Actress Angelina Jolie has said that she plans to have additional cancer-preventing surgery less than a year after the actress underwent a preventative double mastectomy.
“There’s still another surgery to have, which I haven’t yet,” Jolie told Entertainment Weekly. “I’ll, you know, I’ll get advice from all these wonderful people who I’ve been talking to, to get through that next stage.”
Jolie underwent her double mastectomy in May 2013 after learning that she was at a heightened genetic risk for breast cancer. Jolie’s mother died of breast cancer aged 56, and upon learning Jolie was a carrier of the “faulty” BRCA1 gene, she opted for the procedure. The actress detailed her experience in a New York Times op-ed titled “My Medical Choice,” in which she wrote that her doctors put her chance of developing breast cancer at 87%, and ovarian cancer at 50%.
“Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could,” Jolie wrote in the Times. “I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. 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.”
Ovary removal is common among women with Jolie’s particular heightened genetic cancer risk. The actress has not confirmed what her upcoming surgical procedure will involve.
Jolie, 38, is engaged to actor Brad Pitt. The pair have six children – three adopted and three biological.
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