Angelina Jolie, who was once Brad Pitt's partner, opened her heart like never before and showed for the first time the scars from the double mastectomy she underwent in 2013.

The renowned actress chose the pages of the French edition of TIME magazine to share her experience with the purpose of helping other women lose their fear of taking this important step in their lives.

“I share these scars with many women I love. I always get emotional when I see other women sharing theirs,” reads an excerpt from the interview Jolie gave to the publication.

The magazine cover shows the actress in close-up against a white background, touching her breast with her right hand.

Angelina, who has become a leading figure in the early detection of breast cancer, thanks this week's Time cover because of her commitment to ensuring that no woman suffers what she did when she lost her mother to this disease.

“Every woman should be able to determine her own health care path and have the information she needs to make informed decisions: genetic testing and screening should be accessible and affordable for women with clear risk factors or a significant family history,” Jolie told the magazine, and the full interview is available here. It will be released this Thursday, December 18.

It's worth remembering that Angelina Jolie suffered the loss of her mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, in 2007 at the age of 56, after she was diagnosed with cancer. This led her to take action to avoid becoming part of the statistics, as there was a possibility that she too could develop cancer in the future, but her courageous action reduced the odds considerably.

“My chances of developing breast cancer have decreased from 87% to less than 5%. I can tell my children that they need not fear losing me to breast cancer,” she wrote in a May 2013 opinion piece for the New York Times.