Angelina Jolie on 'My Medical Choice'

In this week’s cover story, Entertainment Weekly explores Angelina Jolie’s new role as the Disney villain in Maleficent — frightening small children (including her own), and trying to find the human side of someone so evil.

But at the end of our exclusive interview with actress, we also talked about something good she did: coming forward last May in the New York Times op-ed “My Medical Choice” to detail her decision to have a double mastectomy after genetic tests showed she was at risk for breast cancer.

The surprising revelation? The very people she had hoped to help ended up helping her.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Exactly a year ago, you were in the middle of having your surgeries. I’m just wondering, how are you today?
ANGELINA JOLIE: I’m great! I’m very happy I made the decision. I was very fortunate to have great doctors and very, very fortunate to have a good recovery and have a project like Unbroken [the World War II survival story she is directing] to have something to be really focused on, to be getting healthy for, and to be able to just get right back to work.

You could have kept your decision a secret. But you wrote that essay for The New York Times, urging other women to get tested. What kind of reaction have you gotten from that?
I feel very, very close — much closer — to other women, and women who are going through the same thing. Wherever I go, usually I run into women and we talk about health issues, women’s issues, breast cancer, ovarian cancer. I’ve talked to men about their daughters’ and wives’ health. It makes me feel closer to other people who deal with the same things and have either lost their parents or are considering surgeries or wondering about their children. … The reason that I wrote it was to try to communicate and help and connect with other women and other families going through the same thing. And … I was very, very moved by all the support and kindness from so many people.

It makes you embarrassed to talk about that part, doesn’t it?
[Smiles] Yeah, a little bit.

I imagine you must get mail …
I do, and it’s lovely.

Was the reaction helpful for you, personally?
There’s still another surgery to have, which I haven’t yet [Jolie is also genetically at risk for ovarian cancer, which is what took her mother’s life at age 56]. I’ll, you know, I’ll get advice from all these wonderful people who I’ve been talking to, to get through that next stage.

For all these stories and more, pick up the new issue of EW, on stands Friday, March 7.

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People's Choice Awards 2014: Best/worst style

Holy cleavage! Looks like it's the year of the extreme plunging neckline in L.A.

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'Hustle,' '12 Years' lead Critics' Choice nods

"American Hustle" received multiple nominations including for best ensemble."12 Years a Slave" and 'American Hustle" got 13 nominationsBoth are up for best picture, best acting and best ensemble categoriesThe Critics' Choice Movie Awards air on January 16

(CNN) -- The nominations for the 19th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards have pretty much confirmed what was already known: "12 Years a Slave" and "American Hustle" are serious contenders.

Each of those films lead this year's nominations with 13 each, The Broadcast Film Critics Association announced on Monday. BFCA is the largest film critics organization in the United States and Canada and represents almost 300 television, radio and online critics.

This year, "12 Years a Slave" scored nominations in multiple categories, including best picture, best actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor, best director for Steve McQueen, best supporting actor for Michael Fassbender, best supporting actress for Lupita Nyong'o and best acting ensemble.

"American Hustle" also got nods for best picture and best acting ensemble as well as best actor for Christian Bale, best supporting actor for Bradley Cooper, best supporting actress for Jennifer Lawrence and best director for David O. Russell.

The Critics' Choice Movie Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on The CW Network at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Thursday, January 16 from the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California.

The following is the complete list of nominees:

BEST PICTURE

"American Hustle"

"Captain Phillips"

"Dallas Buyers Club"

"Gravity"

"Her"

"Inside Llewyn Davis"

"Nebraska"

"Saving Mr. Banks"

"12 Years a Slave"

"The Wolf of Wall Street"

BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale -- "American Hustle"

Bruce Dern -- "Nebraska"

Chiwetel Ejiofor -- 1"2 Years a Slave"

Tom Hanks -- "Captain Phillips"

Matthew McConaughey -- "Dallas Buyers Club"

Robert Redford -- "All Is Lost"

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett -- "Blue Jasmine"

Sandra Bullock -- "Gravity"

Judi Dench -- "Philomena"

