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CNN NEWSROOM

Miss D.C. Talks About Plans For Double Mastectomy; Jolie's Announcement Shows "Moxie," Says "Vanity Fair" Editor; Buzz Aldrin Says Americans Should Go To Mars Soon

Aired May 14, 2013 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And Allyn Rose joins me live here to talk about this. Good to see you.

And also joining me here in studio, Elizabeth Cohen, our senior medical correspondent.

So, Allyn Rose, let me just begin with you. And I remember -- I remember when you made the public announcement earlier this year, saying after taking the pageant stage in January's Miss America Pageant that you would have both of your breasts removed.

I'm just curious, have you booked the surgery?

ALLYN ROSE, MISS DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 2012: Right. It is one of those things where I wanted to make sure that I was in the best mental and physical state before I undertook this, you know, pretty drastic decision.

So I gave up my Miss D.C. title on June 9th and that's when I'm really going to delve into this. I'm going to make sure I find the right surgical staff for me.

I have my entire calendar booked out. It is a big decision. And it is something that you shouldn't go into lightly and I think it is an incredibly courageous thing that Angelina has come out and been so candid about this.

BALDWIN: And same to you as well.

ROSE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And when you read the opinion piece from Angelina Jolie, she talks about femininity, and, you know, listen, you're beautiful. You're in the business of beauty.

Talk to me about how you arrived at this, as you call it, a drastic decision that would forever change your body.

ROSE: I think she said a lot of the similar things that I said earlier, or later last year.

You know, my body is not the important thing. Being around for my kids some day is the important thing. My mom left me her journals and in them she talked about what it was like to, you know, not go through chemotherapy, not have cancer, but just fear leaving her most precious job of raising her kids unfinished and that was a central theme. And I never wanted that to be me.

And that's how Angelina feels and that's what she put out. I want to be around here for my kids.

BALDWIN: You want to be around for your kids. But you are losing a part of your self.

I know there are reconstructive surgeries that one can endure. Is that something that you would look into?

ROSE: Yes, I will have reconstructive surgery. And I'm so grateful that I live in the world that we live in now and that there can be reconstruction.

But there are a lot of women who choose not to have reconstruction. And I think that's an important thing to note, that, you know, not having your breasts doesn't make you any less beautiful.

My mom had one breast her entire life and it didn't stop her from being a good mom, being a good wife or living her life being a successful businesswoman.

And so I think it is nice for somebody like Angelina to come out and say, that's not what's important. Life is important.

BALDWIN: Allyn, I'm going to come back to you.

Elizabeth Cohen, you hear this and the bravery of -- it is one thing -- you know, I remember when Allyn came forward and then here you have Angelina Jolie, boom in "The New York Times," and it is something that women and we should also say men here read and they think, hmm, maybe I should be tested. Maybe I should look into this.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. And that is -- I was talking to a doctor today, and he was saying, that's the one, if you can put it this way, kind of downside of today's news is that he's afraid women are going to -- all these women are going to want to rush out and want this test.

BALDWIN: Really?

COHEN: Because this test is really meant for women who have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer.

If you don't have a significant family history, there is no reason to go looking for a gene because nothing bad has happened in your family. So you don't want to run out and get the test.

Not just because it is expensive. You can sort of put that to the side for a minute, but because, and this gets confusing, but there is a possibility that the answer you're going to get is, well, ma'am, you've got some weird gene mutation, but we don't know what it is and we don't know what it means, but it is kind of weird.

BALDWIN: And you're left thinking, well --

COHEN: What I do now? Right. Do I get -- you know, it is very clear for Angelina Jolie. It was very clear because her mutation meant an 87 percent chance of getting breast cancer in her lifetime.

She said, you know, for her, it was obvious she would have her breasts removed. But if you get that sort of murky answer, it's going to weigh on you psychologically and you don't know what to do.

So you only want to kind of walk down that road if you have breast cancer in your family, like Angelina and Allyn do.

If you don't have it in your family, you don't need this test.

BALDWIN: From the woman who speaks for empowered patients. Elizabeth Cohen, excellent advice.

And, Allyn Rose, we wish you well. Thank you so much for joining me.

And if you would like to better educate yourself here, learn more about the genetic testing that Angelina Jolie had and whether to Elizabeth's point it is right for you, go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient.

Coming up next, a closer look at how this announcement impacts Jolie's career in Hollywood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: You're good, but I'm officially off duty. So you can tell the rest of your little story to one of my colleagues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Salt.

