The actress said that when she found out that she was at risk of cancer she chose to have her breasts removed.
American actress Angelina Jolie revealed on Tuesday that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing cancer.
In a column in the New York Times, Jolie explained that she underwent the operation after it was established that she had a defective gene that increased her risk of developing ovarian or breast cancer.
The 37-year-old actress, one of the best-known faces in Hollywood and Brad Pitt's partner, explained that because of the presence of this gene, known as BRCA1, doctors considered that she had an 87% risk of developing cancer. breast and 50% of suffering from ovarian cancer.
After the operation, her risk of breast cancer will be reduced. Jolie's mother died of cancer at age 56, the actress recalled in the text.
Angelina Jolie and her mother in a 2001 image (Reuters)
"When I found out I was in this situation I chose to be proactive to minimize the risk as much as possible. That's why I decided to have a preventative double mastectomy," she explained.
The actress underwent surgery first on her breasts "because the risk of breast cancer was higher than that of the ovaries, an operation that is more complex."
Jolie, who has had three children with Brad Pitt and has adopted three others, said that after the operation she felt calmer. "I can tell my children that now they don't have to fear the possibility of losing their mother to breast cancer."
Three years after the death of their mother, Angelina and her brother James paid tribute to her in a glass titled "For Mom with Love", a selection of images about her life and with home recordings that the brothers kept of their trip to Hawaii in 1981.
