Angelina Jolie has undergone surgery to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, after learning she has a 50% risk of suffering from ovarian cancer and showing markers of potentially being in the early stages of the disease.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina - whose mother, grandmother and aunt died of cancer - said: "Last week, I had the procedure: a laparoscopic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. There was a small benign tumor on one ovary, but no signs of cancer in any of the tissues."
The operation comes two years after the 'Maleficent' star underwent a double mastectomy having discovered she carried a gene which meant she had an 87 percent risk of developing breast cancer and a 50 per cent risk of ovarian cancer.
Following her most recent surgery, the 'Unbroken' director has been taking hormone replacements but will never be able to have more children with husband Brad Pitt, who she wed last year.
She continued: "Regardless of the hormone replacements I'm taking, I am now in menopause. I will not be able to have any more children, and I expect some physical changes. But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared."
However, Angelina admitted she decided to undergo the procedure for the sake of her children, Maddox, 13, Pax, 11 and Zahara 10, Shiloh, eight, and six-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.
In an article in the New York Times newspaper titled 'Angelina Jolie Pitt: Diary of a Surgery', she wrote: "It is a less complex surgery than the mastectomy, but its effects are more severe. It puts a woman into forced menopause.
"It is not possible to remove all risk, and the fact is I remain prone to cancer. I will look for natural ways to strengthen my immune system. I feel feminine, and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family. I know my children will never have to say, 'Mom died of ovarian cancer.'"
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