CNN anchor cancer: Zoraida Sambolin inspired by Angelina Jolie to reveal double mastectomy

Inspired by Angelina Jolie's op-ed revealing her decision to undergo a double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer, CNN anchor Zoraida Sambolin acknowledged her own battle with the disease.

"For a while I have been struggling because I was diagnosed with breast cancer about three weeks ago and I was trying to figure out how do I share this story, how do I tell the viewers that I'm going to be gone for a while, because I have chosen to have a double mastectomy," Sambolin said during Tuesday's "Early Start" broadcast. "Angelina Jolie's story really hit home."

Sambolin said she does not know if she carries the same BRCA1 gene that prompted Jolie to take drastic preventative measures so she will undergo the genetic testing in the hopes it could help other women in her family.

"At the end of the day, I have a lot of girls in my family, and I figure it starts somewhere," she said.

Sambolin said she struggled with the idea of a double mastectomy, but that it was "empowering" to take control of her diagnosis.

"As a woman, your sexuality, your breasts, and how attached you are to that...so it's really difficult to say 'I'm thinking about this, this is something that affects me,'" she said. "I have two kids that I want to live for and at the end of the day, I'm going to cut off my arms if it means that I am going to live to see them and to see them grow up."