Angelina Jolie has decided to publicly show her mastectomy scars for the first time.
The Maria star, 50, candidly revealed why she’s chosen to show the results of her preventive double mastectomy from over a decade ago in a new interview with TIME France.
‘I share these scars with many women I love,’ she stated. ‘And I’m always moved when I see other women share theirs.’
‘I wanted to join them, knowing that TIME France would be sharing information about breast health, prevention, and knowledge about breast cancer.’
For the cover photo, the Oscar winner posed in a low-cut black sweater, subtly covering one breast with her hand.
Photos of Jolie’s double mastectomy scars will accompany the full interview, which will be published in the new issue of TIME France on December 18.
In May 2013, Jolie had both breasts surgically removed, and then underwent a reconstructive surgery, after discovering she carries a genetic mutation that dramatically increases the chance of being diagnosed with potentially fatal breast cancer.
The mutation in her BRCA1 gene, left the mother-of-six with an estimated 87 per cent risk of breast cancer and 50 per cent risk of ovarian cancer.
In March 2015, she also had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as a preventive measure against developing ovarian cancer.
The Unbroken director lost her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, to cancer at age 56 in 2007. Her grandmother and aunt also passed away from cancer.
In her new interview, Jolie called for making BRCA screenings available to every woman.
‘Every woman should always be able to determine her own healthcare journey and have the information she needs to make informed choices: genetic testing and screening should be accessible and affordable for women with clear risk factors or a significant family history.’
‘When I shared my experience in 2013, it was to encourage informed choices,’ she added.
‘Healthcare decisions must be personal, and women must have the information and support they need to make those choices. Access to screening and care should not depend on financial resources or where someone lives.’
In her upcoming film Couture — directed by Alice Winocour — Jolie plays Maxine Walker, an American filmmaker diagnosed with breast cancer.
Jolie said the film, which is set to be released in France in February 2026, is a ‘very personal story.’
She added that she’s ‘always admired Alice’s work,’ and her ‘unique’ approach to illness, while praising her for handling Couture’s sensitive subjects ‘with such delicacy.’
‘Too often, films about women’s struggles — especially cancer — talk about endings and sadness, rarely about life,’ Jolie said.
‘Hardships, illnesses, and pain are part of our existence, but what matters is how we face them,’ she added.
‘My mother was ill for years. One evening, when she was being asked about her chemotherapy, she became very emotional and told me she would have preferred to talk about something else; she felt as though the illness was becoming her entire identity,’ the star continued.
‘I love this film because it tells a story that goes far beyond the journey of a sick person: it shows life. It was this luminous perspective that touched me and made me want to play this role.’
In 2015, Jolie shared about her decision to remove her ovaries due to a second health scare.
The Maleficent star published a lengthy opinion piece, titled Angelina Jolie Pitt: Diary Of A Surgery in the New York Times explaining her decision.
According to Jolie, she had been planning to undergo surgery to remove her ovaries and Fallopian tubes for a while at the time, but a call from her doctor made the procedure more urgent.
A blood test detected potential anomalies linked to the protein CA-125, which is used to monitor ovarian cancer, Jolie’s doctor told her, urging the actress to see her surgeon, who also had treated her late mother.
‘I went through what I imagine thousands of other women have felt,’ she wrote.
‘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.’
She noted that she chose to keep her uterus because there is no history of uterine cancer in her family.
Jolie has previously spoken of the void in her life that her mother’s death had left – a pain that led her to taking the brave decision to have a double mastectomy, so her children may not have to experience the pain she did.
The actress’s aunt, Debbie Martin, then died of breast cancer at the age of 61 less than two weeks after Jolie revealed she had undergone her mastectomy.
To counteract the loss of her ovaries, Jolie turned to hormone replacement therapy and had a device inserted in her womb.
‘Regardless of the hormone replacements I’m taking, I am now in menopause,’ she wrote. ‘I will not be able to have any more children, and I expect some physical changes. But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared.’
‘I know my children will never have to say, “Mom died of ovarian cancer,”‘ she added.
Jolie shares three biological children with ex-husband Brad Pitt, 61: Shiloh, 19, and 17-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. They also share three adopted children: Maddox, 24, Zahara, 20, and Pax.
Pitt and Jolie’s romance began in the early 2000s, and they tied the knot in 2014 at their château in the South of France.
But by 2016, their union was over in dramatic fashion, with a now-infamous private plane incident involving an alleged physical altercation.
The bitter divorce was not finalized until late 2024, and his fractured relationship with their six children remains unresolved.