JOLIE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The name of the Russian agent was Salt, Evelyn Salt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Want to continue the conversation with Krista Smith, senior West Coast editor of "Vanity Fair," joining me live in Los Angeles, talking about Angelina Jolie and this -- she called it my medical choice in this opinion piece she penned in "The New York Times."

So, Krista, this woman has been a sex symbol for years. How is Hollywood reacting to this?

KRISTA SMITH, SENIOR WEST COAST EDITOR, "VANITY FAIR": Indeed. I mean, this is a really bold, strong choice of hers, and she's always had a lot of moxie as an actress, so it is really not surprising that she would come out with this kind of full disclosure and be incredibly candid.

And it is kind of a rally cry for women. I think this is only going to help her. How can it not? Women, I've been looking at this stuff on Twitter. People are so overwhelmingly supportive of her and her decision to come out, and also the very difficult decision.

I just loved how she spoke about it. And this is a very real issue one-in-eight women will get breast cancer in their lifetime.

And, you know, her mother died at the age of 56 of ovarian cancer after fighting for over almost a decade, so she's also the mother of six kids. I really commend her for making this public.

BALDWIN: I like the word you used, "moxie." It's a great adjective.

And so just in terms of her career, the sex symbol will continue to reign on. Is that what I'm hearing you say?

SMITH: Oh, absolutely. She has always been -- when we first met her, when she starred in "Gia" in the HBO movie, when she won her Golden Globe, she was jumping in pools and then she had her various marriages and then she got together with Brad and she has six children. She doesn't do anything in moderation.

And I think for her to make this public announcement is fantastic. And also I think she addresses some very real issues. This test is very expensive. It is cost prohibitive. A lot of times insurance action agencies will not cover it.

I went through a similar thing. I lost my mother to ovarian cancer and I was trying to do the tests and it was -- I had to fight with the insurance companies. So good for you, Angelina.

BALDWIN: Sorry about your mom. But Krista Smith, thank you for coming on and good for Angelina Jolie is what I say.

Thank you very much, with "Vanity Fair." Appreciate it.

SMITH: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just ahead, one of the biggest trade secrets in history, the formula for Coca-Cola -- have you heard this -- is for sale on eBay.

Antiques dealers in Georgia say the document they're selling is "The Real Thing." Coca-Cola says, yeah, that's impossible.

We're going to take you inside the headquarters of Coca-Cola.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A couple in north Georgia thinks they may have stumbled upon the secret formula for Coca-Cola. The document dated back to 1943, which was found in a box of old papers appears to be a cola recipe.

Believing it is "The Real Thing," if you will, the secret formula for Coke, they have put it on eBay for a cool $5 million.

The seller says whoever wrote the document appears to have had inside information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLIFF KLUGE, SELLING 1943 COLA RECIPE: On the last page of this, it says on page 83, the extractor is the original Coca-Cola formula.

That's what I'm basing most of this on. They had access to the original formula.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Must be legit, right? Maybe not. Maybe not. Because just a short while ago, we went over to the world of Coke where the secret formula is kept in a secure vault, of course.

Coke says the recipe is one of the most closely guarded trade secrets in history. This thing has been under lock and key since it was written down, more than 90 years ago. And, guess what, there is no copy of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED RYAN, COCA-COLA ARCHIVIST: We know the history of the formula. And we know everything about it. So when people show up with copies, I know it's not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: At best, this document on eBay was someone's attempt a long time ago to imitate Coca-Cola, but it's extremely unlikely the recipe is, in fact, as I said, "The Real Thing."

Coming up next, exclusive new information about the Benghazi terror attack. Our chief Washington correspondent, host of "The Lead," Jake Tapper -- there he is -- got a hold of a potentially telling e-mail.

We'll talk to Jake about that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In the show, we have touched a great length on the IRS story, IRS bureaucrats essentially making conservative groups jump through hoops to get tax-exempt status.

We have also heard from Eric Holder, talked about the snooping by the Department of Justice, the broadly worded subpoena that investigators used to seize some journalists' phone records. Now let's talk about Benghazi. Chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper has gotten a hold of a potentially telling e-mail. Jake Tapper, tell me about it.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's interesting here, Brooke, is that this e-mail that we obtained indicates that some of the leaks coming out about Benghazi were inaccurate.

Previous media organizations and previous reports have reported that Ben Rhodes, who is a deputy national security adviser for President Obama, in that long e-mail chain in which the State Department expresses concerns about whether or not the talking points for Congress would mention terrorist groups, or whether the warnings that the CIA had made would make it easier for members of Congress to beat up on Congress.

Previous reports have suggested that Ben Rhodes from the White House said in an e-mail that he wanted to make sure the State Department's concerns were reflected in the talking points.

