New York, May 15 : Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie announced on Tuesday that she had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely that she would get breast cancer.
The 37-year-old made the announcement in the form of an op-ed she authored for the New York Times newspaper, under the headline: "My Medical Choice."
Jolie wrote that between early February and late April she completed three months of surgical procedures to remove both breasts.
She said she made her decision with thoughts of her six children after watching her own mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, die young from cancer.
"My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56," Jolie wrote.
"She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was."
Jolie said that after genetic testing she learned she carried the "faulty" BRCA1 gene and had an 87 percent chance of getting the disease herself.
Cancer specialists said that while Jolie's breast cancer risk was extremely high, it was also very rare.
"The thing that's important is that only a very small percentage of breast cancers occur in women that have the gene.
So, five percent of breast cancers in the United States occur in women who have the genetic mutation, the BRCA1 or the BRCA2 gene," said Dr. Rachel Brem, Director of the Breast Imaging and Intervention Centre at George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC.
Jolie said she had kept the process private, but wrote about it to help other women and encourage testing.
Many women have chosen preventive mastectomy since genetic screening for breast cancer was developed, but the move and public announcement is unprecedented from a star so young and widely known as Jolie.
Brem cautioned the procedure may not be the right choice for all women who test positive for the gene.
"The important thing to do is to have frank discussions, to think about it," said Brem.
Genetic counselling is usually recommended to discuss the gene test and the results if a woman has a family history of breast or ovarian cancer.
The gene test can be done by drawing blood.Jolie briefly addressed the effects of the surgery on the idealised sexuality and iconic womanhood that have fuelled her fame.
"I do not feel any less of a woman," Jolie said."I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."
Jolie also wrote that Brad Pitt, her partner of eight years, was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Southern California for "every minute of the surgeries."
Brem said many of the women she had worked with who had undertaken preventive mastectomies said they felt like they had had a burden lifted.
"The biology of these breast cancers in women who have the gene are different, are more aggressive, and therefore, yes, it's a very difficult decision," said Brem.
"At the end, many people feel that they have been freed from an extraordinary burden that will follow them their whole lives."
Brem said recent advances in reconstructive breast surgery allowed for a very natural looking result.
"When we see her on the red carpet, we have every reason to think that she'll still be wearing the same kind of beautiful, revealing outfits that she often has because her reconstruction should be very beautiful," said Brem.
Jolie has appeared in dozens of films including 2010's "The Tourist" and "Salt," the "Tomb Raider" films and 1999's "Girl, Interrupted," for which she won an Oscar.
But she has appeared more often in the news in recent years for her relationship with Pitt and her charitable work with refugees as a United Nations ambassador.
