Yesterday, actress Angelina Jolie came forward with a confession that startled many people: earlier this year, she had chosen to undergo a double mastectomy to remove her breasts, and is planning on having another surgery to remove her ovaries. Having lost her mother from cancer, Jolie wrote in a New York Times op-ed that she had "a [faulty] gene, BRCA1". The gene elevated her risk of cancer; doctors said that she had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. With the surgery, her risk is now down below 5 percent. Such tests have become increasingly common, and women who have mutated BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes may choose to have preventative mastectomies, as Jolie has done, or to choose careful monitoring of their organs. However, though the actress may arguably be the most high-profile person to come forward with, she is not the only celebrity to undergo such a surgery due to the discovery of a faulty BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.
Sharon Osbourne
Comedian Wanda Sykes announced in 2011 that she had undergone a double mastectomy. Though she did not say whether she had mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, she did say that the cancer runs in her mother's side of the family. She also said that doctors had found a ductal carcinoma in situ, which is considered by some to be an early-stage cancer.