Angelina Jolie, who recently underwent preventative surgery and had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, told Elle magazine that she believes “by overcoming difficulties, we gain strength and maturity.”
“I do believe in the old saying 'What does not kill you makes you stronger,’” the Unbroken director, 39, said while reflecting on what she learned from the late Louis Zamperini, a World War II war survivor who is the focus of her film. “Our experiences, good and bad, make us who we are.”
“Like many of the greatest human stories, it is about the capacity of regular men and women to rise above adversity,” Brad Pitt’s wife answered when asked about the greatest lesson she learned from Zamperini’s story. “It reminds us never to give up, and that having the spirit to fight is what really matters. It is powerful because it speaks to the potential inside all of us.”
Jolie revealed her cancer scare in a moving op-ed piece for The New York Times last month. "I went through what I imagine thousands of other women have felt," the mom of six, whose doctor found inflammatory markers that could have been a sign of early ovarian cancer, 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."
"The beautiful thing about such moments in life is that there is so much clarity,” she added. “You know what you live for and what matters. It is polarizing, and it is peaceful."
