Angelina: I had to survive for my children

Discovering she carries the faulty gene that took her beloved mum so early, the star made a heroic medical choice now praised the world over. Here, she and her loved ones open up about that decision.

In her own brutally honest words, the most famous actress in the world broke the news that for much of this year she has been undergoing surgery to remove and rebuild her breasts. Haunted by her mother Marcheline’s premature death from ovarian cancer in 2007, Angelina underwent medical tests which showed a strong possibility she could inherit the same aggressive disease.

For the mother of six, the decision to have a double mastectomy was not an easy one. “But it is one I am very happy that I made,” she revealed in an emotional article she wrote for The New York Times. “My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 per cent to under 5 per cent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me.”

And the gruelling preventive procedures may not stop there. It’s likely that Angelina has been advised to undergo a complete oophorectomy to remove her ovaries, along with a hysterectomy. But according to her close friend and personal photographer John Vandiveer, speaking exclusively to Woman’s Day, Angelina, 37, and her fiance Brad Pitt, 49, are first considering adding to their brood of six.

“There is no-one braver than Angie. She’s seeking top medical advice to see if it’s doable before the final surgery,” reveals John. “If not, there are the options of surrogacy and, of course, adoption is always an option in play.”