Angelina Jolie's doctor had "promised" her mother she'd remove the actress's ovaries.
The 'By the Sea' star had an emotional meeting with medical staff before she underwent the procedure in March this year, as she was operated on by the same person who had treated her late mother Marcheline Bertrand, who died of ovarian cancer in 2007.
Angelina said: "We had some of the same nurses, some of the same doctor.
"So, the doctor that did my ovary surgery was my mother's doctor. And apparently my mother had said to her, 'Promise me you will take Angie's ovaries out.' So when we kind of got together, we both had a big cry, and she said, 'I promised your mother, and I gotta do this.' ''
Angelina - who also went a double mastectomy in 2013 after learning she had an 87 per cent risk of contracting breast cancer - underwent the procedure after a blood test showed she could have signs of early-stage ovarian cancer.
And her husband Brad Pitt - with who she raises six children - admits it was a "terribly moving" time, made particularly difficult as he was working in France when she got the news.
He recalled in a joint interview on 'Today': "I was out in France, and Angie called me and I got straight on a plane to return.
"Seeing my wife have to be her strongest and knowing that it's the scariest news is terribly moving. And not being there is a horrible feeling."
The procedure brought on the early onset of menopause for the 40-year-old actress, who admitted she "feels different" now.
She said: "Every woman is different when they go through menopause, and...I didn't know emotionally how I would feel.
"I knew the breast would be a bigger surgery and physically changing. The ovaries is more, your hormones changing and your emotions changing, but it's different. You feel different."
Bang Showbiz