Gossip

Angelina Jolie revealed this week that she had a double mastectomy to reduce her chances of getting breast cancer. The Oscar-winning actress, 37, decided to undergo preventive surgery in February after doctors told her she carried a gene that gave her an 87 percent risk of contracting breast cancer. Her mother died of cancer at 56. In a column in The New York Times, Jolie said she had the surgery so she could tell her six children that “they don’t need to fear they will lose me.” She said she’s had reconstructive surgery and implants, and that her partner, Brad Pitt, was by her side “every minute of the surgeries.” Jolie said she was making her story public to raise awareness of breast cancer for other women with family histories like hers. “It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested,” she wrote.

Barbara Walters announced this week that she’d retire in 2014 after a historic, 53-year career on television. The veteran journalist, 83, tearfully told viewers on ABC’s The View that she’d step down from broadcasting next May. “I know it’s time,” Walters said. “I want to leave when people are still saying, ‘Why is she leaving?’ instead of ‘Why doesn’t she leave!?’” Walters began her pioneering career on NBC’s Today show in 1961, before moving to ABC in 1976 to become the first female co-host of the evening news. She has anchored and reported for the network ever since, interviewing dozens of world leaders and celebrities, and created The View in 1997.

American Idol is firing all of its celebrity judges after the end of the current season of the Fox reality-TV show, says TheWrap.com. Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, andKeith Urban will all be let go, joining longtime judge Randy Jackson, who announced last week that he was leaving the show. Idol’s ratings have plunged 22 percent this season, hitting a series low of 11 million viewers last week—down from the show’s peak of 30 million. Fox has decided to retool the show next year, without highly paid celebrity judges. Carey reportedly pocketed $18 million to serve as a judge this year, and Minaj $12 million. “No more big checks for divas,” said one insider.

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