How Angelina Jolie Kept Double Mastectomy Secret

Actress traveled the world despite being in the middle of health battle

By Lily Harrison May 14, 2013 4:33 PMTags
Angelina JolieCourtesy: G-Star/Matt Keeble/Splash News

Angelina Jolie is one of the most watched celebrities in the world. So how did the heroic actress and mother of six manage to keep her preventative double mastectomy a secret for almost four months?

After beginning the process on Feb. 2, it seemed that Jolie kept things as normal as possible which included public outings with her children and trips around the world for her humanitarian efforts.

Less than two weeks after beginning the initial steps, Brangelina took their 4-year-old twins, Vivienne and Knox, to Los Angeles' Natural History Museum on Valentine's Day.

A source told E! News that the couple seemed like "the coolest people" as they explored the newly installed Dinosaur Hall.

Another two weeks later, Jolie went in for the major removal surgery—an operation that "can take eight hours."

Shockingly, less than a month after that, Jolie visited the Republic of Congo with U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague to visit with a rescue camp for women and raise awareness of war-zone rape.

The actress looked to be in good spirits, with no signs of being in the middle of a sometimes painful and arduous health journey of her own.

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Over Easter weekend, mama Jolie was spotted with sons Maddox and Knox grabbing art supplies in Santa Barbara, Calif.

But a mere week later, Jolie was jet-setting again—this time at the World Summit in New York on April 4 and a few days later at the G8 Summit in London with Hague on April 11.

Nine weeks after beginning the mastectomy process, Jolie has her final reconstruction surgery with breast implants. After initially being diagnosed with an 87 percent chance of contracting breast cancer, doctors tell her she has less than a 5 percent risk.

Balancing six children, traveling around the world and maintaining her longstanding relationship with fiancé Brad Pitt, it appears that Jolie did her best to keep things as normal as possible throughout the process.