Angelina Jolie is looking back on her personal decision to undergo a double mastectomy and ovary removal.
“I did choose to have that [surgery] because I lost my mother and my grandmother very young,” Jolie, 50, told Hello! in a Tuesday, October 7, profile, referring to her relatives’ respective cancer battles. “I have the BRCA gene, so I chose to have a double mastectomy a decade ago.”
The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes help produce proteins to help repair an individual’s DNA, according to the NIH’s National Cancer Institute. Mutations of the genes are often linked to an increased risk of breast, ovarian and other types of cancer.
“I’ve also had my ovaries removed, because that’s what took my mother. Those are my choices,” Jolie told Hello! on Tuesday. “I don’t say everybody should do it that way, but it’s important to have the choice. I don’t regret it.”
Angelina Jolie Honors Her Late Mother With Call for Cancer Screenings
Jolie’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died in 2007 at the age of 56 after battling both breast and ovarian cancer. Bertrand’s death subsequently inspired Jolie to undergo her preventive surgeries.
“Once I knew that this was my reality. I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much [as] I could,” Jolie wrote in a 2013 essay for The New York Times. “I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work, but I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience.”
She continued, “I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer. It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that’s it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was.”
Angelina Jolie Through the Years: From Movie Vixen to Mom of 6
In Tuesday’s interview, Jolie, who shares six children with ex-husband Brad Pitt, further likened her personal history of cancer to her role in the upcoming movie Couture. Jolie portrays a filmmaker named Maxine who was diagnosed with breast cancer. As she grapples with her health scare and treatment options, she also seduces her colleague (Louis Garrel).
“I think there’s much to say about this, and it is uniting for not just women but for anybody who’s gone through something, or someone who feels vulnerable and alone,” Jolie told Hello! “There’s something very particular to women’s cancers, because it obviously affects us, and how we feel as women.”
She added, “When I read the script, I had an idea of where the film was going to go — and I certainly didn’t think it would end the way this film ends. I didn’t think … that the desire would still be a part of the film, and I think that it’s really important to understand that and to continue to live and be desirous and feel as a woman, and for those who love those women, to remind them that maybe that’s something that you can do.”