Brie Larson -- "Short Term 12"

Meryl Streep -- "August: Osage County"

Emma Thompson -- "Saving Mr. Banks"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Barkhad Abdi -- "Captain Phillips"

Daniel Bruhl -- "Rush"

Bradley Cooper -- "American Hustle"

Michael Fassbender -- "12 Years a Slave"

James Gandolfini -- "Enough Said"

Jared Leto -- "Dallas Buyers Club"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Scarlett Johansson -- "Her"

Jennifer Lawrence -- "American Hustle"

Lupita Nyong'o -- "12 Years a Slave"

Julia Roberts -- "August: Osage County"

June Squibb -- "Nebraska"

Oprah Winfrey -- "Lee Daniels' The Butler"

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Asa Butterfield -- "Ender's Game"

Adele Exarchopoulos -- "Blue Is the Warmest Color"

Liam James -- "The Way Way Back"

Sophie Nelisse -- "The Book Thief"

Tye Sheridan -- "Mud"

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

"American Hustle"

"August: Osage County"

"Lee Daniels' The Butler"

"Nebraska"

"12 Years a Slave"

"The Wolf of Wall Street"

BEST DIRECTOR

Alfonso Cuaron -- "Gravity"

Paul Greengrass -- "Captain Phillips"

Spike Jonze -- "Her"

Steve McQueen -- "12 Years a Slave"

David O. Russell -- "American Hustle"

Martin Scorsese -- "The Wolf of Wall Street"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Eric Singer and David O. Russell -- "American Hustle"

Woody Allen -- "Blue Jasmine"

Spike Jonze -- "Her"

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen -- "Inside Llewyn Davis"

Bob Nelson -- "Nebraska"

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Tracy Letts -- "August: Osage County"

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke -- "Before Midnight"

Billy Ray -- "Captain Phillips"

Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope -- "Philomena"

John Ridley -- "12 Years a Slave"

Terence Winter -- "The Wolf of Wall Street"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Emmanuel Lubezki -- "Gravity"

Bruno Delbonnel -- "Inside Llewyn Davis"

Phedon Papamichael -- "Nebraska"

Roger Deakins -- "Prisoners"

Sean Bobbitt -- "12 Years a Slave"

BEST ART DIRECTION

Andy Nicholson (production designer), Rosie Goodwin (set decorator) -- "Gravity"

Catherine Martin (production designer), Beverley Dunn (set decorator) -- "The Great Gatsby"

K.K. Barrett (production designer), Gene Serdena (set decorator) -- "Her"

Dan Hennah (production designer), Ra Vincent (set decorator) -- "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

Adam Stockhausen (production designer), Alice Baker (set decorator) -- "12 Years a Slave"

BEST EDITING

Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers -- "American Hustle"

Christopher Rouse -- "Captain Phillips"

Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger -- "Gravity"

Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill -- "Rush"

Joe Walker -- "12 Years a Slave"

Thelma Schoonmaker -- "The Wolf of Wall Street"

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Michael Wilkinson -- "American Hustle"

Catherine Martin -- "The Great Gatsby"

Bob Buck, Lesley Burkes-Harding, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor -- "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

Daniel Orlandi -- "Saving Mr. Banks"

Patricia Norris -- "12 Years a Slave"

BEST MAKEUP

"American Hustle"

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

"Lee Daniels' The Butler"

"Rush"

"12 Years a Slave"

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

"Gravity'

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

"Iron Man 3"

"Pacific Rim"

"Star Trek Into Darkness"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

"The Croods"

"Despicable Me 2"

"Frozen"

"Monsters University"

"The Wind Rises"

BEST ACTION MOVIE

"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"

"Iron Man 3"

"Lone Survivor"

"Rush"

"Star Trek Into Darkness"

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE

Henry Cavill -- "Man of Steel"

Robert Downey Jr. -- "Iron Man 3"

Brad Pitt -- "World War Z"

Mark Wahlberg -- "Lone Survivor"

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE

Sandra Bullock -- "Gravity"

Jennifer Lawrence -- "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"

