Husband “Brad Pitt” flew back from France to be with the actress who took the decision two years after undergoing a preventative double mastectomy due to her family history of cancer.
“Angelina Jolie” has described the difficult decision to have her ovaries removed after a cancer scare.
The Hollywood star, who had a preventative double mastectomy two years ago, underwent the operation to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes in recent days and her husband, Brad Pitt, flew back from France to be her by her side. The operation will put her into forced menopause.
Miss Jolie, 39, carries a mutation in the BRCA1 gene that gave her an 87 per cent risk of breast cancer and a 50 per cent risk of ovarian cancer. Her mother, grandmother and aunt all died from cancer.
In an article for the New York Times headlined “Diary of a Surgery” the actress said she had been planning preventative surgery to remove her ovaries for a while but thought she had time in hand.
Then, two weeks ago, she received a call from her doctor saying there were markers that could be a sign of early cancer.
Miss Jolie wrote: “I told myself to stay calm, to be strong, and that I had no reason to think I wouldn’t live to see my children grow up and to meet my grandchildren.
I called my husband in France, who was on a plane within hours. The beautiful thing about such moments in life is that there is so much clarity. You know what you live for and what matters. It is polarising, and it is peaceful.
That same day I went to see the surgeon, who had treated my mother. I last saw her the day my mother passed away, and she teared up when she saw me: ‘You look just like her.’ I broke down.
The actress and UN envoy described how she needed to wait five days for results, which passed in a haze while she did things such as watching her children’s football game.
When her scan came back it was clear but she chose not to wait any longer to have her ovaries removed.
Miss Jolie said she decided to share her experience to make good on a promise to follow up with information for other women at risk of cancer, having previously written about her double mastectomy.
She wanted to encourage women to seek advice about health issues, adding: Knowledge is power.
She wrote: I did not do this solely because I carry the BRCA1 gene mutation, and I want other women to hear this. A positive BRCA test does not mean a leap to surgery.
The most important thing is to learn about the options and choose what is right for you personally. In my case, the Eastern and Western doctors I met agreed that surgery to remove my tubes and ovaries was the best option.
The actress gave details of the procedure she underwent which was called a laparoscopic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy.
She wrote: I am now in menopause. I will not be able to have any more children, and I expect some physical changes.
But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared. I know my children will never have to say, ‘Mom died of ovarian cancer’.
“Miss Jolie has six children with Pitt”, three of them adopted. Her mother died aged 56 after fighting cancer for a decade.