Actress Angelina Jolie revealed in an op-ed piece posted in the New York Times on Tuesday that she had undergone a preventative double mastectomy.
Jolie, 37, had a genetic test which indicated she was carrying the “faulty” BRCA1 gene and had about an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer herself.
She decided to undergo the procedure as a preventive measure for her kids after experiencing the loss of her mother at a young age due to breast cancer.
“My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56,” Jolie writes. “She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.”
She adds that, “They have asked if the same could happen to me.”
Jolie decided to reveal her procedure in the article titled “My Medical Choice” with hopes of helping other women.
To read the Jolie column, click here.
