Angelina Jolie Embraces Menopause – ‘I Feel More Womanly Than Ever,’ She Says While Speaking About ‘By The Sea’

Angelina Jolie isn’t shying away from menopause. Instead the actress confirmed she has embraced its early onset.

Following multiple surgeries that involved removal of her ovaries and fallopian tubes, Angelina Jolie experienced an early onset of menopause. But instead of hiding it, she has wholeheartedly embraced it and added that she might feel old, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t feeling womanly anymore. In a single sentence, she eviscerated the taboo associated with menopause saying,

“I actually love being in menopause.”

During an interview with Australia’s Daily Telegraph, she added that her menopause hasn’t been troublesome. However, the onset of menopause has had its psychological effects on her. Nonetheless, Jolie added that she has taken in her stride and moreover, she loves this new side of her,

“I haven’t had a terrible reaction to it, so I’m very fortunate. I feel older, and I feel settled being older. I feel happy that I’ve grown up. I don’t want to be young again. I wouldn’t want to be in my 20s or 30s again. I’m someone who didn’t think I would live very long. I’ve been worried about death and cancer and life. I think I’ve lived very much for the day. Now I’ve settled into my life with my children and Brad.”

Though Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, whom the media lovingly dubbed “Brangelina,” have strictly kept their personal life, well, personal, Jolie has been quite open about her health choices. In 2013, Jolie chose to undergo a voluntary double mastectomy. Thereafter she opted for preventative surgeries, choosing chose to have her ovaries and her fallopian tubes removed because she had the rather rare BRCA1 gene, which exponentially multiple her chances of contracting cancer. During both the times, she has been vocal about the procedures and their need.

Angelina and Brad on why they’re nothing like their warring on-screen counterparts: https://t.co/nvq269p4VD pic.twitter.com/sEBcwcXQEt

— British Vogue (@BritishVogue) November 2, 2015

Having lost both her grandmother, Lois Bertrand, and her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, to long battles with both breast and ovarian cancer, Jolie explained that it was the right decision to take, reported People Magazine. The faulty gene has affected about eight other members of Jolie’s family.

Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie open up about marriage and health in exclusive interview: https://t.co/MvLXhVhjq6 pic.twitter.com/r2fSfgjPsK

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 2, 2015

Jolie clarified that the surgeries didn’t have the presumed detrimental effect on her life. Instead, she had claimed she felt more womanly than ever, in one of her articles:

“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.'”

Perhaps her confidence originates from what Brad Pitt’s concept of an ideal woman is. Jolie shared that for her husband, the outward appearance wasn’t as important as the abilities of a female. She revealed that her husband, 51-year-old Pitt had clarified that he strongly desired a woman who was “smart, and capable, and cared about her family.” It was never about Jolie’s physical body that attracted Pitt to her. Hence, she confidently chose to undergo the seemingly life-altering surgeries because she knew her husband wouldn’t let her feel any less of a woman.

Brad Pitt had revealed earlier that his wife as a director was quite “decisive, incredibly intuitive, knife sharp and, might I say, sexy at her post.”

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt star together in the just-released movie By The Sea, which was written as well as directed by Jolie. Set in France during the mid-1970s, the movie revolves around a dysfunctional couple, Vanessa and Roland. While Vanessa is a former dancer, Roland is a washed-up, alcoholic writer. The movie signifies the couple’s first on-screen collaboration in 10 years after first finding love while filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005, reported The Daily Mail.

Considering the charity work Angelina Jolie does in her spare time, embracing menopause could be considered as an efficient and elegant way to confidently get on with her life.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison / Getty Images]