--- description: "Both of the women in my family, my mother and my grandmother, started dying in their 40s" title: Angelina Jolie: 'I Can't Wait to Hit 50 and Know I Made It' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcba3518d5851a4a0/698868c0bc6cfc1d7b3d9f65/gettyimages-462146288.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Angelina Jolie on Her Surgeries: 'I Can't Wait to Hit 50 and Know I Made It'  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 17, 2015 4:45 PM CUT  Angelina Jolie stands during a visit to a camp for displaced Iraqis in Khanke, a few miles from the Turkish border in Iraq's Dohuk province, on Jan. 25, 2015. Angelina Jolie stands during a visit to a camp for displaced Iraqis in Khanke, a few miles from the Turkish border in Iraq's Dohuk province, on Jan. 25, 2015.Safin Hamed—AFP/Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 17, 2015 4:45 PM CUT Given that opportunities for women in Hollywood can become [few and far between as actresses age](http://time.com/4062700/hollywood-gender-gap/ "undefined"), it’s rare to hear from a celebrity who’s excited to grow older. But after what she’s gone through with her health, Angelina Jolie Pitt says [she can’t wait for her next big birthday.](http://www.vogue.com/13357646/angelina-jolie-pitt-november-2015-cover/ "undefined") “Both of the women in my family, my mother and my grandmother started dying in their 40s,” Jolie Pitt, who covers _Vogue_‘s November issue, told the magazine. “I’m 40\. I can’t wait to hit 50 and know I made it.” In the past few years the actress has undergone two preventative surgeries—a double mastectomy and the removal of her fallopian tubes and ovaries—since learning she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation that put her at a high risk for certain cancers. Both Jolie Pitt’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, and her grandmother Lois Bertand died from ovarian cancer. “I wish my mom had been able to make those choices,” she told _Vogue_. She detailed the decision to have her most recent surgery in a New York _Times_ op-ed [earlier this year](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/opinion/angelina-jolie-pitt-diary-of-a-surgery.html "undefined"). “I know my children will never have to say, ‘Mom died of ovarian cancer,’ ” she wrote. \[[_Vogue_](http://www.vogue.com/13357646/angelina-jolie-pitt-november-2015-cover/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4077345/angelina-jolie-pitt-surgeries-turning-50/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4077345/angelina-jolie-pitt-surgeries-turning-50/"},"headline":"Angelina Jolie on Her Surgeries: 'I Can't Wait to Hit 50 and Know I Made It'","datePublished":"2015-10-17T16:45:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:52:45.571Z","description":"\"Both of the women in my family, my mother and my grandmother, started dying in their 40s\"","url":"https://time.com/4077345/angelina-jolie-pitt-surgeries-turning-50/","keywords":["celebrities","Angelina Jolie"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcba3518d5851a4a0/698868c0bc6cfc1d7b3d9f65/gettyimages-462146288.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcba3518d5851a4a0/698868c0bc6cfc1d7b3d9f65/gettyimages-462146288.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"IRAQ-UN-UNREST-DISPLACED","caption":"IRAQ-UN-UNREST-DISPLACED","creditText":"Safin Hamed—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4077345/angelina-jolie-pitt-surgeries-turning-50/","name":"Angelina Jolie on Her Surgeries: 'I Can't Wait to Hit 50 and Know I Made It'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Angelina Jolie has Preventative Double Mastectomy","description":"After finding out she had a gene that raises her risk of developing breast cancer to 87%, Angelina Jolie elected to have a preventative double mastectomy.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/on5Xa2RQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-05-14T14:04:08.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/on5Xa2RQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4077345/angelina-jolie-pitt-surgeries-turning-50/","duration":"PT1M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4077345/angelina-jolie-pitt-surgeries-turning-50/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```