Evangeline Lilly -- "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

Gwyneth Paltrow -- "Iron Man 3"

BEST COMEDY

"American Hustle"

"Enough Said"

"The Heat"

"This Is the End"

"The Way Way Back"

"The World's End"

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Christian Bale -- "American Hustle"

Leonardo DiCaprio -- "The Wolf of Wall Street"

James Gandolfini -- "Enough Said"

Simon Pegg -- "The World's End"

Sam Rockwell -- "The Way Way Back"

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Amy Adams -- "American Hustle"

Sandra Bullock -- "The Heat"

Greta Gerwig -- "Frances Ha"

Julia Louis-Dreyfus -- "Enough Said"

Melissa McCarthy -- "The Heat"

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE

"The Conjuring"

"Gravity"

"Star Trek Into Darkness"

"World War Z"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

"Blue Is the Warmest Color"

"The Great Beauty"

"The Hunt"

"The Past"

"Wadjda"

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

"The Act of Killing"

"Blackfish"

"Stories We Tell"

"Tim's Vermeer"

"20 Feet from Stardom"

BEST SONG

"Atlas" -- Coldplay -- "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"

"Happy" -- Pharrell Williams -- "Despicable Me 2"

"Let It Go" -- Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez -- "Frozen"

"Ordinary Love" -- U2 -- "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"

Please Mr. Kennedy" -- Justin Timberlake/Oscar Isaac/Adam Driver -- "Inside Llewyn Davis"

"Young and Beautiful" -- Lana Del Rey -- "The Great Gatsby"

BEST SCORE

Steven Price -- "Gravity"

Arcade Fire -- "Her"

Thomas Newman -- "Saving Mr. Banks"

Hans Zimmer -- "12 Years a Slave"

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Sarah Palin weighs in on Romney's VP choice

After being conspicuously absent on Twitter, Facebook and Fox News for more than 24 hours, Sarah Palin, former Alaskan governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, finally weighed in late Saturday on Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as his 2012 running mate.

Here's Palin's Facebook note, which mentions President Obama 26 times, Romney and Ryan three apiece:

Congratulations to Mitt Romney on his choice of Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. President Obama has declared that this election is about "two fundamentally different visions" for America. Goodness, he's got that right. Our country cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama's fundamentally flawed vision. We must now look to this new team, the Romney/Ryan ticket, to provide an alternate vision of an America that is fiscally responsible, strong, and prosperous--an America that understands and is proud of her exceptional place in the world and will respect those who fight to secure that exceptionalism, which includes keeping our promises to our veterans.

When I think about the direction our country is rapidly drifting in, I can't help but look at California as a cautionary tale. The Golden State once boasted the entrepreneurial innovation of Silicon Valley, the American creative engine of the arts, economically powerful and beautiful cities from San Francisco to San Diego, and fertile farmlands that helped feed the nation. Now it is descending into financial ruin accompanied by an exodus of middle class Californians leaving for other states. As one writer put it, California's "fastest-growing entity is government and its biggest product is red tape."

Obama's vision for America will make the rest of the country look like California, minus the beautiful scenery and warm weather.

Obama's America is today's California--complete with $100 billion taxpayer funded bullet trains to nowhere; out of control environmental extremists who have destroyed family farms and left some of the most fertile farm land in America fallow in order to protect a three inch fish; permanent high unemployment; government policies hostile to small business job creators; crippling high taxes; an abysmal real estate market; bloated government that wastes taxpayer money; endless budget shortfalls due to massive unfunded liabilities; city after city declaring bankruptcy; and a state government run by, in the words of one Wall Street Journal writer, "a brothel of environmentalists, lawyers, public-sector unions and legislative bums."

