Brad Pitt On Angelina Jolie’s Double Mastectomy: I Find Her ‘Absolutely Heroic’

Oscar-nominated actor Brad Pitt is in awe of Angelina Jolie’s decision to have a preventive double mastectomy after finding out she has a “faulty” BRCA1 gene, which increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer greatly.

His lifetime partner lost her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, to cancer at the age of 56, Jolie said in an op-ed piece for the New York Times. In Pitt’s eyes, his fiancé is nothing less than amazing.

He told the London Evening Standard about Jolie: “Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie’s choice, as well as so many others like her, absolutely heroic," he said. "I thank our medical team for their care and focus. All I want for is for her to have a long and healthy life, with myself and our children. This is a happy day for our family.”

In her “My Medical Choice” article, the 37-year-old wrote how Pitt had been at her side throughout her now-exposed secret. "I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive. So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition," she wrote for the Times. "Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has."

Jolie’s choice to have the double mastectomy has decreased her risk of breast cancer from 87 percent to less than 5 percent. In her op-ed piece, she explained that she never wants her children to fear losing her, as she lost her mother, who reportedly suffered with ovarian cancer for eight years.

“When [my mother] passed, I realized that somebody who lives life with that kind of dedication to their family is the most noble,” Jolie told Vanity Fair in 2008. “I was aware of it growing up. I admired her. And I loved her. But in her passing she reminded me what matters. And what’s most fun -- to put yourself aside for these other little people you’re raising.”