The 56-year-old actress, comedian and writer Julia Louis-Dreyfus announced this afternoon on Twitter that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her tweet, posted at 1:15 pm EDT, begins with the phrase, "Just when you thought...," and is followed by a photo of a note on her personal stationery that reads:1 in 8 women get breast cancer. In 2013, Angelina Jolie's diagnosis of a faulty BRCA1 gene and preventive double mastectomy led to an increase in breast cancer genetic screening and women inquiring with their physicians about prophylactic mastectomies. At the time of this post, we know nothing about the type and staging of Louis-Dreyfus's breast cancer, including whether it has spread from its primary site. One parameter of importance is whether the women in Louis-Dreyfus's family have had either breast or ovarian cancer.

Source: Forbes September 28, 2017 18:11 UTC