By Christie D’Zurilla, Los Angeles Times –
LOS ANGELES — Sharon Osbourne has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a mutated gene indicating a much higher risk of breast cancer, “The Talk” panelist has revealed to a British magazine.
“For me, it wasn’t a big decision, it was a no-brainer,” she told Hello! “I didn’t want to live the rest of my life with that shadow hanging over me. I want to be around for a long time and be a grandmother to Pearl.”
Osbourne had previously battled colon cancer, and had her breast implants removed a year ago, declaring well in advance that once removed, the implants would be husband Ozzy Osbourne’s to use as a paperweight. By the time she had them removed, however, one had leaked into her stomach wall, something she said helped put her off plastic surgery for good.
The double mastectomy reportedly took 13 hours.
“I didn’t even think of my breasts in a nostalgic way,” she told the magazine. “I just wanted to be able to live my life without that fear all the time.”
Women who have inherited a harmful mutation of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene carry a 60 percent chance of developing breast cancer at some point in their lives, according to the National Cancer Institute, compared with a 12 percent risk for women without a harmful mutation.
Pearl, Osbourne’s granddaughter, was born to son Jack and his now-wife Lisa Stelly in April. The couple were married in Hawaii last month.