Breast cancer survivor Christina Applegate posed for an emotional, private nude photo before her recent mastectomy, so she'd always have a photo to remember the breasts she was losing.

The actress was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and opted to have her breasts removed in an effort to stop the spread of the disease. She staged a private ceremony on the evening of her surgery, so she'd always have a photograph.

Speaking candidly on a recent taping for Oprah Winfrey's talk show, Applegate revealed, "I did my first and last nudie photoshoot at home. I made sure that I have close-up photographs of them from every angle, so I can kind of remember them."

Since the operation to remove her breasts, doctors have implanted "expanders" in the actress' chest, which will eventually allow them to sculpt fake breasts for her.

She explained, "They keep expanding over a few months until they take those out and put in your implants... They have this strange little thing that they insert in there and they keep filling it up with saline to expand behind the muscles."

But she admitted to Winfrey that the surgery has left her with a chest that resembles nothing like the one she had before her cancer diagnosis.

She added, "You've got scarring and there's a lot of things you're missing...and the shape is not the same and it doesn't feel the same and it's hard to carry your purse and there are so many limitations. It's sad. I cry at least once a day about it because it's hard to overlook it when you're standing there in the mirror."

But, despite the pain and heartache, Applegate joked there is a bright side to her surgery: "I don't have to wear a bra... ever again."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)