Angelina Jolie’s aunt dies of breast cancer

Angelina Jolie's aunt Debbie Martin has died from breast cancer. Jolie, pictured, recently announced she had a double mastectomy. Picture: AP

ANGELINA Jolie’s aunt has died of breast cancer, less than two weeks after the actress had a preventative double mastectomy.

• Debbie Martin died in a hospital in California aged 61

• She was reported to have had the same BRCA1 gene that Angelina Jolie has

Debbie Martin died at a hospital in Escondido California, according to reports from The Associated Press.

She died at the age of 61.

It has been reported that Debbie Martin had the BRCA1 gene that Jolie also has.

She was the younger sister of Marcheline Bertrand, Jolie’s mother, who died from cancer in 2007.

37-year-old Jolie made the decision to have a double mastectomy because she too carries the “faulty” gene BRCA1, which increases her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

The actress wrote about the procedure in an article for The New York Times.

She has since been praised for helping to raise awareness of breast cancer.