Brad Pitt, others react to Angelina Jolie's preemptive double mastectomy.

 

Brad says Angelina ‘is absolutely heroic’ and hails ‘happy day for our family’ after she undergoes double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer

Pitt told London newspaper the Evening Standard: 'Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie’s choice, as well as so many others like her, absolutely heroic.
'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.'
Pitt called the experience "empowering" and "an emotional and beautifully inspiring few months."
He described with pride how the stunning "Salt" actress kept her commitments in the weeks surrounding her Feb. 16 double mastectomy and April 27 breast reconstruction with recently FDA-approved anatomic implants, which are teardrop shaped.
In early April, Jolie honored Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousufzai in New York and then attended the G-8 summit in London.
“Literally it was just weeks after she'd had truly major surgery," Pitt said.

Pitt said it was important for Jolie to share her medical odyssey so that "others would understand it doesn't have to be a scary thing."

The actor said he, Jolie and the couple's six young children devised a way to make her recovery a family bonding experience.
"We set up our own little post-op recovery that became pretty fun. You make an adventure out of it," he told USA Today.
"And I'll tell you, it's such a wonderful relief to come through this and not have a spectre hanging over our heads," he said. "To know that that's not going to be something that's going to affect us. My most proudest thing is our family. This isn't going to get that."

Several family members have spoken out in support for Angelina Jolie’s decision to undergo the procedure.
‘We're so very proud of Angie, this means so much to our family especially our grandchildren. We love her dearly,’ Brad Pitt’s mother Jane, said in a statement to People magazine.
James Haven, Angelina Jolie’s older brother, also praised his sister for making the tough choice, comparing her to their mother Marcheline.
‘My sister like our mother always put her children first,’ the 40-year-old actor told the magazine.
'I am so grateful to be her brother.’

Angelina isn't the only celebrity to make the difficult decision to have a preventative mastectomy after discovering she was a carrier of the BRCA1 gene.
Sharon Osbourne revealed last year that she had undergone the procedure after previously battling colon cancer back in 2002.
Explaining the decision, Sharon said at the time: 'As soon as I found out I had the breast cancer gene, I thought, "The odds are not in my favour."
'I’ve had cancer before and I didn’t want to live under that cloud. I decided to just take everything off, and had a double mastectomy.'
Former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton also underwent a preventative double mastectomy after discovering she carried the BRCA2 gene, meaning she had up to an 80% chance of getting breast cancer.
Speaking about Angelina's decision, Michelle said: 'I can't even stress how much of an impact that I had talking to women to say that I was going through this, it was such a huge impact. Imagine what impact somebody as huge as Angelina Jolie can have on this.'
And E! News presenter Giuliana Rancic, who had a double mastectomy in December 2012 after being diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2011, was quick to tweet her support for Angelina, writing: 'Proud of her for using her incredible platform to educate women.'