Surgery made me feel connected to other women

Angelina Jolie-PItt said she felt closer to other women after undergoing two major surgeries removing her breasts, ovaries and fallopian tubes to prevent cancer.

Speaking with Vogue for its November issue, the By The Sea director said she can't wait to turn 50 without a cancer scare. Since revealing both her mother and grandmother died of ovarian cancer, Jolie has remained transparent with the public about her health advocacy.

"It really connected me to other women," Jolie said of her decision to publish op-eds in the New York Times -- her most recent in March -- about her health and surgeries. "I wish my mom had been able to make those choices."

The 40-year-old actress and wife to Brad Pitt said the procedures, which removed most of her female organs, were "brutal." She recounted the hormonal changes she experienced after having her ovaries removed -- a direct result of the surgery is early onset menopause.

"We did joke that I had my Monday edit. Tuesday surgery. Wednesday go into menopause. Thursday come back to edit, a little funky with my steps," she said of completing her upcoming film By The Sea, which she wrote, directed and starred in opposite her husband.

After menopause, though, the mother of six feels "grounded as a woman. I know others do, too. Both of the women in my family, my mother and my grandmother, started dying in their 40s. I'm 40. I can't wait to hit 50 and know I made it."
Source: UPI