William Hague praises 'brave' Angelina Jolie after she reveals double mastectomy Jolie, whose mother died aged 56 after battling cancer for nearly a decade, said in the New York Times piece that she was speaking out in the hope that other women could benefit from her experience. She said her "loving and supportive" partner, the actor Brad Pitt, had been by her side while she underwent three months of operations earlier this year to remove breast tissue and replace it with implants. The Oscar-winning actress, who has six children with Pitt, three of them adopted, made the difficult decision to have surgery after doctors told her that her faulty gene, known as BRCA1, meant she had an 87 per cent risk of developing breast cancer and a 50 per cent risk of ovarian cancer. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (Rex) She wrote: "Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex. Jolie, whose movies include Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Mr and Mrs Smith and The Changeling, said waking up after the major operation to remove the breast tissue felt like a "scene out of a science-fiction film." However, she said the final results of surgery to reconstruct breasts with implants could be "beautiful." She completed her medical procedures on April 27. In her role as a UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie recently met Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon (EPA) She said: "I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that's it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was. And they know that I love them and will do anything to be with them as long as I can. On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity. Jolie urged other women, in particular those with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek medical advice so they could make their own informed choice about what steps to take.