Angelina Jolie recently underwent a double mastectomy because doctors told her she had a nearly 90 percent chance of contracting breast cancer, the star revealed in a first-hand account published today.
Jolie, 37, wrote in a New York Times op-ed that she underwent the preventative procedures in February and finished on April 27, after doctors told her a faulty gene gave her an 87 percent chance of breast cancer and a 50 percent chance of ovarian cancer.
“The decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer,” Jolie writes in the piece.
Jolie opened her account lamenting the early death of her mother, who died at the age of 56, and her own steadfast assurances to her own children that the same wouldn’t happen to her. But Jolie said she carries a “faulty” gene, BRCA1, that dramatically increases her risks of developing both kinds of cancer.
Jolie said she hopes her story inspires more women to take steps to reduce their breast cancer risk, especially if they have a family history of the disease. She also thanked her husband Brad Pitt, who stood by her side during the three procedures.
“Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has,” she wrote.