Beauty queen Allyn Rose has been very open about her decision to undergo a precautionary double mastectomy, and tonight she gave a very candid and honest interview with E! News cohost Giuliana Rancic.
The 24-year-old set to compete at the famed Miss America beauty pageant representing Washington, D.C., next year, recently explained that she made the hard decision to have both breasts removed at such a young age because of a genetic mutation that predisposes female members of her family to get breast cancer early in their lives.
And now she's hoping that this chapter of her life with help other women who are faced with a similar situation.
"If I were to win the pageant, I would have this incredible platform to speak to my generation to be able to advocate all over the country," she tells E! News, and added, "So, if I don't win, I'll probably have the surgery probably in 2013 maybe at some point in the Fall. And if I were to win, after my year of service as Miss America"
Rose admitted that she's scared of the procedure, mainly because "the aspect that my body is going to be so different. I was always raised in the family to be confident in your body and to love yourself, and I've worked so hard, I've been an athlete my entire life. But, you know, I've done pageantry and it's really pushed me to be a fit, active woman. So, to know that I'm going to wake up and be in a hospital bed and not have breasts is, you know, it's scary.
"You try to put on a calm face and try to be encouraging to other people, but it is scary and it is a big decision, but I think it's the right one for me."
One thing that she hopes to advocate to women everywhere, is the idea of choosing life over beauty.
"So many people confuse what I mean by that. It's beauty in the stereotypical sense. You know, Hollywood tells you that you have to have a certain type of body and you have to be a certain size and it was never about that for me. It's about being able to choose life over what everybody else tells me is something feminine or in essence of my womanhood."
But that's not all. Watch the clip to hear more exclusive details about Rose's incredible support system and the beautiful and encouraging words her father told her when she decided to get the surgery.