Angelina Jolie Helps Many: Donated $5 Million Made on Wedding Photos, "The Jolie Effect" Helps Several Women with High Risk For Breast Cancer

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's wedding photos were sold for $5 million. The couple made a kind decision to give away the sum to charity.

They sold their photos to People and Hello! magazines. Each paid them $2.5 million, the wedding was a very quiet affair and it had generated a lot of interest among the people. The magazines knew that the photos were worth the buy. The money earned was donated to their charitable foundation, Maddox Jolie Pitt Foundation. The foundation supports several humanitarian projects around the world. They have clean water projects, and they also help children by providing them vaccines.

A source said that the couple was well aware that their wedding photos would create a buzz, causing tremendous interest and they knew that it would sell for a huge amount. They had planned to donate the money beforehand. Brad and Angelina have made such donations in the past as well. Their twin's photos were also sold for $14 million, the money went to their foundation.

Brad and Angelina told Hello! that the day was extremely important in their lives, and it was a day filled with laughter and happiness. Something she said she would cherish, as she spent time with her kids. Angelina looked gorgeous in her Atelier Versace gown, which had artwork done by her kids.

Her fans are extremely happy about the marriage. Some have also been wondering about her health since Angelina has undergone a preventive double mastectomy due to her genetic cancer risk. She is doing fine now. Her cancer risk has dropped to under 5 per cent. After successfully removing both her breast, she also plans to remove her ovaries in the future, this would lower the risk of ovarian cancer by 80 to 90 percent as it would reduce the amount of estrogen and progesterone in the body.

Due to her revelation of a genetic cancer risk, several high risk women are going in for tests to check if they have certain genes linked to breast and ovarian cancers, new Canadian research has found. Doctors are calling this "The Angelina Jolie Effect."

Dr. Andrea Eisen, one of the study's authors and head of the Familial Cancer Program at Sunnybrook said that the Angelina effect increased the awareness and the referral of women who were really at high risk for hereditary breast cancer. Encouraged by her, several high risk women have begun considering testing and she has sent out a right message, he explained.

The doctors found that a number of women who had started coming forward for testing had increased after Jolie came out in the open. They decided to examine the issue.

The report presented in San Francisco, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Breast Cancer Symposium revealed, "The number of women referred for genetic counselling increased by 90 per cent - from 487 to 916 - after Jolie's personal story was published. Among them, there was a 105 per cent increase in the number of patients who qualified for genetic testing - from 213 to 437."

The Goodwill Ambassador has done a lot of good, helping people with every step she takes. Eisen said that the study would continue to see how long the Angelina effect would influence women.