Bianca Balti Discloses BRCA1 Mutation, Plans Preventive Surgery and Egg Retrieval Before Procedures

At seven on the morning of Wednesday, August 24, the Italian model Bianca Balti was scheduled to undergo a surgical egg retrieval, the end of nine days of ovarian stimulation. She described the day in a newsletter to her followers, a letter in which she disclosed that she carries a mutation in the BRCA1 gene and has decided on preventive surgery.

Balti is the mother of two daughters, Matilde and Mia, from two different relationships. In her letter she wrote that the mutation raises her risk of ovarian cancer from the 1 to 2 percent seen in the general female population to as much as 40 percent. The source reporting also says she intends to have a double mastectomy and an ovariectomy, the removal of the ovaries.

The timeline in her own account is precise. She began a new stimulation cycle on the morning of Saturday, August 13. It was her second in about a year and a half. The first ended in March 2021 with the retrieval and freezing of five healthy eggs, a step she took to secure what she called reproductive independence as a romantic relationship was ending. This second cycle, she wrote, was prompted by the BRCA1 diagnosis.

The reason for the urgency is the surgery itself. Balti says the preventive removal of her ovaries and tubes, planned for this autumn, will prevent ovarian cancer but will also end her ability to become pregnant spontaneously. The egg retrieval comes first so that option is not lost entirely.

She also wrote about the reaction to her plans. When she said she wanted to undergo the procedure, she was called selfish. Some told her she should be looking after the two daughters she already has instead of thinking about more children. She rejected that framing, writing that giving life should not take away the freedom to choose what is right for oneself, even in the context of illness. She stressed a distinction as well: carrying the mutation means a very high chance of becoming ill, not that she is already sick. Major surgery on healthy breasts and ovaries, she wrote, is a complicated and personal choice that should not be reduced to a judgment.

She said she admires the women who made the same choice before her, and that messages from women who wrote to her over the past week gave her strength she did not think she had. She also set aside what she called the unsustainable burden of having to stay alive for her daughters. Instead, she wrote, she wants to be an example to them for as long as she lives. If Matilde or Mia were ever diagnosed with a BRCA mutation, she said, she would want them to do everything possible to prevent the disease, and if they needed egg freezing to find the peace of mind to act, she never wants them to blame themselves for it.

The March 2021 cycle, according to the report, followed the end of what she described as a toxic relationship. She has said the first step out of it was saying so aloud, first to Matilde and then to her social media followers, and she described freezing her eggs as a symbolic gesture. She added that she does not know whether she will have another child, whether she will meet a man who makes her want to, or whether she would do it alone. She has left the possibility of a future pregnancy open.

The report does not give the exact dates of the planned surgeries beyond this fall. Further medical updates from Balti herself are the thing to watch for.