Actor and campaigner Angelina Jolie has received widespread praise for her decision to undergo a preventive double mastectomy to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
The Hollywood star's fiance, actor Brad Pitt, who was by Jolie's side during the three months of medical treatment, said: "I find Angie's choice, as well as so many others like her, absolutely heroic.
“All I want is for her to have a long and healthy life, with myself and our children,” he said.
Jolie, who is 37, has six children, three of whom are adopted and the other three with Pitt.
British foreign secretary William Hague said Jolie showed no signs she was undergoing medical treatment when they both travelled to Congo on a campaign about refugee camps. Jolie would be "an inspiration to many", he said.
“She’s a very brave lady, not only to carry on with her work so well during such treatment but also to write about it now and talk about it,” he said.
Singer Sheryl Crow, a breast cancer survivor, commended Jolie "for her courage and thoughtfulness in sharing her story today regarding her mastectomy. So brave!"
Wendy Watson, who founded the UK's National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline, said that Jolie's decision to write publicly on the issue was "the highest profile you can get for it".
CNN television host Zoraida Sambolin revealed on television yesterday during a discussion about Jolie's decision to undergo surgery that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and would also undergo a mastectomy.
“I struggled for weeks trying to figure out how to tell you that I had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was leaving to have surgery,” Sambolin said in a posting on her Facebook page. “Then Angelina Jolie shares her story of a double mastectomy and gives me strength and an opening.”
