Angelina Jolie is urging women to stay on top of their health in honor of World Ovarian Cancer Day.
On Monday, the actress and humanitarian, 47, shared an old photo of her and her mom on Instagram, reflecting on her mother’s decade-long battle with breast and ovarian cancer before her death.
“Tomorrow would have been my mother’s 73rd birthday. She passed away 15 years ago, after a long struggle with breast and ovarian cancer,” she wrote. “In June, I will be a month away from the age when she was diagnosed. I have had preventive surgeries to try to lessen chances but I continue to have check ups.”
“My mom loved Hendrix. And would always sign her letters Kiss the Sky. It took on new meaning after she passed,” Jolie continued. “Sending my love to those who have also lost loved ones and strength to those who are fighting at this very moment for their lives and the lives of those they love.”
“And to other women, please take the time to look after yourself and go for your mammograms and blood tests or ultrasounds, particularly if you have a family history of cancer #worldovariancancerday,” she ended.
Back in 2019, Jolie opened up in an emotional essay for Time about her preventative procedures after the tragedy of losing her mother to cancer.
“I simply feel I made choices to improve my odds of being here to see my children grow into adults, and of meeting my grandchildren,” Jolie wrote of her decision to get a preventive double mastectomy and later to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes. “My hope is to give as many years as I can to their lives, and to be here for them.”
The Maleficent actress is a mother to her six kids with ex-husband Brad Pitt: Maddox, 21, Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 16, and 14-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.
“I have lived over a decade now without a mom. She met only a few of her grandchildren and was often too sick to play with them,” Jolie continued at the time. “It’s hard now for me to consider anything in this life divinely guided when I think of how much their lives would have benefited from time with her and the protection of her love and grace. My mother fought the disease for a decade and made it into her 50s. My grandmother died in her 40s. I’m hoping my choices allow me to live a bit longer.”
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Jolie’s mother died of breast and ovarian cancer in 2007 at age 56. She also lost her aunt to the disease in 2013, the same year Jolie decided to get her double mastectomy — a decision she came to after genetic tests showed she carried a mutated BRCA1 gene, predisposing her to the possibilities of developing breast cancer.
Two years later, an ovarian cancer scare led the Academy Award-winning actress to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes as well.
“People also ask how I feel about the physical scars I carry,” Jolie wrote. “I think our scars remind us of what we have overcome. They are part of what makes each of us unique. That diversity is one of the things that is most beautiful about human existence.”
She added, however, that “the hardest scars to bear are often invisible, the scars in the mind.”
