In 2013 Angelina Jolie's breasts were amputated and two years later she had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. The reason for the preventive surgery was fear of cancer. The actress's mother, grandmother and aunt had died of the disease. She has a high individual cancer risk, Jolie made public at that time. Now she has written in a personal essay for the magazine "Time" about women's health and their own experiences.
She feels that the operations have improved her chances of seeing her children grow up and getting to know her grandchildren, writes Jolie. She herself has been living without her mother for more than a decade. "She only met a few of her grandchildren and was often too ill to play with them."
"Scars in the memory"
That's still tough for Jolie. She finds it difficult to view life as God-led when she thinks how much the children would have benefited from the time with her grandmother. Jolie's mother died at age 56 in 2007. Her grandmother died in her forties, the 44-year-old wrote: "I hope my decisions allow me to live a little longer."
She is often asked how she is doing with her physical scars, reports Jolie. "I think our scars remind us of what we have overcome." They are part of what makes everyone unique. "This diversity is one of the most beautiful things in human existence." Often the invisible scars, the "scars in the memory" are much harder to bear.
In addition to medical advances, something else is important for women's health, Jolie is convinced: "Mental and emotional health and physical safety are just as important." Often people focus on a woman's illness, but forget the big picture: "her family situation, her safety, and whether she has stress that affects her health and makes her days much harder."