In a shocking announcement Angelina Jolie revealed early this morning that she underwent a recent double mastectomy as a preventive measure against cancer.
In an op-ed written for today’s New York Times, the courageous, 37-year-old Oscar-winning beauty said she decided to take the measure after learning she had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer.
“I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could,” Jolie wrote.
“I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.”
She began the process at the beginning of February, and it was completed on April 27
She chose to reveal it now, she explained, so that “other women can benefit from my experience.”
She also said her longtime beau, Brad Pitt, backed her decision all the way.
“I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive,” she wrote.
“So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition.”
Jolie’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died of the disease in 2007 at the age of 56, and the actress explained that she inherited a “faulty gene,” BRCA1, which puts her at a greatly higher risk of cancer.
In the op-ed, Jolie says of the procedure, “It does feel like a scene out of a science-fiction film. But days after surgery you can be back to a normal life.”
After the surgery, Jolie underwent “reconstruction” of her breasts using implants. She marveled at the results.
“There have been many advances in this procedure in the last few years, and the results can be beautiful,” she wrote.
As a result of the procedure, Jolie’s chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to less than 5.
Jolie, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for 1999’s “Girl, Interrupted,” met Pitt while filming “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” in 2005.
He was with her throughout the procedure in California, and, “We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family,” she wrote in the Times
The couple has six kids, and she wrote:
“I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.”