Christina Applegate says it was a "tough choice" to have both her breasts surgically removed when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The star of 'Samantha Who?' who shot to fame as a teenageer in 'Married with Children', had a cancerous lump in one breast and has talked publicly for the first time about the operation. 

Speaking on TV show Good Morning America, Applegate said she would undergo breast reconstruction surgery over the next eight months. 

"I didn't want to go back to the doctors every four months for testing and squishing and everything,"  she said.

"I just wanted to kind of get rid of this whole thing for me," she said.

"This was the choice that I made and it was a tough one.

"My decision, after looking at all the treatment plans that were possibilities for me, the only one that seemed the most logical and the one that was going to work for me was to have a bilateral mastectomy."

Applegate said she is now completely clear of cancer and joked that after the reconstruction surgery she will have "cute boobs 'til I'm 90".

The star said witnessing her mother battle breast cancer a number of times over the years helped her make the decision to have the double mastectomy.