Brad Pitt Calls Angelina Jolie 'Heroic' For Undergoing Preventative Cancer Surgery

Brad Pitt called his fiancee Angelina Jolie "heroic" for electing to get a preventative double mastectomy in order to lower her risk of getting cancer and be healthy for her family.

Jolie revealed in a New York Times op-ed Monday that last month she finished medical procedures for a double mastectomy -- a surgery she decided to get after discovering that she has a "faulty" gene, BRCA1. Mutations of this gene could lead to higher risks of cancer. Jolie said she had an 87 percent risk of developing breast cancer and 50 percent of developing ovarian cancer. Now her risk has dropped below 5 percent.

In Pitt's eyes, his bride-to-be is nothing short of amazing.

“Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie’s choice, as well as so many others like her, absolutely heroic," Pitt told the London Evening Standard of Jolie. "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.”

The 37-year-old actress discussed how Pitt was with her every step of the way as she was treated at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in California.

"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."

A big part of Jolie's decision to get surgery was her family, including Pitt and their six children. The actress's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died in January 2007 after battling ovarian cancer for nearly a decade and losing at the age of 56. Throughout those eight years while she was sick, Bertrand taught her daughter some of the most valuable lessons about life and about dying.

“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.”

In her Times piece, the Oscar-winner says she never wants her family to fear losing her.

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