We can't afford Obama's vision. Our children can't afford it. Today we are over $15 trillion in debt and running up trillion dollar budget deficits year after year for as far as the eye can see. And our "leaders" have no plan to stop it! President Obama and this Congress don't even have the fundamental blueprint—a budget!—to outline where they intend to take us as they merrily roll along with their out of control spending and constant increases of our debt "limit." Our debt to China alone is more than we can ever hope to pay off in multiple generations. Such debt and dependence on foreign nations weakens us in countless ways. And yet our government keeps on spending despite the risks and despite conscientious, hardworking citizens telling them to just stop it. Our debt is growing by $3 million per minute. This debt, in conjunction with Obama's massive government over-reaches like Obamacare, has strangled the private sector, which in turn has stifled job growth and slowed all economic growth. The only way to get our country moving again is to get back to basics like normal people do with our home and small business budgets! That means we must live within our means, get government out of the way of our job creators, develop the God-given natural resources we have been blessed with to provide real jobs and real energy security, and stop growing government and wasting taxpayer money on D.C. cronyism and useless stimulus kick-backs for favored donors.

Barack Obama's record is one of dismal failure, which is why he isn't talking about it. He would rather spend his time demonizing his opponents. The simple fact remains that Mitt Romney is not responsible for the dire state of our economy or the corruption and incompetence of the current administration.

Over the next 86 days, Barack Obama will try to distract us from his record. Many in the media will roll along with him in this mission. We must not let them continue the deception and distractions, and we must not be afraid to call the President out on his lies. His entire record in office exposes the false promises he made four years ago. So, let's take a moment to remember what candidate Obama said just four short years ago.

Candidate Obama promised us fiscal prudence. But President Obama's reckless spending and lack of fiscal leadership has led to the downgrading of our nation's credit rating for the first time in history.

Candidate Obama decried reckless spending and promised to cut the deficit. But President Obama and those in Congress who control the purse strings and "go along to get along" have tripled it. President Obama's proposed budget was so absurdly and wildly irresponsible that not one member of Congress, Republican or Democrat, voted in favor of it. And yet the Democrat controlled Senate still refuses to pass a budget itself, and this refusal has been going on for years now. That is irresponsible and, much more, it's unconstitutional.

Candidate Obama promised us a "smarter government," but President Obama has created a government that's not too big to fail, but too big to succeed.

Candidate Obama promised us a plan for American energy independence. But President Obama has forced American taxpayers to subsidize bankrupt green energy companies with ties to his campaign donors. And when it comes to the energy we actually use to fuel our economy, President Obama's administration blocks drilling and drags its feet on the permitting process. Meanwhile, he supports foreign energy developments, but not American made energy development. His administration opposes everything from drilling in ANWR to building the Keystone Pipeline to coal plants, but he's all for subsidizing offshore drilling in Brazil and sitting back on his thumb while China moves in to pursue oil deals with Canada because his administration blocked responsible energy infrastructure development.

Candidate Obama promised us "the most transparent administration in history." But in addition to refusing FOIA-requested documents, President Obama's administration regularly holds meetings outside the White House and off the official White House visitor list with lobbyists and corporate interests they don't want us to know about.

Candidate Obama promised to unite all America, but President Obama has cynically divided us again and again in his efforts to win reelection by playing identity politics and class warfare and pitting one group against another.

Candidate Obama promised us a "fundamentally transformed" America, and that is the only promise he's delivered on. We can see now what his idea of "hope" is. Now we want change. He has failed to lead, so We the People must lead. And our leadership starts at the ballot box on November 6th.

Please continue to focus on the presidential race and on helping Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, but it's also imperative that we get involved in the nation's important House and Senate races. These candidates need our help to ensure that our next president has a responsible and ethical Congress that actually gets things done for America. Now on to November!

- Sarah Palin

As a guest on Fox News' "Hannity" Thursday, Palin said her first choice for Romney's running mate would have been Florida Congressman Allen West.

"The liberal left is absolutely terrified of Allen West and what he represents," Palin said. "A war hero who honorably served our country continuing today in his official capacity as a representative."

But she said she would support anyone that Romney chose. "Anybody but Obama," Palin said.

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Team Obama’s response to Romney’s choice

President Barack Obama had Paul Ryan on his radar years before Mitt Romney selected the representative from Wisconsin as his running mate. Ryan, the president said, favors "thinly veiled social Darwinism." Further, Obama charged that Ryan dishonestly claims the mantle of deficit hawk when he actually votes for budget-busters as long as they come from his party.

