asked 300 Funeral Guests to Join Her for One Last Photo (Exclusive)
Ashley VegaWed, August 5, 2026 at 3:45 PM UTC
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Jovielle Ortiz; Jovielle Ortiz and her mom, KathleenCredit: Jovielle Ortiz -
California woman Jovielle Ortiz asked hundreds of mourners to join her for one final selfie with her late mother during her funeral
Ortiz tells PEOPLE the spontaneous photo became her last selfie with her mom, Kathleen, who died in February 2026
Although some viewers questioned the moment, Ortiz says the photo perfectly reflected her mother’s bold personality and remains one of her most treasured memories
There was one thing Jovielle Ortiz couldn’t bear to leave her mother’s funeral without: one last photo together. As she looked out at nearly 300 family members and friends gathered to celebrate Kathleen’s life, Ortiz realized she was about to lose the chance to ever take another selfie with her mom.
“I desperately wanted to preserve every moment with my mom I had left,” Ortiz, 34, of California, tells PEOPLE. “This would be the last time that all 300 of these people would ever gather in one place, and this was my mommy’s final celebration.”
Without overthinking it, Ortiz walked to the podium and made an unexpected request. In a TikTok that has since resonated with viewers, she told the crowd, “Anyway, I’m gonna take a picture if you guys wanna smile or be silly. Um, this is gonna be my last picture with my mom.”
Someone answered with a cheerful “Say cheese!” before hundreds of mourners smiled toward the camera. Looking back, Ortiz says the spontaneous moment felt natural because taking selfies together had always been part of her relationship with her mom.
“I had so many selfies with my mom, and that would be our last,” she says. “I looked out in awe of how many people loved her, and I just wanted a picture so bad. I just got up and walked to the podium and asked everyone to join me.”
To Ortiz, that final photo captured much more than a goodbye. It also became a snapshot of everyone who loved Kathleen, a woman whose larger-than-life personality left an impression on nearly everyone she met.
“My mom Kathleen was such a cool vibrant person,” Ortiz says. “She had a huge personality.” Known to friends as Kat, she affectionately called her four daughters her “kittens” and loved giving advice, gossiping with them and surprising them with thoughtful gifts.
One of Ortiz’s favorite memories came when she, her mother and her sisters all got matching grape tattoos together while she was still a teenager. “I’ll cherish my grape tattoo for the rest of my life,” she says.
Before asking everyone to gather for the selfie, Ortiz admits she worried people might think the request was out of place. Instead, the room immediately embraced the moment, reminding her that the people gathered weren’t just there to honor Kathleen, but to support the family she loved most.
Kathleen and her childrenCredit: Jovielle Ortiz
“I knew it was a strange thing to ask at a funeral so I was really nervous,” Ortiz says. “But I knew everyone in that room loved me too, and they know I’m outrageous just like my mom. I felt her presence in that moment. I know she would love that.”
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It wasn’t until she watched the video afterward that Ortiz noticed every smiling face looking back at her. “Their reaction made me so happy,” she says. “It’s such a perfect last picture with her.”
Some viewers later questioned whether a selfie belonged at a funeral, but Ortiz says anyone who knew her mother understood exactly why it felt right. Kathleen had always encouraged her daughters to live boldly, often reminding them that “it’s better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.”
“So I decided to just be unapologetic like my mom, and go take the last photo I’d ever have with her,” Ortiz says. “I really didn’t expect so many people to see it, but the support was so nice.”
Although she describes the day itself as a blur, Ortiz says time has changed how she remembers it. Rather than dwelling only on the heartbreak of losing her mom in February, she now sees a celebration that reflected Kathleen’s spirit from beginning to end.
“It wasn’t the typical funeral,” she says. “We had laughs, jokes, cries, a selfie and lots of love. We did it Kathleen style.”
Jovielle Ortiz at her mom’s funeralCredit: Jovielle Ortiz
Sharing the deeply personal moment on TikTok unexpectedly opened another chapter in her grieving process. As strangers filled the comments with photos of the last moments they shared with their own mothers, Ortiz realized she wasn’t carrying her loss alone.
“I have felt very comforted at how many people shared their last photos with their mothers in the comments,” she says. “And I felt a shared pain with those that shared that their mothers passed recently too. The internet is cool in that way.”
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Ortiz says she began posting more on TikTok after her mother’s death because talking about her grief out loud felt difficult. She never imagined one final selfie would become a source of comfort, not only for herself, but for countless others navigating the same kind of loss.
“I started posting on TikTok more after my mom died because it was hard for me to talk about my feelings,” she says. “I never expected that response. So cool.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
