Hurley's Anger Over Gran's Cancer Death

Elizabeth Hurley has spoken out about her anger at being unable to help her grandmother before she died from breast cancer.

The actress said she wished she had known more about the disease before her grandmother passed away in 1992.

Her grandmother had once showed her scars from a double mastectomy, but changed the subject, she said.

She told Sky News: "When she found her lump she was too scared to even tell her doctor. She didn't know anything about breast cancer. She assumed it was the death sentence and unfortunately it was for her."

Hurley said she learnt about breast cancer through Evelyn Lauder, Estee Lauder's daughter-in-law, who started a campaign 20 years ago.

The actress said the businesswoman organised for her to have her first mammogram for her 40th birthday and she has had one every year since.

"We know that if a cancer is found and treated early, there is a 95% chance of recovery. If only my grandmother and countless other scared women could have known this," she said.

Hurley, a global ambassador for the Estee Lauder Companies' Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, was speaking at the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

She spoke after television presenter Michaela Strachan revealed she had been diagnosed with the disease .

The Springwatch host said she was forced to have both breasts removed after the cancer was discovered in a mammogram at the start of the year.

Angelina Jolie announced in 2013 that she had undergone a double mastectomy to prevent her getting breast cancer.

She took the decision after testing positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation that greatly increases the risk of developing the disease.