Oscar-winning US actress Angelina Jolie has said she underwent a preventive double mastectomy. She chose the surgery after learning she carried a gene that makes it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.
Angelina Jolie made the announcement in the form of an op-ed she authored for Tuesday's New York Times under the headline, 'My Medical Choice.'
After genetic testing she learned she carries the 'faulty' BRCA1 gene and had an 87 percent chance of getting breast cancer herself.
Jolie, 37, said that she made the choice to get the procedure done with thoughts of her six children after watching her own mother die of breast cancer at the age of 56.
She said she wanted to share her story publicly with hope of helping other women.
'I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made,' she wrote. 'My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.'
Between early February and late April she completed the surgical procedures to remove both breasts and also completed a reconstruction with implants.
'I do not feel any less of a woman,' Jolie writes. 'I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.'
Many women have.