And Team Obama's response to the House Budget Committee Chairman's elevation to potential VP made clear that the Democrat's campaign won't overhaul so much as go into overdrive. Aides argue that Ryan amplifies rather than challenges their core message with just 88 days until the election.

The early attacks are telling: Obama's website repeatedly refers to Ryan's "extreme budget plan" as favoring the rich over the middle class (the president's core argument against Romney). The first line of its biographical sketch reads "Paul Ryan is a career Washington D.C. insider." (Obama has been running in large part against inside-the-Beltway political stalemate, casting the blame on Republicans.)

In an attack everyone in politics saw coming, the site warns Ryan's budget "would turn Medicare into a voucher program, increasing seniors' costs by up to $6,350 per year"—an unusually precise figure seemingly tailored to shock elderly voters in pivotal battlegrounds like Florida, even though his proposal would not affect people currently over 55.

The site also highlights Ryan's opposition to abortion and his vote against legislation aimed at erasing pay discrimination against women. (Obama is counting on his "gender gap" advantage over Romney in November.) The president tweeted a link to the new content to his 18.4 million followers.

Team Obama hopes that these arguments will be enough to reassemble key parts of the coalition that powered his historic 2008 victory while limiting the political damage from the president's sorest vulnerability: An economy still sputtering and weighed down by high unemployment three and a half years after he took office.

The president, who was due to fly home to Chicago for some fundraising before a three-day bus tour in Iowa starting Monday, kept mum after the announcement. But campaign manager Jim Messina hit all of the same notes in a statement emailed to reporters.

Ryan, like Romney, favors "the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors, will somehow deliver a stronger economy." The Republicans would "end Medicare as we know it." And "Ryan rubber-stamped the reckless Bush economic policies that exploded our deficit and crashed our economy. Now the Romney-Ryan ticket would take us back by repeating the same, catastrophic mistakes," he said.

Behind the scenes, Democrats urged reporters to consider that Ryan voted for the Bush-era tax cuts (which Obama renewed in late 2010) and the war in Iraq—both policies that swelled the deficit. And they also underlined that Ryan voted (with many Democrats) to bail out big banks threatened in the 2007-2008 global financial meltdown and also supported the auto industry bailout. Those policies are frequent targets of conservative hatred—but there's no sign that this will dent their support for Ryan. In fact, the Tea Party Express group cheered the choice.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it was targeting "70 vulnerable House Republicans" with the message that Ryan's plan "ends Medicare." That's a reference to Ryan's plan to transform the hugely popular health care program for the elderly into a voucher-like system as part of an effort to contain its swelling costs. It's an argument that Obama himself has essentially been making for months—as recently as the July 19 event in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Even in a campaign that has seen Obama and Romney each try to portray the other as History's Greatest Monster (as The Simpsons once dubbed Jimmy Carter,) some of Obama's past clashes with Ryan have had something of a personal tone.

In April 2011, Obama was caught on tape blasting Ryan to donors. In remarks reported by CBS Radio News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, Obama charged that Ryan was "not on the level" when it came to cutting the deficit.

"This is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill—but wasn't paid for," Obama said. (Ryan's response: "Rather than building bridges, he's poisoning wells.")

One year later, Obama charged at an Associated Press luncheon that Ryan's budget amounted to "thinly veiled Social Darwinism." (Ryan's response: Obama "has chosen to distort the truth and divide Americans in order to distract from his failed record.")

But for his part, Ryan is no stranger to leading Republican attacks on Obama—his main role as vice presidential nominee and one he has played with relish since the administration's first year. In late 2009, Ryan predicted that defeating the Democrat's health care overhaul would mean "a failed presidency" that had to negotiate with Republicans.

That might make debating Vice President Joe Biden—some three decades senior to the 42-year-old lawmaker—a bit of a letdown.

Biden's strategy? Maybe this could be a preview: Biden calls Ryan "a fine guy."

"He's a bright, handsome guy from the state of Wisconsin. He a fine guy," Biden went on. "But I think his ideas are not nearly as fine as he is a man."

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