It is not her beauty that is so provocative! Beauty is the most common commodity in Hollywood. This exceptional American actress has a head and a heart that refuse to conform. It is a very charming head indeed, the head of a woman adored and divine. It is a very tender and loving heart that beats in her chest, filled with compassion and benevolence for the needy. Despite all the controversy she has stirred, Angelina Jolie can only continue to dance to a different drummer. She is, was and always will be her own woman. Savagely slated in the press for her non-conformist lifestyle, she disregards both critical and eulogistic articles. She has battled her own demons and faced her dark side. Now she lives life to the fullest exploring and exploiting all the she finds fulfilling in this world. Angelina has stunned the world once again by announcing that she underwent a preventative double-mastectomy as well as a hysterectomy and oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries), after discovering she was BRCA positive. Though not a common procedure, Jolie's choice was hailed by the medical community, the Hollywood community, all cancer victims or family members who have watched a loved one die of the disease. BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 are human genes that are tumour suppressors. Mutation of these genes, have been linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. Both men and women can inherit a deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation as well as other cancers. The name stands for Breast Cancer susceptibility gene 1 and Breast Cancer susceptibility gene 2 respectively. BRCA2 describes male breast, prostate or pancreatic cancer. Through a blood test, 37 year-old Angelina, whose mother and grandmother died of breast cancer and whose aunt is presently battling the disease, discovered that she was carrying the BRCA1 cancer gene. That meant that she was at an 87% risk of developing breast cancer and at a 50% chance of ovarian cancer. Choosing this radical procedure proved the extent of Jolie's courage and intelligence, to announce it publically is the epitome of pluck and power. The mother of 6, 3 adopted and 3 naturally born, with ages ranging from 11 to 4, Jolie keenly felt the responsibility of motherhood and the need of her children for a strong and healthy mother. By her action, she urges all those who are at a high risk or a family history to be tested and screened regularly and to be aware of the choices available. Life is a gift, should we not all strive to preserve it? We salute such courage in a woman, young and beautiful, let alone a Hollywood celebrity. It is commendable that she used her celebrity status in order to alert others of choices that can save their lives, even if they are as drastic as removing such major organs. Angelina Jolie has given us a million reasons to admire her, but never as much as now. Courage is not new to Angelina! As a young girl she was free-spirited and bold; as a young woman her unconstrained and unconventional behavior was eye-popping and eye-brow raising; now with the glow of maturity and motherhood her sense and sensibility are admirable and undeniable. Widely acclaimed as an actress, she has received 5 Golden Globe awards, 2 Screen Actors' Guild awards and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her quirky performance in “Girl Interrupted”, (1999). She brings electricity and believability to roles that have a reality she can understand. She brings depth to the shallowest roles and stands out among the brightest stars in Hollywood heaven. It is not all just beauty and talent. Angelina is simply a phenomenal woman, overwhelming and stupefying. She is the only A-list actress who has no publicist, and has more than l5 tattoos all over her body and keeps getting more. One of her early tattoos is the Arabic word “Al Azima”, meaning ‘strength and will'. As for publicity she provides enough every time she steps out of her door and when she does, it is most likely she is heading for some strange place where people are suffering. Angelina is deeply connected to the poor, the hungry, the downtrodden. She does her utmost to alleviate suffering in remote, forgotten areas around the world. She joined the UNHCR, (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) to learn more about conditions in neglected areas. She has trotted from Cambodia to Afghanistan, Thailand, Colombia, Ecuador, Kosovo, Kenya, Angola, Tanzania, Sri-Lanka, North Caucasus in Russia, Chad, Jordan and the Sudan. She was the first recipient of the newly created “Citizen of the World Association” and the Global Humanitarian Award in 2005. Not content to be an enchanting, glamorous, gifted actress, she made her first directorial debut in 2011, in “The Land of Blood and Honey”—a love story between a Serbian soldier and a Bosnian prisoner. Her second project is in the making. Described as “the current gold standard of beauty” among women seeking cosmetic surgery, Jolie is more interested in how the Pitt-Jolie Charity Foundation is doing. Her partner Brad Pitt is equally dashing, generous and compassionate. Together they make a powerful celebrity couple, dubbed by the press as “Brangelina”, and plan to be married soon, now that the threat of cancer has been removed. Angel to some, monster to others, she continues to stun, to shine leaving us agape and in awe of this superwoman.
“The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)
