Jolie, whose mother died from cancer at the age of 56, underwent a preventative double mastectomy in 2013<\/p>\n
\n\tTwelve years after her decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy in 2013,\u00a0Angelina Jolie<\/a>\u00a0is publicly showing her scars from the operation in order to raise awareness about breast health and breast cancer prevention.<\/p>\n \n\tDuring an interview with Time France<\/a>, Jolie was asked why she chose to reveal the results of her procedure. \u201cI share these scars with many women I love,\u201d the Oscar winner told the publication, which shared a preview of its feature \u2014 with the full interview set to release on Dec. 18. \u201cAnd I\u2019m always moved when I see other women share theirs. I wanted to join them, knowing that TIME France would be sharing information about breast health, prevention, and knowledge about breast cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn an op-ed piece for The New York Times<\/a> in 2013, titled \u201cMy Medical Choice,\u201d Jolie shared that she carries a \u201cfaulty\u201d gene, BRCA1, which doctors estimated put her at an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. Jolie \u2014 whose mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand,\u00a0died in 2007 at 56 after being diagnosed with cancer \u2014 completed procedures for the mastectomies on April 27 that year.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy,\u201d wrote Jolie at the time. \u201cBut it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don\u2019t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n \n\tIn March 2015, Jolie said that as a preventive step<\/a> against developing ovarian cancer, she also had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.<\/p>\n