But we obtained an actual copy of Ben Rhodes' e-mail and he doesn't mention the State Department. He doesn't mention talking points, although that's the subject line of the whole e-mail chain, and it is principally what they were talking about.

He seemed to be doing something more cautious, which is just saying that all of the players on the e-mail chain should have everything resolved and they would come to terms with that.

So what is significant about this is that the Rhodes e-mail had been discussed as evidence that the White House was using -- playing politics and siding with the State Department's concerns, which seemed political, over other concerns.

This would seem to suggest that the Rhodes e-mail does not say what some of the leakers had told other media organizations what they claimed to have.

BALDWIN: OK. I'll be interested to see who you have on your show and how you use this e-mail that you have gotten your hands on.

Jake Tapper, thank you. We'll see you at the top of the hour on "The Lead."

Coming up next, the one, the only Buzz Aldrin, why the legendary astronaut insists Americans should go to Mars very, very soon and we should stay there for a little bit.

Wait till you hear this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The mission, historic. The men, legends. But now Apollo XI astronaut Buzz Aldrin says it is time to make history again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL ARMSTRONG, ASTRONAUT: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was 44 years ago when the moon was the finish line.

But Buzz Aldrin says there are new finish lines ahead. He has written this new book. It's called "Mission to Mars - My Vision for Space Exploration."

He explains why the red planet is in the lead. And he joins me live. It's a pleasure. Buzz Aldrin, thank you for coming on.

I want to get to Mars and your book in just a moment.

BUZZ ALDRIN, APOLLO XI ASTRONAUT: Sure.

BALDWIN: But, first, something I learned today. Not only was your mother born, sir, the same year as the Wright brothers' famous flight, but given your history, her last name was --

ALDRIN: Moon. M-O-O-N. My grandfather's name as an army chaplain was Faye Arnold Moon.

BALDWIN: It's amazing. Just wanted to share that.

So here you have Apollo XI moon walk. You know, you lived the history. You lived the excitement, sir. And now here we have a couple space shuttles collecting dust, on display, but collecting dust. We have to rely on Russia to get us to the International Space Station.

How do you get -- in terms of getting people excited again -- let me just play this clip. Commander Chris Hadfield, he's been singing, tweeting.

Here he was from yesterday.

Is this the kind of personality that we need to get our young people excited again?

ALDRIN: Well, I certainly hope so. Things that are timely and things that are unusual catch the public interest, and I'm quite aware of that.

I think that there's a mission being planned right now called Inspiration Mars ...

BALDWIN: Yes.

ALDRIN: -- that will take a married couple to fly by the moon, launching in January 2018.

BALDWIN: That's right. I love that it has to be a married couple.

Now you say in this book not only will we get to Mars. We should set up shop on Mars. We should stay on Mars.

Tell me why we should do that.

ALDRIN: Well, the expense and the difficulty of setting up the stepping stones to get to Mars are such that, if we were to go and then come back shortly and then go again and come back, I'm sure that someone in our Congress would say, well, we know how to do that. Let's find another place where we can spend the money.

So the investment in going to the moon years ago has paid tremendous dividends in our advancing technology and our education systems.

And the same thing will come from the step-by-step approach, qualifying the interplanetary spacecraft much more than those that were needed to be able to go to the moon and bring somebody back after three or four days.

This is a very determined activity. Building the base on the surface of Mars is something that should be done very close by having human intelligence in orbit at the moon of Mars.

And they can be assembling, just like I hope that we will do on the moon by the U.S., and also trained to do that on the big island of Hawaii, believe it or not.

BALDWIN: Just quickly, 20 seconds, sir, what do you think Mars is like, if you were to put boot prints on Mars?

ALDRIN: It's much more habitable than the moon is. The one day is a little over 24 hours. The inclination of Mars gives it seasons that one year takes 689 days.

It has water that's been demonstrated, and I'm sure that we can grow the food necessary to sustain people. And if we send people to the surface, they should stay there.

This is the time, historically, for humans from the planet earth to begin to occupy permanently --

BALDWIN: Yeah.

ALDRIN: -- another planet in the solar system, and the president, who makes such a commitment, will go down in history for hundreds of thousands of years.

BALDWIN: Buzz Aldrin, a pleasure, sir. Thank you so much.

ALDRIN: Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: Coming up, next video you have to see.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: If you're scared of heights, close your eyes. Look at this.

This is the spire being lifted to the top of the One World Trade Center in New York. Now it is 1,776 feet tall, one of the tallest in the world. Look at that.

Thanks so much for being with me today. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Now "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.