14 DAY TRIAL // Debbie Martin, Angelina Jolie’s aunt, has lost the battle with breast cancer this weekend. She died in hospital at the age of 61, her husband Ronald Martin confirms for People magazine.
Debbie was the sister of Angelina’s mother Marcheline Bertrand, who also died of breast cancer some years ago, aged 57.
Mrs. Martin was taken to the hospital last Wednesday and passed away on Sunday. Mr. Martin tells the celebrity publication that Angelina wasn’t there when it happened but she’d been by her aunt’s side all along.
“She had seen Martin many times since her diagnosis, and both Jolie and her brother James Haven had been in contact throughout this past week to lend their support,” People reports.
Mrs. Martin’s death comes just a couple of weeks after Jolie’s announcement that she had a double mastectomy after tests revealed she had a faulty gene that made her run a very high risk of developing breast cancer.
“Angelina has been sending her wishes. She and my wife texted each other. It was difficult for my wife, during the last few months, to communicate,” Ronald Martin shares with People.
“Because of the BRCA gene in the maternal side of the family, Angelina did the smartest thing on earth. It takes a lot of courage to have your breasts removed,” he adds.
As we also reported at the time, Jolie went public with her drastic surgical intervention in an open letter that she hoped would help many other women in her situation, in that it would tell them they had options.
She also said then that she was also at a high risk of developing ovarian cancer, which, in turn, has led to reports that she’s getting ready for another surgery.
People too notes that the actress is getting ready to “have her ovaries removed,” though she’s yet to say anything on the record in this sense.