In 2013, Angelina Jolie Pitt underwent a preventative double mastectomy after discovering she too carried the same BRAC1 gene mutation that her mother possessed. Earlier this year, Jolie-Pitt also underwent a harrowing operation to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes after a blood test indicated early signs of ovarian cancer – a decision that she had been contemplating for a long time due to her family history.
Following her surgery, Angelina penned a deeply personal Op-Ed which highlighted the reasons why she chose to have the operation, and hoped that it would make other women around the world, more aware of the various options they possess.
Speaking in a recent interview with the Daily Telegraph, Jolie-Pitt opened up about her experiences with menopause following the surgery – a topic widely underreported.
Openly discussing an issue that more commonly affects women over the age of 50, she admitted that her experience had been easy to adapt to.
“I actually love being in menopause,” she tells me.
“I haven’t had a terrible reaction to it, so I’m very fortunate. I feel older, and I feel settled being older.
“I feel happy that I’ve grown up. I don’t want to be young again.”
Continuing on, Jolie-Pitt spoke about how, throughout the ordeal, she was lucky enough to feel supported at every turn.
“[Brad] made it very, very clear to me that what he loved and what was a woman to him was somebody who was smart, and capable, and cared about her family, that it’s not about your physical body,” she says.
“So I knew through the surgeries that this wasn’t going to be something that made me feel like less of a woman, because my husband wouldn’t let that happen.”