FILE – In this Nov. 27, 2014 file photo, director Angelina Jolie poses for photographers during a photo call for her film “Unbroken” in Berlin, Germany. Jolie announced in an op-ed in The New York Times on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, that she had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to prevent cancer. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File) Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie revealed Tuesday that she has undergone more preventive surgery, having her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed in hopes of reducing her risk of cancer.
Writing in The New York Times, the filmmaker and philanthropist said a recent blood test showed a possible early sign of cancer. The news was a blow to the star who had already had a double mastectomy.
“I went through what I imagine thousands of other women have felt,” she 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.”
Jolie, 39, revealed two years ago that she carries a defective breast cancer gene that puts her at high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Her mother died of ovarian cancer, and her maternal grandmother also had ovarian cancer – strong evidence of an inherited, genetic risk that led the actress to have her healthy breasts removed to try to avoid the same fate.
Only a small percentage of women inherit the same faulty gene, known as BRCA1 – the name stands for breast cancer susceptibility gene. These mutations are most commonly found in women of Eastern European Jewish descent, though other groups, including the Norwegian, Dutch and Icelandic, also have slightly higher rates of these mutations.