Angelina Jolie is experiencing menopause at a much earlier age than most women as a major medical procedure forced her into this stage of her life at just 40 years old. But she's completely okay with that.
Two years ago, the actress chose to have a preventive double mastectomy as she carried a gene that put her at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer. Then, this past March, she made the personal decision to also have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.
"I had been planning this for some time. It is a less complex surgery than the mastectomy, but its effects are more severe," she wrote in an op-ed piece for the New York Times at the time. "It puts woman into forced menopause. So I was readying myself physically and emotionally, discussing options with doctors, researching alternative medicine, and mapping my hormones for estrogen or progesterone replacement.... I told myself to stay calm, to be strong, and that I had no reason to think I wouldn't live to see my children grow up and to meet my grandchildren.... It is not easy to make these decisions. But it is possible to take control and tackle head-on any health issue. You can seek advice, learn about the options and make choices that are right for you. Knowledge is power."
In a recent interview with Australia's Daily Telegraph to promote her new film with husband Brad Pitt, "By the Sea," the actor/director/writer opened up about the procedure that forced her into menopause.
"I actually love being in menopause," she said. "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."
As for how her husband is dealing with all of this, she couldn't ask for a better support system. "[He] 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 care about her family, that it's not about your physical body," she continued. "So I know 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."
In the recent issue of People, Jolie explained that she and Pitt appreciate each other for the people they have become. "We both appreciate the beauty in looking at each other and thinking, 'God you're just getting stranger as you're getting older,'" she told the magazine. "Brad and I are fortunate because we see the beauty in each other's changes. I'm more interested in his 50-year-old self than his 40-year-old self. And then you look forward to even more years together."
