Watch Queen Latifah and Her Late Mom in Emotional PSA: 'My Family Support Keeps Me Strong'

Queen Latifah and her late mother Rita Owens starred in an emotional PSA about heart failure before her death.

The actress, 48, and her mom partnered with the American Heart Association to raise awareness about heart failure in 2015.

“My mom is stronger than anyone I’ve ever known,” Latifah said as Owens looked on. “Growing up, when life got hard, her strength helped pull us through. Even after her heart failure diagnosis, she remains stronger than ever.”

“My family support keeps me strong,” Owens said in the PSA.

Owens died on Wednesday after struggling with a heart condition for more than a decade, Latifah announced in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE. She was 69.

“It is with a heavy heart that I share the news my mother, Rita Owens passed away today,” Latifah said. “Anyone that has ever met her knows what a bright light she was on this earth. She was gentle, but strong, sweet, but sassy, worldy but pragmatic, a woman of great faith and certainly the love of my life.”

“She had struggled with a heart condition for many years and her battle is now over,” Latifah added. “I am heartbroken but know she is at peace. Thank you for your kindness, support and respect for our privacy at this time. Much Love, Dana Owens (aka Queen Latif?ah), forever Rita Owens’ daughter.”

In September, the Girls Trip actress opened up about her mother’s years-long battle.

“I’ve just learned how much you can love a person and just how strong my mother is,” she said of her mother during a sitdown with PEOPLE Now. “I’ve come to respect her in ways you can’t even imagine.”

Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart is unable to pump blood efficiently enough to meet the body’s needs. Owens told PEOPLE in 2015 that proper medication, a defibrillator implanted in her chest to avert a heart attack and a diet low in salt and fats but heavy on vegetables enabled her to live with the condition.