Laura Smith-Spark, Author at The Archive Site for The Baltimore Times

(CNN) — Two years after she underwent a double mastectomy to cut her cancer risk, actress and U.N. envoy Angelina Jolie has had surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes for the same reason, she wrote in The New York Times on Tuesday.

Jolie, 39, carries a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which sharply increases her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Her mother was diagnosed with the latter at age 49 and died seven years later.

In her New York Times op-ed Tuesday, Jolie said she had been planning the latest preventive surgery for some time.

But a blood test that revealed worrying markers accelerated the process, the Hollywood star said. Her doctor told her he wanted her to see a surgeon immediately to check her ovaries.

“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.”

Her husband, Oscar-winning actor Brad Pitt, was on a plane back from France within hours, she wrote.

“The beautiful thing about such moments in life is that there is so much clarity. You know what you live for and what matters. It is polarizing, and it is peaceful,” she wrote.

Further tests came back negative for tumors, Jolie wrote. “There was still a chance of early stage cancer, but that was minor compared with a full-blown tumor. To my relief, I still had the option of removing my ovaries and fallopian tubes and I chose to do it.”

Jolie stresses that not all women with the same BRCA1 gene mutation should feel they must automatically leap to surgery, but she urges them to explore their options and take control.

Her family history — she lost her grandmother and aunt to cancer, as well as her mother — combined with the gene mutation meant that in her case, the removal of her ovaries and fallopian tubes seemed the best course.

While not as complex as the mastectomy surgery, its effects are more severe, Jolie said, since it puts a woman into forced menopause. She must now take estrogen and progesterone in order to keep a hormonal balance.

She will not be able to have more children and foresees physical changes, she said. But Jolie acknowledged she was lucky because she already has a family, unlike some women who face this difficult decision.

“It is not possible to remove all risk, and the fact is I remain prone to cancer,” she said. “I will look for natural ways to strengthen my immune system. I feel feminine, and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family. I know my children will never have to say, ‘Mom died of ovarian cancer.'”

The actress has been in a relationship with Pitt since the mid-2000s. They have three biological and three adopted children.

She wrote two years ago that her preventive double mastectomy had cut her risk of developing breast cancer from 87% to 5%.

Jolie serves as a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and has visited refugee camps around the world. She is also a vocal global campaigner on the issue of sexual violence against women.

The-CNN-Wire

Oprah Winfrey says she’s sorry for the media storm that erupted after she recounted that she was the victim of racism in a posh Swiss boutique.

Winfrey’s revelation last week on Entertainment Tonight led to the upscale store being identified as Trois Pommes in Zurich and its staff was immediately caught up in a frenzy of media interest.

The manager of the boutique, Trudie Goetz, subsequently told CNN the entire incident was a “200 percent misunderstanding” and had nothing to do with racism.

Speaking at the Los Angeles premiere of Lee Daniels’ “The Butler,” Monday, Winfrey said the situation had been blown out of proportion.

“I think that incident in Switzerland was just an incident in Switzerland. I’m really sorry that it got blown up,” she said. “I purposely did not mention the name of the store. I’m sorry that I said it was Switzerland.

“I was just referencing it as an example of being in a place where people don’t expect that you would be able to be there.”

‘No apology needed’

On Entertainment Tonight, Winfrey recounted how she had asked to see a $38,000 handbag, but the shop assistant refused to show it to her because it was “too expensive.”

Winfrey explained Monday that for her, racism is not usually overt.

“Nobody is going to come and call me the N-word to my face, unless they are a thug on Twitter or Facebook,” she said.

“It shows up for me differently, it shows up (when) I’m in a store and the person doesn’t obviously know that I carry the ‘black card’ and so they make an assessment based upon the way I look and who I am.” It appears Winfrey is referring to the exclusive American Express Centurion card, which is issued by invitation only to an exclusive group of the rich and famous.

Winfrey said was dressed in a Donna Karan skirt and top but was not wearing obvious symbols of wealth such as diamond jewelry or designer shoes.

“You should be able to go into a store looking like whatever you look like and say ‘I would like to see this’ — and that didn’t happen,” she said.

But while she stood by it as an example, Winfrey cautioned against reading too much into the specific incident.

And she rejected any idea that Switzerland should be asked to apologize to her.

“It’s not an indictment against the country or even that store,” she said. “It was just, you know, one person who didn’t want to offer me the opportunity to see the bag. So no apology necessary from the country, from Switzerland!”

In her latest film, Winfrey plays the wife of the main character — portrayed by Forest Whitaker — who serves as a butler in the White House.

Winfrey’s claim ‘absurd,’ clerk says

Meanwhile, the store clerk concerned told Swiss daily newspaper Blick, in an interview printed Sunday, that she felt “terrible” and had not been able to sleep for days.

The woman, who gave her name as Adriana N. because she said she didn’t want to be hassled on the street, said, “I feel as if I’m in the middle of a whirlwind. Totally powerless, as if everything’s been taken from me. It’s a horror, what’s happened.”

Adriana, from Italy, said she had asked her manager if she should resign, but that Goetz had stood by her.

Asked to give her version of the incident, Adriana said Winfrey had come into the store and was looking at bags when her eye was caught by a $38,000 crocodile skin number by Tom Ford.

She told the newspaper, “I explained that this was exactly the same bag as the one I had in my hand. Only much more expensive. I would happily show her other bags, I said.”

Adriana said Winfrey’s claim that she told the media mogul the bag was too expensive for her was absolutely not true.

“That’s absurd. I would never say such a thing to a customer. Absolutely not. Good manners and politeness are everything in this shop,” she said.

The store assistant added that she hadn’t recognized Winfrey but that it would not have made a difference in any case. “We make a huge effort to treat everyone with the same respect and in the same way,” she said.

CNN’s Mark Thompson contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire

Author: Laura Smith-Spark

Angelina Jolie has ovaries, fallopian tubes removed to cut cancer risk

Oprah Winfrey: I’m sorry Switzerland racism incident got blown up