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| Angelina Jolie |
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie revealed
Tuesday she has undergone a double mastectomy to reduce her high risk of
breast cancer, encouraging other women to address threats to their
health.
The ultra-glamorous Jolie — whose mother Marcheline Bertrand died of
ovarian cancer at the age of 56 — said she had managed to keep the issue
quiet for months and continue working.
Three months of grueling medical procedures including breast
reconstruction ended in late April. Jolie, whose father is Oscar-winning
actor Jon Voight, said her chances of developing breast cancer are now
just five percent.
“Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and
to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a
preventive double mastectomy,” the 37-year-old actress wrote in The New
York Times.
“I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher
than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex,” she
wrote, explaining that she carries a “faulty” gene, BRCA1, that put her
at higher risk.
Her doctors estimated she had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and
a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, and Jolie said she went ahead with
the procedures so her six children would not lose her at a young age.
“I can tell my children they don’t need to fear they will lose me to
breast cancer,” said Jolie, whose partner is Brad Pitt. The A-list
couple, known in the tabloids as “Brangelina,” have three adopted and
three biological children.
Jolie described a several-stage surgical process, the main one of
which is an operation that can take up to eight hours as the breast
tissue is removed and temporary fillers are put in place.
“You wake up with drain tubes and expanders in your breasts. It does
feel like a scene out of a science fiction film. But days after surgery
you can be back to a normal life,” she wrote.
The final phase of the process involved reconstruction of the breasts
with implants, she said, adding: “There have been many advances in this
procedure in the last few years and the results can be beautiful.”
Jolie thanked Pitt for his support, saying the couple had “managed to
find moments to laugh together,” and said she now only has only small
scars that her children can see without alarm.
“They know that I love them and will do anything to be with them as
long as I can,” wrote the actress, who took home the best supporting
actress Oscar in 2000 for “Girl, Interrupted.”
“On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel
empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my
femininity.”
Jolie, respected for her humanitarian work overseas, said she was
speaking out to help other women understand their options, and also to
urge authorities to help women in lower-income countries to get the
health care they need.
“I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can
benefit from my experience. Cancer is still a word that strikes fear
into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness,” she
wrote.
“It has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access
gene testing and lifesaving preventive treatment, whatever their means
and background, wherever they live.”
Jolie, one of the world’s highest-paid performers, said the cost of
getting tested for BRCA1 and another faulty gene, called BRCA2, is more
than $3,000 in the United States and that this “remains an obstacle for
many women”.
“Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us
are the ones we can take on and take control of,” Jolie wrote.
Jolie quickly received plaudits for going public with her story. CNN
anchor Zoraida Sambolin revealed on-air that she would have a double
mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, saying Jolie “gives
me strength.”
Grammy-winning singer Sheryl Crow, herself a breast cancer survivor,
tweeted: “I commend Angelina Jolie for her courage and thoughtfulness in
sharing her story today regarding her mastectomy. So brave!”
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who has recently worked with
Jolie in her role as a UN special envoy for refugee issues to highlight
the problem of sexual violence in conflict, said she was a “brave
lady.”
Hague and Jolie visited Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo
in March, and successfully joined forces at a meeting of G8 foreign
ministers last month to win a pledge to act against the use of rape as a
weapon of war.
“She gave no sign that she was undergoing such treatment. She’s a
very brave lady not only to carry on with her work so well during such
treatment, also to write about it now and talk about it,” Hague told Sky
News television.
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