Recommendations of the Editorial team
Twelve years after her decision to undergo a preventive double mastectomy in 2013, Angelina Jolie publicly shows off her scars from the surgery to raise awareness about breast health and breast cancer prevention.
During an interview with “Time France” Jolie was asked why she decided to show the results of her procedure.
“I share these scars with a lot of women I love,” the Oscar winner told the magazine, which published a preview of her article – the full interview is due to appear on December 18th. “And I’m always moved when I see other women showing their scars. I wanted to join them because I knew Time France would publish information about breast health, prevention and knowledge about breast cancer.”
Danger due to defective gene
In a 2013 op-ed for The New York Times titled “My Medical Choice,” Jolie shared that she carries a “defective” gene, BRCA1, which doctors estimate gives her an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer.
Jolie, whose mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, died of cancer in 2007 at age 56, underwent a mastectomy on April 27 of that year.
“I wanted to write this article to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not an easy one,” Jolie wrote at the time. “But I’m very glad I met her. My chances of getting breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to less than 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t have to worry about losing me to breast cancer.”
Ovarian cancer prevention and other interventions
In March 2015, Jolie revealed that she also had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as a preventative measure against ovarian cancer.
Jolie stars in Alice Winocour’s new film “Couture,” in which she plays an American filmmaker who learns she has breast cancer in the middle of Paris Fashion Week.
“My mother was sick for years. One evening, when she was asked about her chemotherapy, she became very emotional and told me that she would have preferred to talk about something else; she felt that the illness was her entire identity,” Jolie told Time France. “I love this film because it tells a story that goes far beyond the journey of a sick person: it shows life. It was this luminous perspective that touched me and made me want to play this role.”