Angelina Jolie has a new movie coming out, called Couture, in which she stars as a filmmaker who is faced with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The story will be heartbreakingly familiar to many people who have experienced a cancer diagnosis themselves, or have supported a loved one who has. And one person who can relate to the topic is Angelina herself, whose mother, Marcheline Bertrand, tragically died in 2007 at 56 years old due to complications from ovarian and breast cancer. Angelina’s maternal grandmother died from ovarian cancer, too.
As you may be aware, Angelina carries a “faulty” BRCA1 gene mutation, which means her lifetime risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer is much higher than that of the average person. Angelina shared this information publicly in an op-ed she wrote for the New York Times in 2013, saying that doctors gave her an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. In the same essay, she revealed that she’d undergone a preventative double mastectomy, and in 2015, she shared that she’d also had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, too.
Angelina has always been open about her medical experiences, using her story to empower others and raise awareness. Now, while promoting Couture, she’s talked about the emotions and big conversations that the film’s subject matter has brought up for her.
“It’s very sobering in realizing – like the [doctor] says in the film — we’re all going to die, we’re all not here forever,” she said in a new interview with Variety, in which she reflected on her own mortality. “I think having lost my mom young and never met my grandmother, I have never lived feeling like I’m going to have a long life. I’m already past the age when my mother was diagnosed. I may struggle from almost feeling like I can’t live in the moment because I feel like I have to push and rush because time’s running out.”
Notably, Angelina said that her concerns about life expectancy have influenced how she’s raised her six children, Maddox, 24; Pax, 22; Zahara, 21; Shiloh, 20; and 17-year-old twins, Knox and Vivienne, whom she shares with her ex-husband, Brad Pitt.
“I raise my kids almost preparing them for my absence and not as much preparing to be a grandmother,” she told the outlet. “That’s what happens when you consider death as a reality.”
In another recent interview with Hello Mag, Angelina said that Couture has helped her have important conversations with her daughters about breast cancer and the impact it can have on our lives.
“It’s very personal for me… I’ve spoken to them, of course, a bit about it, but even telling them that it’s coming out and they were talking to me about what it’s about — it got us into the conversation about the gene and maybe if they have it and how medicine’s changing or how we live life or all the many things that could happen and not to be afraid,” she said. “And all of us go through something in life.”
“All of us are being challenged in one way or another, and all of us have choices to make of how we approach that,” she continued. “And how we have to learn to lean on each other and know that we’re not the only ones going through something.”
It’s hard to tackle, but Angelina’s approach is so important. This is your sign to keep on top of your health check-ups and have the tough conversations!
Couture is in theaters June 26.