Angelina Jolie revealing her secret

Angelina with her mother

Actress Angelina Jolie, fiancee of actor Brad Pitt, wrote a column for The New York Times on this Tuesday where she showed her courage and mental strength that is expected to inspire thousands of women across the world. She revealed that she had had a double mastectomy at Pink Lotus Breast Center so that she could reduce the chances of getting breast cancer-a life threatening disease that is supposed to be the cause of death of more than 458,000 women according to the World Health Organisation, mainly in the low and middle income group countries.

Angelina Jolie’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died at the age of 56 due to breast cancer and Jolie’s children never got the chance to see their “Mommy’s Mommy”. As this disease is inherited, Angelina Jolie too, is not an exception. She carries a faulty gene BRCA1 that increases the rate of breast cancer and in Angelina Jolie’s case, it’s around 87%.

After accepting this harsh reality, Angelina Jolie decided to face it and reduce the chances of the disease her mother suffered from and lost her life to. She completed the whole process of mastectomy on 27^th April, after a three months tough battle. This has been kept private by Angelina Jolie. Angelina Jolie also accepted that the decision to have mastectomy done was not easy but it was her close friends and Brad Pitt who were always there by her side and gave her mental support during the operation. Angelina Jolie also said that there is nothing that can make her feel uncomfortable after the operation, which has left behind only a few scars. As this was a personal note, Angelina Jolie admitted the fact that after doing it, she does not feel less of a woman.