- A blood test can detect if a woman is "highly susceptible" to breast or ovarian cancer
- The actress reveals she carries a gene that increases her risk for cancer
- Her mother died of ovarian cancer in 2007
- Jolie is a U.N. special envoy and won an Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted"
Have you made the decision to have a preventive mastectomy? Send us your thoughts and experiences.
(CNN) -- Actress Angelina Jolie announced in a New York Times op-ed article on Tuesday that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carries a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which sharply increases her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
"My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman," Jolie wrote. "Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy."
Jolie's mother, actress and producer Marcheline Bertrand, died of ovarian cancer in 2007 at the age of 56. Jolie is 37 years old.
In the Times op-ed, titled "My Medical Choice," Jolie said she finished three months of medical procedures at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in California on April 27 that included the mastectomies and reconstruction.
Jolie: 'I've decided to be proactive'
Mammograms save lives
Known for her humanitarian works and action movies, Angelina Jolie is an actress who has been in the spotlight since she was a child. Here's a look at her life.
From left, Jolie's brother Jaime Haven Voight, Jolie, and her father Jon Voight in Los Angeles, January 1980.
Jolie at 16, January 1991.
Jolie and Jon Voight in an undated photo.
Jolie at the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, January 2000. She won for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Girl, Interrupted."
Jolie and her new husband, Billy Bob Thornton, at the premiere of her film "Gone in 60 Seconds" in Los Angeles, June 2000. They divorced in 2003.
Jolie and her son Maddox at the world premiere of "Shark Tale" in September 2004 in Venice, Italy.
Brad Pitt, left, producer Arnon Milchan and Jolie at the premiere of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" in June 2005 in Westwood, California.
Jolie and Pitt at the 61st Cannes International Film Festival, May 2008, in Cannes, southern France.
Jolie meets Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, September 2012. She is the UNHCR special envoy.
Photos: Life of Angelina Jolie
Actress Angelina Jolie, special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, meets with Syrians in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
Jolie arrives on Thursday at a refugee camp in the southeastern Turkish city of Kilis to meet Syrian refugees. Jolie visited the Oncupinar camp, Turkey's largest, where some 12,000 people are staying.
Jolie meets with Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin in Ankara on Thursday. About 80,000 refugees are encamped in southeastern Turkey, near the Syrian border.
Jolie and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, center, arrive on Thursday to meet with the Turkish deputy prime minister in Ankara.
Jolie and Guterres at a refugee camp in Kilis on Thursday.
Jolie speaks during a news conference following a meeting with Guterres, right, and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut on Wednesday.
Jolie briefs the press during her visit to the Za'atri camp near Jordan's border with Syria on Tuesday.
Jolie meets with refugees at the Za'atri refugee camp in Jordan to demonstrate solidarity with Syrian refugees and pay tribute to the Jordanian government for their refugee protection.
Jolie waves to the crowd as she arrived at Al Za'atri refugee camp on Wednesday.
Jolie meets with refugees on the Jordanian border minutes after they crossed from Syria on Tuesday in Amman, Jordan. With shelling clearly audible and visible across the border in Syria, some 200 refugees made the dangerous crossing under cover of night.
Jolie visits Syrian refugees
A mastectomy is an operation that removes all or part of the breast.
Why double mastectomies are up
"I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made," Jolie wrote. "My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent."
BRCA stands for breast cancer susceptibility genes -- a class of genes known as tumor suppressors, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Mutation of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes has been linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. A blood test can determine if a woman is "highly susceptible" to the cancers.
Fellow actress Christina Applegate had a similar procedure in 2008. She also had a mutation of the BRCA1 gene.
My preventive mastectomy: Staying alive for my kids
Oscar-winning film star
Jolie may be best known for title role in the "Laura Croft" series of films, but also won an Academy Award as best supporting actress in "Girl, Interrupted." She also received a Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same role.
Jolie serves as a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and has visited refugee camps around the world.
The actress has been in a relationship with actor Brad Pitt since the mid-2000s, and they are engaged. The couple has three biological and three adopted children.
In telling her story, Jolie acknowledged that surgery might not be the right choice for every woman.
Tough choices in cancer gene fight
"For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options," Jolie wrote. "I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices."
But for Jolie, the decision ultimately came down to her kids.
"I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer," she said.
It's a pain Jolie knows all too well from losing her mother to the disease.
