By April MacIntyre Oct 2, 2008, 3:58 GMT
Breast cancer survivor Christina Applegate posed for an emotional, private nude photo before her recent double-mastectomy, for a reminder of the breasts she was losing.
Christina Applegate arriving - Applegate said during an interview on ABC News' 'Good Morning America' 19 August 2008 that she is cancer free after a double mastectomy. EPA/JOSHUA GATES WEISBERG
The actress was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and opted to have both breasts removed in an effort to stop the spread of the cancer.
Oprah Winfrey's talk show was where she revealed she staged a private ceremony on the evening of her surgery, so she'd always have a photograph.
Speaking candidly, Applegate said, "I did my first and last nudie photoshoot at home. I made sure that I have close-up photographs of them from every angle, so I can kind of remember them."
The doctors have since implanted "expanders" in the actress' chest, which will allow them to sculpt breast implants for her.
"They keep expanding over a few months until they take those out and put in your implants... They have this strange little thing that they insert in there and they keep filling it up with saline to expand behind the muscles."
But she admitted to Winfrey that the surgery has left her with a chest that resembles nothing like the one she had before her cancer diagnosis.
"You've got scarring and there's a lot of things you're missing... and the shape is not the same and it doesn't feel the same and it's hard to carry your purse and there are so many limitations.
"It's sad. I cry at least once a day about it because it's hard to overlook it when you're standing there in the mirror."
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